Employee Grievances

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Lesson: 43 Title:

We have a problem! : Employee Grievances

Topics to be covered: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Definition Nature Forms Identifying Grievances Causes Effects Establishing a grievance procedure Guidelines for effective Grievance handling Model Grievance procedure Essentials of a grievance procedure Checklist for grievance handling Article: “ Grievance procedure for permanent employees in TISCO” Article: “ Practical tips for Mediation” Article: “Resolving Complaints” Case study: “Ram Avatar”

Today we are going to discuss grievances. So are you ready rea dy with your list! I am sure you will have a long one. In fact we are so much used used to cribbing and complaining that we forget the the good things of life. We take them for granted!! All right enough of thought provocation!! Let us begin with today’s discussion. So what is your idea of a grievance? Expressions such as problem, discontentment, deep problem etc. can be used to describe a grievance. However please note that dissatisfaction or discontent per se is not a grievance. They initially find expression in the form of a complaint. When a complaint remains unattended and the employee concerned feels a sense of lack of justice and fair play, the dissatisfaction grows and assumes the status of a grievance. Dissatisfaction: maybe defined as anything that disturbs an employee, whether or nor such unrest is expressed in word e.g. engineers and technicians may be upset because they are suddenly instructed to observe regular hours. Complaint: It is a spoken or written dissatisfaction, brought to the attention of the supervisor and the union leader. The complaint may or may not specially assign assign a cause for dissatisfaction e.g. “four times this morning I have had to chase around looking for the pliers”.

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Grievance: It is simply a complaint, which has been formally presented in writing, to a management representative or a union official. However for most of the people, the word “grievance” suggests a complaint that has been ignored, overridden or dismissed without due consideration.

ILO defines a grievance as a complaint of one or more workers related to: -

Wages and allowance Conditions of work Interpretation of service conditions covering such as OT, Leave, Transfer, Promotion, Seniority, Job Assignment & Termination of Service”

The National Commission on Labour Observed that “Complaints affecting one or more individual workers in respect of their workers -

Wage payments, OT, Leave, Transfer Promotion, Seniority, Work Assignment & Discharges Constitute Grievances”.

Let us examine another definition of grievance. Definition:

According to Michael Jucius, “ A grievance can be any discontent or dissatisfaction, dissatisfaction, whether expressed or not, not, whether valid whether valid or not, and arising out of anything connected with the company that an employee thinks, believes, or even feels as unfair, unjust, or inequitable.” Let us understand this definition. A grievance means any discontentment or dissatisfaction in an employee arising out of anything related to the enterprise where he is working. It may not be expressed and even may not be valid. It arises when an employee feels that something has happened or is going to happen which is unfair, unjust or inequitable. Thus, a grievance represents a situation in which an employee feels that something unfavorable to him has happened or is going to happen. In an industrial enterprise, an employee may have grievance because of long hours of work, non-fulfillment of terms of service by the management, unfair treatment in promotion, poor working facilities, etc. Now let us go a step further by discussing the nature of grievance. Nature of Grievance:












Coping with grievances forms an important part of any job. The manner in which a manager deal with grievances determines his efficiency of dealing with subordinates. A manager is successful if he is able to build a team of satisfied workers by removing their grievances. While dealing with grievances of subordinates, it is necessary to keep in mind the following points: • • •

A grievance may or may not be real. Grievance may arise out of not one cause but multifarious causes. Every individual does not give expression to his grievances.

Please understand that complaints of employees relating to interpretation and implementation of agreements, labour legislations, various personnel policies, rules and regulations, past practices, code of conduct are very much grievances. Another point that needs to be noted here is that the grievances may relate to either one employee (individual grievances) or group of employees (group grievances). Individual and group grievances are to be redressed through grievance procedure, which we would be studying in detail a little later in the class. Individual employee or group of employees concerned and manager concerned play vital role in grievance procedure. Now let me ask you a question. What do you think is the difference between grievance and conflict? Are they the same? Can they be used interchangeably? Now that is more than one question! Anyway, Please understand that differences between employees and employers relating to various personnel policies, wage levels and variety of benefits, awards, rules and regulations are conflicts. Conflicts are to be settled through collective bargaining. Trade unions and management participate in collective bargaining for settling disputes. Thus, conflicts have wider policy implications as compared to grievances.

