Employee Grievance|Meaning,causes,attributes|Sample Grievance Handling Policy template

Employee Grievance|Meaning, causes, attributes|Sample Grievance Handling Policy template 

                           Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

Introduction and Meaning of Grievance:

A grievance is any dissatisfaction or a sense of discrimination in connection with one’s employment condition which is brought to the consideration of the management for appropriate resolution. 


Holistically, a grievance is any kind of a disappointment that unfavourably affects organizational relations and efficiency. 

To know what exactly a grievance is, it is essential to differentiate between disappointment, complaint, and grievance.

Dissatisfaction/Disappointment is whatever that bothers an employee, whether or not the conflict is conveyed in words.

A complaint is a verbal or written displeasure brought to the consideration of the Manager or the immediate boss.

A grievance is a complaint that has been officially presented to the Management, HR or to a union representative.

In a nutshell, a grievance is a state of dissatisfaction, spoken or unspoken, on paper or unrecorded, reasonable or baseless, having a connection with employment condition.

Causes of employee grievances:

Grievances may occur due to a number of reasons:

1.    Economic:

Employees may claim for individual salary amendments. They may be under impression that they are paid less as compared to others. For instance: poor salary revision, late or non-payment of bonus, amendments to overtime pay, wrong salary calculation, no monetary incentives etc.

2.    Work atmosphere:

It may perhaps be detrimental or substandard conditions of work. For Instance: sunlit, temperature, or inadequate conditions of the workplace, substandard utensils and tools, inferior quality of material, biased rules, and nonexistence of recognition at work.

3.    Supervision:

It could be oppositions to the common approaches of supervision or managers towards the employee for example, apparent concepts of unfairness, favouritism, discrimination, caste and regional outlooks.

4.    Organizational change:

Introduction or amendments of any organizational policies can cause grievances. Such as the introduction of revised company rules or different operational practices. Further, any such practices which probably may cause discomfort to the daily routines of employees.

5.    Employee relations:

Employees are incompetent to fine-tune with their colleagues, undergo the feelings of abandonment and unfair treatment and become an object of ridicule and embarrassment or other inter- employee differences.

6.    Miscellaneous:

Issues relating to certain disagreements in respect of Increment & promotions, welfare means, relocation, disciplinary rules, penalties or penalties, leave approvals, employee medical facilities, etc.

Need for a Grievance Handling Policy

A grievance handling policy functions as a channel or source of solace for employees to get rid of their frustrations, dissatisfactions, and unrest. In the presence of an effective grievance handling mechanism, Employees are no longer required to keep their frustrations unheard or unanswered.

Further, effective grievance handling processes remove the occurrence of discriminative action by supervisors. Since supervisors are aware of the capabilities of employees to protest such behaviour and make complaints to be heard by upper management. The actual fact is employees have a scope to be heard and are truly heard helps to improve confidence. Considering all these, every organization should have a clear mechanism for grievance handling.

Best 4 attributes of an effective Grievance Handling Procedure

Four attributes of an effective grievance handling procedure are as follows: 1. Fair-mindedness 2. Provisions should be clear & precise3. Practical steps 4. Promptness.

1.    Fair-mindedness

The attitude of trust & fairness is important from top to bottom in the hierarchy to make the practice an effective one. All supervisors should admit the employ­ee’s right of appeal providing no bypassing is involved. Fair-mindedness is required not only to be unbiased but also to keep the procedure worthwhile.

In the absence of employees’ faith in the entire grievance mechanism, its value will be lost, and alternative means should be pursued to deal with the grievances. This also includes following the principles of natural justice, as in the case of a disciplinary procedure.

2.    Provisions should be clear & precise

To make grievance procedure work satisfacto­rily there should be definite provisions consistently adhered to, determining what is to be done, when and by whom.

E.g., every employee should know:

    (i) To whom complaints are to be addressed,

    (ii) In what form (oral or written),

    (iii) What restrictions, and

    (iv) How long a complain­ant should expect to wait before   finding out what action has been taken or planned in connection with their complaints?

3.    Practical and easy to understand steps:

The grievance procedure should be suitably simple so as the same can be easily and swiftly explained to each new joiner before they begin working for the organization. It should be such that can be readily understood even by a person who has had relatively little formal education.

4.    Promptness:

Promptness should be there to avoid the unpleasantness and frustration that can come from any deferral. Quick action is not only desired from the complainant’s perspective but it is also in man­agement’s concern. Unwarranted interruption can be costly in the progress and spread of employee dissatisfaction.

Policy Purpose

It is essential to provide an open and effective communication channel between the Company and colleagues in order to maintain a harmonious and productive work environment. 

In case colleagues have any grievances (e.g. problem, concern or complaint) and would like to bring the grievance to the Company’s attention and require an action or response, they could follow the procedures below:

Grievance Handling Process & Procedures flow

1. Colleagues may refer to any job-related grievances they have, to the immediate supervisors or, to their Department Head / Division Head if grievances are related to their supervisors.

2.  Supervisors / Department Heads to meet with subject Colleagues on the same day to discuss and resolve the grievances.

3.  If grievances cannot be resolved, Colleagues and/or supervisors will refer to Division / Department Heads (or Corporate / Local Human Resources if grievances are against Division / Department Heads).

4.    Division Heads / Corporate / Local Human Resources should meet with subject Colleagues on the day the grievances are brought to their attention.

5.    If grievances are not resolved at Division / Department Head level, Corporate / Local Human Resources will assist in resolving the grievances.

6. Corporate / Local Human Resources to fully brief Company Location Head of unresolved grievances should their intervention be unsuccessful.

7.    CEO is the highest level in resolving associate grievances.

8. Decision made and reasons thereof must be communicated formally to the concerned colleague with a copy filed in his/her file.

9.    Anonymous grievance submitted will have no official bearing and the company will not follow up.

10.  All grievances will be treated in strict confidence.

Should you have queries with regards to the Grievance Handling policy please feel free to contact the Human Resources department. 

Human Resources Department

Company Name – (Pls. insert location e.g. India)

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