When people sit and work together in close proximity, issues are bound to surface, stemming from one reason or another. The fact is that we humans tend to disagree with what we feel isn’t right, and in a charted hierarchy where the power position is clear and lots of people are expected to pertain to that and follow the hierarchy, issues are bound to rear their heads.
In this blog post, we will look at how to handle employee grievances in a workplace, and what might be some of the most effective practices in ensuring that the situation is resolved in an amicable manner and without having to resort to any methods of dealing with a natural course of disagreement between reasonable adults.
In handling employee grievances, it is important to always keep in mind that the issue needs to be resolved in accordance with the policy or guidelines of the overarching institution, and should also be resolved amicably. What is popularly and commonly known as ‘no hard feelings’. Each and every situation that necessitates an intervention from the management or the higher up needs to end with both parties or individuals feeling like they have been listened to, and nobody should feel wronged.
Let’s start by discussing some effective practices in handling employee grievances.
Handling Employee Grievances: The Most Effective Practices
Here is a quick breakdown of the best and most effective practices in dealing with employee grievances. Whether you are a higher up in the management or are simply tackling this situation from the HR’s point of view, these practices will help you resolve the situation in an amicable manner.
Confidentiality
The first practice that is absolutely imperative in helping you make the best decision from the situation is confidentiality. This is because in a situation where handling an employee’s grievances can result in lots of people talking, speculating and spreading unwanted gossip about the situation across the workplace, further complicating the situation and leaving the employee in question flustered over their conundrum. Nobody wants that, and therefore, one of the best practices from your end is going to be complete confidentiality. This increases the confidence that said employee is going to have in the organization as well as your ability to handle it like a professional is supposed to handle it. In short, only the people relevant to the decision-making process in this case and the parties or individuals involved in the grievance are to be kept in the loop, and it is even better if certain individuals are actually discouraged to get involved. This, once again, gives the individuals involved a sense of security that the situation isn’t being projected outwards, rather is being resolved in a professional manner.
Communication
Communication is absolutely imperative in amicably resolving such situations. For starters, communication is key in offices and spaces where people work together in close proximity. Communication helps people understand each other’s position, and also helps defuse a situation that would otherwise be either taken out of content or could suffer from misconceptions fueled by a lack of communication. In this process of addressing the grievances of an employee, communication is going to be extremely crucial since they will be kept apprised of all developments with their complaint, and will also be kept abreast of what the decision is going to be. Otherwise, a lack of communication will only serve to further demoralize a person’s experience in getting their problem resolved and will strain their trust on the system, in a time when corporations and management in general is already seen as pandering too much to the corporate cause and not much for the human side of the workforce.
Documentation
Documentation is an imperative part of the process, and while modern employee grievance and its processing as well as resolution may happen on electronic communications, it is absolutely important that the entirety of the process itself be documented, right from the start when a complaint or grievance is filed with the relevant authorities. Documentation keeps a physical record of the issue, and whether or not the grievance is resolved amicably, or some other complication may arise, each and every step of the process needs to be documented, not just for the sake of documentation itself, but also to cover the issue and its each step should the situation require the use of litigation. In the case of litigation, physical documentation will go a long way, so, ensure that the entire process is documented.
Handling Employee Grievances: The Most Effective Practices
The process of addressing and resolving the grievance that any employee may have against the workplace or any other individual or party, should be proceeded with as follows.
- Create A Redressal System
Each and every office should have a redressal system in place that ensures that an employee’s grievances are treated properly and go through a system that treats each grievance as objectively and professionally as possible. This redressal system will be in place for all grievances that employees may have, whether they are directed against other employees, the senior management or even a policy of the office. This redressal system will be the central system through which all such queries are processed.
- Acknowledging The Issue
The second step in this process involves acknowledgement of the issue. While this may seem an unimportant step, but the fact is that such situations are usually marred with non-acknowledgment, which tends to perturb the employee who may have lodged the initial complaint. It is therefore, of primary importance that the issue be acknowledged, leading us to the next step of the process.
- Formal Investigation
Launching a formal investigation includes utilising all the resources you may have at your disposal to ensure that you get to the bottom of the matter. From CCTV footage and by taking in statements from the parties involved, it is the job of the senior management to ensure that no stone is left unturned in collecting all the evidence and then comparing it to how the situation has been described to get to the bottom of the matter.
- Meeting With The Parties
A formal meeting should subsequently be held with all the parties involved, which lays out and states clearly what the investigation has found and what the next course of action may be. Both the parties may still be allowed to record their statements or resolve the matter amicably without proceeding on to the next step.
- Deciding On A Course Of Action
Once the course of action has been communicated to the parties involved, it is then time to make sure that the course is actually followed through by taking the appropriate action. Whether it’s a disciplinary action, relieving someone of their position or a slight action that needs to be taken, once the course of action has been decided upon and communicated, its time to go through with it.
- Eliminating The Root Cause
Finally, to ensure that nothing as such happens again that perturbs the employees and becomes a cause of concern for them, the situation needs to be simplified and boiled down to the root cause, and the root cause then be dealt with in a manner that puts an end to any future issues that may arise afterwards.
Dharsi Law: Best Employment Lawyers In Toronto!
Workplace grievances are something that is unfortunately common in workplaces across Ontario, and while many people may not be able to recognize when something of this gravity happens to them, the majority do not speak out for fear of negative consequences in their workplace. However, that should not be the case. With experienced employment lawyers at Dharsi Law, we encourage people to come forward and play their part in taking such individuals to task. Because without their coming forward, the workplace will continue being a hostile space for employees, and with their interference, we can ensure a healthy workplace for all.