We discussed in the definition of grievance that it may be valid or not. Now don’t tell me that you have forgotten the definition! Let us understand, why we talk about validity. We can get some insight on that by studying the forms of Grievances. A grievance may take any of the following forms:












Factual: When an employee is dissatisfied with his job, for genuine or factual reasons like a breach of terms of employment or any other reasons that are clearly attributed to the management, he is said to have a factual grievance. Thus, factual grievances arise when the legitimate needs are unfulfilled. The problem that he has is real and not virtual Imaginary: When an employee’s grievance or dissatisfaction is not because of any factual or valid reason but because of wrong perception, wrong attitude or wrong information he has. Such a grievance is called an imaginary grievance. Though it is not the fault of management, the responsibility of dealing with it still rests with the management. So the problem is not real. It is in the mind or just a feeling towards someone or something. So be careful your grievances could be very much imaginary!

dissatisfaction for reasons that are unknown to himself. Disguised : An employee may have dissatisfaction This may be because of pressures and frustrations that an employee is feeling from other sources like his personal life. I am sure you will agree that if you have fought at home and come to the institute, you cannot concentrate in the class. Similarly if you have had a bad day in the institute, that will reflect in the mood at home. We are all humans and are sensitive to the environment that we operate in! The managers have to detect the disguised grievances and attend to them by counseling the concerned employees. They have to find out the root cause of the problem rather than find quick fix solutions to them.

Forms of Grievances

Factual

Imaginary

Disguised

Now that brings us to another anothe r important issue that is identifying Grievances. Identifying grievances:

It is so beautifully described that good management redresses grievances as they arise; excellent management anticipates and prevents them from arising. An effective manager thus has to be proactive. A manager can know about the problems even before they turn into actual grievances through several means such as:












•

Open door policy.

Let us discuss this on by one in details: (a) Exit interview: Employees usually quit organizations due to dissatisfaction or better prospects elsewhere. Exit interviews, if conducted carefully, can provide important information about employees’ grievances. This can help the management to gather feedback and to genuinely incorporate feedback. The management should carefully act upon the information drawn from such employees .It should be careful that the discontentment is reduced so that no more employees quit the organization because of similar reasons. (b) Gripe Boxes: These are boxes in which the employees can drop their anonymous complaints. They are different from the sugg estion boxes in which employees drop their the ir named suggestion with an intention to receive rewards It is normally said that if you want to progress in life, you should be close to critics. These gripe boxes can perform the role of critics for the organisation. The management should carefully act upon the information thus gathered. Now I don’t want to sound repetitive by saying that the internal customers of an organisation should be satisfied if the external customers are to be kept happy. © Opinion Survey: The management can be proactive by conducting group meetings, periodical interviews with employees, collective bargaining sessions etc. through which one can get information about employees’ dissatisfaction before it turns into a grievance. (d) Open-door Policy. Some organisation extend a general invitation to their employees to informally drop in the manager’s room any time and talk over their grievances. This can be very effective because it ca n nip the evil in the bud. That is it can take care of the problem before it gets out of hand. In fact the management should hold formal and informal get together with the employees. The management should also remember that the employees might just need a patient hearing at times. They need blow off the steam as we hear it more commonly.

Summarising the identification of grievances.

Identifying Grievances












What leads to a grievance?

Let us discuss the causes of grievances In order to handle the grievances efficiently, it is necessary to find and analyse the grievances of the subordinates. If a grievance is found to be genuine or real (factual), the corrective action should be taken immediately. But if the grievance arises due to imagination or disturbed frame of mind of the worker, then it is necessary to explain and clear up the matter. Before dealing with the grievances, their causes must be diagnosed. But when the grievances are not given expression by the subordinates, it is manager’s job to detect the possible grievances and their causes. He may realise the existence of grievances because of high turnover, high rate of absenteeism and poor quality of work. These problems will go on multiplying if the causes of grievances are not n ot cured. The causes of grievances may be broadly classified into the following categories: (1) Grievances resulting from working conditions

(i) Improper matching of the worker with the job. (ii) Changes in schedules or procedures. (iii) Non-availability of proper tools, machines and eq uipment for doing the job. (iv) Unreasonably high production standards. (v) Poor working conditions. (vi) Bad employer – employee relationship, etc. (2) Grievances resulting from management policy

(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) (viii)

Wage payment and job rates. Leave. Overtime. Seniority and Promotional. Transfer. Disciplinary action. Lack of employee development plan. Lack of role clarity.

(3) Grievances resulting from personal maladjustment

(i)

Over – ambition.














Coming on to the effects of Grievances. Grievance s. Some of the effects have been listed below.

