Handling a grievance

Grievance may be any genuine or imaginary feeling of dissatisfaction or injustice which an employee experiences about his job and its nature, about the management policies and procedures. It must be expressed by the employee and brought to the notice of the management and the organization. Grievances take the form of collective disputes when they are not resolved. Also they will then lower the morale and efficiency of the employees. Unattended grievances result in frustration, dissatisfaction, low productivity, lack of interest in work, absenteeism, etc. In short, grievance arises when employees expectations are not fulfilled from the organization as a result of which a feeling of discontentment and dissatisfaction arises. This dissatisfaction must crop up from employment issues and not from personal issues. Grievance may result from the following factorsa. Improper working conditions such as strict production standards, unsafe workplace, bad relation with managers, etc. b. Irrational management policies such as overtime, transfers, demotions, inappropriate salary structure, etc. c. Violation of organizational rules and practices

The manager should immediately identify all grievances and must take appropriate steps to eliminate the causes of such grievances so that the employees remain loyal and committed to their work. Effective grievance management is an essential part of personnel management. The managers should adopt the following approach to manage grievance effectively1. Quick action- As soon as the grievance arises, it should be identified and resolved. Training must be given to the managers to effectively and timely manage a grievance. This will lower the detrimental effects of grievance on the employees and their performance.

2. Acknowledging grievance- The manager must acknowledge the grievance put forward by the employee as manifestation of true and real feelings of the employees. Acknowledgement by the manager implies that the manager is eager to look into the complaint impartially and without any bias. This will create a conducive work environment with instances of grievance reduced.

3. Gathering facts- The managers should gather appropriate and sufficient facts explaining the grievances nature. A record of such facts must be maintained so that these can be used in later stage of grievance redressal.

4. Examining the causes of grievance- The actual cause of grievance should be identified. Accordingly remedial actions should be taken to prevent repetition of the grievance.

5. Decisioning- After identifying the causes of grievance, alternative course of actions should be thought of to manage the grievance. The effect of each course of action on the existing and future management policies and procedure should be analyzed and accordingly decision should be taken by the manager.

6. Execution and review- The manager should execute the decision quickly, ignoring the fact, that it may or may not hurt the employees concerned. After implementing the decision, a follow-up must be there to ensure that the grievance has been resolved completely and adequately. An effective grievance procedure ensures an amiable work environment because it redresses the grievance to mutual satisfaction of both the employees and the managers. It also helps the management to frame policies and procedures acceptable to the employees. It becomes an effective medium for the employees to express t feelings, discontent and dissatisfaction openly and formally.

Handling a grievance When dealing with a grievance:

ensure you're familiar with the procedure and apply it correctly hold any grievance hearing in private without interruptions where a grievance relates to the person's line manager, ensure that the employee can raise the grievance with someone else listen carefully to the person's explanation of the problem and consider whether there is a deeper issue which might be the root cause of the grievance listen to any conflicting points of view weigh up all evidence to see whether there is an issue you need to address decide what action to take, trying to balance fairness to the person without compromising the business or other workers inform all concerned parties of your decision and the appeal process ensure you resolve any problems relating to policies, procedures or conduct where the grievance procedure highlights these keep the process as confidential as possible

Deal with grievances sensitively, particularly where they concern other workers. You may wish to develop specific procedures for very sensitive matters involving unfair treatment e.g., discrimination, bullying or harassment. . Consider also having a separate "whistle blowing" procedure, so that workers are encouraged to raise any complaints about wrongdoing E.g. fraud, internally rather than disclosing them outside the business. If a worker raises a separate grievance during a disciplinary hearing, its good practice to adjourn the hearing until the grievance is dealt with. By dealing with problems in a fair and reasonable manner, you're much less likely to lose valued and skilled staff through resignation. It will also help you successfully defend a constructive dismissal claim.