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Taurai Musakaruka HR Issues
According to research the majority of companies, both big and small, tend to discourage employees from airing their grievances. However, experts believe that this is an extremely short-sighted way of doing things. “If you don’t handle employee complaints, you create resentment, low morale, low productivity, and increased turnover,” says Houston executive coach Linda Talley.
For a real grievance to have occurred there must have been a violation of an employee’s rights on the job.

Normally it is the employer or one of his agents like a supervisor or manager, who would have violated these rights, directly or indirectly.
If an employee makes a complaint that doesn’t involve the employer in some way, you may still have to deal with it, but it won’t be a grievance.

A complaint may be about anything. The chair I am using is too low, the lighting is too bright for me, I get depressed looking at the colour of the wall and my co-workers are rude.

A grievance constitutes a violation of the employee-employer agreement, either as per legislation, collective bargaining agreement, employment offer, job description or policies and procedures.

Basically a grievance is a formal statement of complaint generally against an authoritative figure.
For the purposes of convenience the terms complaints and grievances are going to be used interchangeably.

Most grievances are “real” in the sense that they clearly demonstrate that the employer has violated someone’s rights, but this doesn’t mean you will always win the case.

You are limited by the contract, by your skills and knowledge or by how much union power you have.
Whatever an employee complains about, it’s important to take it seriously. This applies to all complaints or grievances, no matter how trivial they might seem at the time.

Remember that even if you don’t consider a complaint or grievance as important, the employee who complains thinks it is.
Otherwise, he or she wouldn’t have come to you. Your employees need to know that if they do come to you with a problem, you’ll listen to their concerns.

Furthermore, some complaints or grievances could have serious implications. For example, complaints or grievances about discrimination and harassment or complaints or grievances about safety conditions are very serious.

These complaints or grievances must be addressed promptly even if you think they lack merit.
Even if complaints or grievances are based on rumours and misinformation, they must be dealt with promptly, or they could cause a lot of despondence, additional complaints or grievances, and serious problems down the road.

Ignoring complaints or grievances is dangerous. It could have unexpected and undesirable consequences for you and for the organisation.
Even a minor complaint could escalate into a major problem if ignored. You could also miss a hidden problem if you ignore a complaint.

The complaint might be just the tip of the iceberg. It may give you a clue to a more widespread problem that you have not previously recognised. Ignoring complaints or grievances can also affect the productivity and morale of the employee who complain.

It can affect that employee’s commitment to you, the department and the organisation as a whole.
Even worse, ignored employees can highlight their discontent to co-workers as they look for sympathisers.

Ignoring a complaint might also put a worker in harm’s way. If a complaint about safety conditions is ignored, one of your employees could be injured.

If complaints or grievances about harassment or threats of violence are ignored, someone could be in danger.
If some complaints or grievances are not promptly resolved internally, they can turn into expensive lawsuits against the workplace, or even against you personally.

“Managers need to be trained to hear ‘legal tripwires’,” says John Michels, a corporate employment lawyer at McGuire Woods in Chicago.
“When you hear employees mention certain phrases or words, the hair on the back of your neck should go up.
“Don’t dismiss employees who point fingers. They could be whistle-blowers not troublemakers.

“On the other side, internal griping can provide helpful feedback. Employee complaints are just as valuable as customer complaints,” says Janelle Barlow, a Las Vegas human resources consultant and the author of Complaint is a Gift.

“They definitely shouldn’t be dismissed, in the same way that customer complaints must never be dismissed.
“Upon review, you might change course or policies, which could boost sales or improve customer service.”

It is, therefore, critical to have a complaints or grievance handling mechanism all the time. This should clearly define and explain the steps to be followed when one feels aggrieved. The degree to which grievances are successfully handled at the first step is largely dependent on the authority granted the supervisor.

In some cases the supervisor is only the “messenger” for the management representative in the next step of the grievance procedure.
If this situation exists, few settlements will take place at the first level. It is important to observe the steps in the grievance procedure even if the supervisor has limited authority.  “Leapfrogging” to a higher step may have several undesirable effects.  The supervisor may resent this and may be more difficult to deal with the next time, or management may seek to get the grievance thrown out because the proper steps were not followed.
However, supervisors are strongly warned against delaying handling the complaint or grievance.

They should not try to skirt around issues hoping the complaint will die a natural death or simply procrastinate through extending dates or empty promises.

They should also never use threats such as “go to HR and you will regret. . .” and so on. The best way to act as soon as possible. The best way to clear the air of complaints is to focus on problems before they fester.

Watch Your Tongue
The way you react to a complaint or grievance immediately sets a tone. Managers often discourage employees from telling them what’s wrong by subtle threats or outright punishment.

Don’t trivialise the grievance, even if it’s a noisy protest about lack of radio in the staff bus.
You don’t have to remedy every complaint, but you should be courteous.

“Employees want to be heard, so open by saying, ‘I appreciate, I respect, I understand why you might feel that way’,” says Jay Arthur, author of Motivate Everyone.

Recognise the Individual
Don’t let complaints slide on slick reassurances or one-size-fits-all platitudes. Respond to the specific employee and his particular beef.
“I’ve found that in a large majority of cases, employee complaints can be traced to their temperament,” says Brad Cooper, a motivational coach.
“So when addressing employee issues, it’s critical to tune in to those individual needs, not some generic response.”

Be Consistent
“No employee likes secrets or surprises,” says Tim Dimoff, whose consulting firm counsels companies on such issues as employee drug abuse and workplace violence.

The way around accusations of favouritism, pleas of ignorance, or similar unrest is by citing the policies of a formal employee handbook or manual.

Most small-business owners can’t be bothered to write one. But it’s in their best interest. “Owners can’t remember what they tell everyone they hire,” Dimoff says.

So every employee works with different rules and guidelines on compensation, vacation, sick leave, harassment, or discriminatory behaviour and on and on.

“It’s all about communication,” Dimoff says. “Companies that respond to a complaint, investigate it, and don’t let it go by will stop it from growing.”

Send the Right Message
To truly create an atmosphere that rewards employees for coming forward, you need to make them comfortable.
Lip service won’t do. There are dozens of ways to achieve that, of course. Attorney Michels suggests periodic “town meetings”.
“In a small business, it’s easier to get everyone in a room and get employee buy-in,” he says.

The CEO might talk about business trends, worries he has, the impact of international events, a casual “state of the company” address.
“In the course of the meeting, he might ask, ‘What else would you like us to address?’” Michels says.
He might also invite employees to talk to him later, privately, if something is on their mind. “The best companies are places where the chain of communication goes both ways,” Michels says.

Obviously, all complaints aren’t created equal. But ignoring them altogether can only cause damage.

Taurai Musakaruka is Human Resources Practitioner and the views contain herein are personal.  Feedback e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]