Effects of Grievances: 

Frustration



Alienation



Demotivation



Slackness



Low Productivity



Increase in Wastage & Costs



Absenteeism



In discipline



Labour unrest

Let me now throw some light on establishing a grievance procedure. This may sound a little boring to you but it is necessary for you to be aware of it as HRM students. It is advisable to set up an effective grievance procedure in the organization. The procedure should be flexible enough to meet the requirements of the organization. It should be simple so that an average employee is able to understand it. Though such a procedure will vary in different organizations, yet the following principles should be observed while laying down a procedure: (1) A grievance should be dealt with in the first instance at the lowest level: that is, an












(4) The grievance procedure should be set up with the participation of the employees and it should be applicable to all in the organisation. The policies and rules regarding grievances should be laid down after taking inputs from the employees and it should be uniformly applicable to all in the organisation. It should be agreed that there would be no recourse to the official machinery of conciliation unless the procedure has been carried out and there is still dissatisfaction, and moreover, there must be no direct action on either side, which might prejudice the case or raise tempers while the grievance is being investigated.

Can you explain to me that why do we need to take inputs from the employees while framing the policies? Yes… it is necessary because it is going to be applicable to the employees and not only that; if the employees have contributed to the policies then their commitment is higher. Have you read something about the Open – Door Policy and the step- ladder procedure of discipline!! Let me explain them to you one by one. Open door policy:

Under this policy, any employee can take his grievance to the chief boss and talk over the problem. As the name suggests, the management keeps its doors open for the employees to share their problems. It is said that this policy can remove the cause of grievance quickly. Though this policy appears to the attractive, it has some prerequisites. The open door policy is workable only in small organizations. In big organizations, the top management does not have the time to attend to innumerable routine grievances daily that is the work of lower-level mangers. Under this policy, the front-line supervisor who should be the first man to know about the grievances of his subordinates is by b y passed. This provokes him in two ways. First, he thinks the man who skipped him is disrespectful. Secondly, he fears that he will incur his superior’s displeasure because of his failure to handle his subordinates will interpret this.












Let us summarise the procedure in the form of a diagram.

Step No. 1

Filling of Written Grievance Step No. 2

Supervisor Foreman

or

Step No. 3 Head of Department Step No. 4 Joint Grievance Committee

Step No. 5 Chief Executive

Last Step Voluntary












suit the size and special requirements of an enterprise. The model Grievance Procedure provides for five successive time-bound steps. These are as under: (1) An aggrieved employee shall first present his grievance verbally in person to the officer designated by the Management for this purpose. An answer shall be given to him within 48 hours of the presentation of the complaint. (2) If the worker is not satisfied with the decision of this officer or fails to receive an answer within the stipulated period, he shall in person or by his departmental representative, if required, present his grievance to the head of the department designated by the management for this purpose. And he will get the answer within 3 days of the presentation of his grievance. (3) If the decision of the departmental head is unsatisfactory, the aggrieved worker may request the forwarding of his grievance to the Grievance Committee, which shall make its recommendations to the management within 7 days of the worker’s request. The final decision of the management shall be communicated to the worker within the stipulated period (3 days) by the Personnel Officer. (4) A revision of his grievance can be done if the decision is not satisfactory. The management shall communicate its decision within a week. (5) If no agreement is possible the union and the Management may refer the grievance to voluntary arbitration within a week from the date of receipt by the worker of the management’s decision. In the above-mentioned procedure the following points should be noted: •

•

Calculating the various time intervals under the above clauses, holidays shall not be included. The Management shall provide the necessary clerical and other assistance for the smooth functioning of the grievance machinery.












I hope you are not tired ….

We will discuss only two more topics today. Our task will be easier as these topics are a re interrelated. So coming to the second last one for today!! Guidelines for Effective Grievance Handling:

While dealing with grievances, a manager cannot depend upon some ready-made, solutions. Every case has to be dealt with on merit. The following guidelines may help to deal effectively with the grievances: •

•

•

•

•

•

The complaint should be given a patient hearing by his superior. He should be allowed to express himself completely. The management should be empathetic. The superior should try to get at the root of the problem. It should be remembered that symptoms are not the problems. It should also be noted that if there are symptoms, there would be a problem as well. The management must show it anxiety to remove the grievances of the workers. The workers should feel that the management is genuinely interested in solving its problems. If the grievances are real and their causes located, attempts should be made to remove the causes. If the grievances are imaginary or unfounded, attempts should be made to convince the workers. Every grievance must be handled within the reasonable time limit. I am sure you will agree with this. Imagine you have a genuine problem and you share it with the














Now the grand finale…… ESSENTIALS OF A GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE:

A grievance procedure should incorporate the following features: 1. Conformity with existing legislation: The procedure should be designed in conformity with the existing statutory provisions. Where practicable, the procedure can make use of such machinery as the law might have already provided for. 2. Acceptability: Everybody must accept the grievance procedure. In order to be generally acceptable, it must ensure the following: • • •

A sense of fair-play and justice to the worker, Reasonable exercise of authority to the manager, and Adequate participation of the union.

3. Simplicity: The following points should be noted in this regard: • •

The procedure should be simple enough to be understood by every employee. The steps should be as few as possible.












6. Follow-up: The personnel department should review the working of the grievance procedure periodically and necessary changes should be introduced to make it more effective. This is generally ignored by the organizations. A regular follow up of the system increase the faith of the people in the system. Therefore it is necessary that the grievance procedure should be reviewed whenever it is so required.

Please note that there can be a shortcut to handling Grievances. Let us study this in the form a checklist. Checklist for Handling Grievances:

1.

Let the Employee Talk 

Put the employee at ease



Listen him in private



Listen with sincere interest



Do not argue



Probe for the real grievance



Get all the details



Check the employees story












4.



Keep your cool



Prepare the case for appeal

.

Follow Through 

Take prompt action to correct the cause of the grievance



Check with employer



Don’t let it happen twice.












Reading 1 (Source : Chaturvedi, Abha, Achieving Harmonious Industrial Relations. The Times Research Foundation, 1987, pp. 197-198.)

THE GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE FOR PERMANENT EMPLOYEES IN TISCO

In so far as the grievances of the workers are concerned, the issues and interpretation of policies are discussed only at the top management level. The union, however, has the right to take up such matters at the Central Works Committee. Those cases which are pending with the Works committee are not discussed at any other level till the case is withdrawn from the Works Committee. Scope

The grievance procedure normally deals with matters relating to amenities/facilities, continuity of service, compensation, discharge/dismissal, fines, increment, leave, medical benefits, misconduct, nature of job, promotion, safety, suspension, transfer, victimization, warning letter. Stage I












ten days of the receipt of such recommendations. The unanimous recommendations of the Zonal Works Committee, though not an executive order, shall be deemed to in the nature of a final decision in the matter. Where its recommendations are not unanimous, the Zonal Committee will refer the matter to the Central or Special Works Committee.

Reading 2 (Source: http://www.dir.nsw.gov.au/workplace/practice/griev_handling.html) How should I handle a grievance? : Practical tips for mediation

1. Deal with the grievance promptly: If it looks like you are avoiding av oiding discussing the matter, unnecessary anxieties can occur. Initiate discussion quickly and investigate all the facts. Double-check them. 2. Be accessible: Make sure your employees know how to use the procedures. Encourage complaints! Seeing the grievance procedure working effectively is the best advertisement you can have for resolving workplace grievances. 3. Informality: Discussions should be held in a non-threatening atmosphere. Verbal is














Reading 3 (Source: http://www.bcentral.com/articles/krotz/192.asp) Resolving complaints

The best way to clear the air of complaints is to focus on problems before they fester. These five strategies make that easier: 1. Watch your tongue. The way you react to a complaint immediately sets a tone. Managers often discourage employees from telling them what's wrong by subtle threats or outright punishment. In that case, "the complaints go underground, surfacing as water cooler conversation and e-mails that reek of Dilbert-esque cynicism," says Larry Absolute Honesty." Johnson, co-author of " Absolute












4. Be consistent. "No employee likes secrets or surprises," says Tim Dimoff, whose SACS Consulting firm in the Cleveland area c ounsels companies on such issues as employee drug abuse and workplace violence. The way around accusations accu sations of favoritism, 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 behavior 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."












Case study RAM AVATAR Ram Avatar works as a helper in the Machine shop of a large engineering company. His work involves loading machines, arranging materials and also cleaning the machines. Recently Ram Avatar has noticed that he is required to spend much more time cleaning machines than are the other helpers. Since this is the least pleasant and lowest -status of all his tasks, he thinks it is unfair that he should have to do so much of it. When Ram Avatar discusses his problems with the supervisor, Sharma, he is told that job assignments are arranged in order to use the workforce more efficiently. All helpers are hired with the understanding that they will be doing one or all of the tasks noted above. Sharma feels that some of the other men are more skilled in handling the material and feeding machines. So












something to really complain about for a change”. The grievance is also signed by the representative the supervisor himself signs it, but only after adding this note: Grievance refused - employee has not been discriminated against.” Then in the General Secretary sends the grievance to the plant manager, asking for an appointment to talk over the matter. After the manager receives the grievance, he calls in the supervisor, Sharma to get his version of the case. He also checks with the GM – Personnel to see whether similar cases have established precedents in this area that would affect the settlement. The manager is at first concerned that this might be a cause for discrimination. The company has a firm policy that no supervisor is to allow personal feelings to enter into personnel decisions. Having satisfied himself that Sharma was right, the manager feels that he cannot grant the grievance. To do so would be to open the door to a stream of union challenges of work assignments. The manager tells the general Secretary that even though a man may feel he












Employee Grievances














Forms of grievance












Causes of grievances












Guidelines for effective grievance Handling:

Employee Grievances

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