Grievance is a feeling of discontentment or dissatisfaction among workers regarding anything concerned with the company. Grievance may be felt by any party (employer or employee) against the other party.
Dale S. Beach has expressed his view as follows- “Grievance is any dissatisfaction of feeling of injustice in connection with one’s employment situation that is brought to the attention of management.”
Grievance is also defined as real or imaginary feeling of personal injustice which an employee has, concerning his employment relations. Grievance implies dissatisfaction or distress or suffering or grief caused unnecessarily or illegally.
“Grievance is any dissatisfaction or feeling of injustice in connection with one’s employment situation that is brought to the attention of management.” Grievance may be real or imaginary feeling of personal injustice which an employ is concerning his employment relation.
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Learn about:- 1. Introduction to Employee Grievance 2. Definition of Grievance 3. Arising of Grievances 4. Discovery 5. Nature 6. Characteristics 7. Features 8. Sources 9. Steps 10. Redressal Procedure 11. Major Causes 12. Effects 13. Handling System.
Employee Grievance: Definition, Nature, Characteristics, Sources, Steps, Causes, Effects and Employee Grievance Handling System
Contents:
- Introduction to Employee Grievances
- Definition and Meaning of Employee Grievances
- Arising of Employee Grievances
- Discovering Employee Grievances
- Nature of Employee Grievances
- Characteristics of Employee Grievances
- Features of Employee Grievances
- Sources of Employee Grievances
- Model Grievance Procedure Steps
- Grievance Redressal Procedure
- Major Causes of Employee Grievances
- Effects of Employee Grievances
- Employee Grievance Handling System
Employee Grievance – Introduction
Grievance means any type of dissatisfaction or discontentment arising out of factors related to an employee’s job which he thinks is unfair. A grievance is a sign of an employee’s discontentment with his job or his relationship with his colleagues. Grievances generally arise out of the day-to-day working relations in an organization.
An employee or a trade union protests against an act or policy of the management that they consider as violating employee’s rights. A grievance arises when an employee feels that something has happened or is happening to him who he thinks is unfair, unjust or inequitable.
In an organization, a grievance may arise due to several factors such as:
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a. Violation of management’s responsibility such as poor working conditions
b. Violation of company’s rules and regulations
c. Violation of labour laws
d. Violation of natural rules of justice such as unfair treatment in promotion, etc.
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In practice there is hardly a company where the employees do not have grievances of one kind or the other. These grievances may be real or imaginary, valid or invalid, true or false. A grievance produces low morale, unhappiness, frustration and discontent in the employees which ultimately affects the concentration, efficiency and productivity of the employees. Therefore prompt redressal of grievances is a must for creating good labour management relations and promoting efficiency among employees.
The organisations that do not provide such complaint processing mechanisms for the employees may suffer from poor work, employee resentment, poor customer service, resistance to change and poor labour management relations Grievances must not be allowed to accumulate because grievance breed grievances. It will ultimately lead to increased absenteeism, go slow, and work to rule, demonstrations, gheraos and strikes. Thus, grievance is a rust on human relations.
In labour management relations, grievance is a complaint or representation made in writing as regard to a company related matter arising from employment or service conditions or from conditions involving unfair treatment by the employer or from violation of any agreement or standing instructions.
Grievance is also defined as real or imaginary feeling of personal injustice which an employee has, concerning his employment relations. Grievance implies dissatisfaction or distress or suffering or grief caused unnecessarily or illegally.
Employee Grievance – Definitions and Meaning
Grievance can be defined as employee dissatisfaction or feeling of personal injustice relating to his or her employment conditions. Dale Yoder defines grievance as “a written complaint filed by an employee claiming unfair treatment.”
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In a narrow perspective, grievance means interpretation of contract or award as concerns employment.
Grievance is a feeling of discontentment or dissatisfaction among workers regarding anything concerned with the company. Grievance may be felt by any party (employer or employee) against the other party. Dale S. Beach has expressed his view as follows- “Grievance is any dissatisfaction of feeling of injustice in connection with one’s employment situation that is brought to the attention of management.”
Richard R Calhoon defines “a grievance as anything that an employee thinks or feels is wrong, generally accompanied by an activity disturbing feeling.” The views in this connection have been well-expressed by Michael J. Jucius as “and discontent or dissatisfaction whether expressed or not and whether valid or not, arising out of anything concerted with the company that an employee thinks, believes or even feels is unfair, unjust or inequitable.”
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“The term ‘grievance’ means any discontent or dissatisfaction, whether expressed or not and whether valid or not, arising out of anything connected with the company that an employee thinks, believes or even feels, is unfair, unjust, or inequitable.” —Michael J. Jucius
This definition is very broad and covers all kinds of dissatisfaction which an employee has while doing his job. A grievance means any discontentment or dissatisfaction 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.
Keith Davis has defined grievance as – “any real or imagined feeling of personal injustice which an employee has concerning his employment relationship.” A grievance represents a situation in which an employee feels that something unfavourable to him has happened or is going to happen.
Pigors and Myers observe that the three terms “dissatisfaction”, “complaint”, and “grievance” indicate three forms and stages of employee dissatisfaction.
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According to them, “a dissatisfaction is anything that disturbs an employee, whether or not he expresses his unrest in words………….. A complaint is a spoken or written dissatisfaction brought to the attention of the supervisor and the shop steward….A grievance is simply a complaint that has been ignored, overridden or dismissed without due consideration.”
For example – Eight workers work under a Foreman. “Whenever overtime job is distributed, it is given only to those close to the Foreman and is never equally distributed, “is what Mr. G, a worker feels. This feeling of Mr. G is a felt grievance.
Dale Beach states as follows – “Grievance is any dissatisfaction or feeling of injustice in connection with one’s employment situation that is brought to the attention of management.”
Edwin B Flippo observes that, “The grievance is a type of discontent which must always be expressed. A grievance is usually more formal in character than a complaint. It can be valid or ridiculous, and must grow out of something connected with company operations or policy. It must involve an interpretation or application of the provisions of the labour contract.”
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Thus, when an individual worker or a group of workers or trade union feels that some injustice is being committed and the act of the employer or his agent is against the collective agreement, individual contract of employment, Standing Orders, law, regulation, work-rule, custom or usage, it is a grievance. When dissatisfaction is expressed in writing it becomes a complaint.
Grievance may be real or imaginary feeling of personal injustice which an employ is concerning his employment relation.
Grievances must not be allowed to accumulate and their immediate redressal is necessary because grievances breed grievances. Pitting up of grievances may create & sense of frustration, disloyalty and non-cooperation among workers who may lose their interest in the work and thus may affect the quality and quantity of the output.
This may also lead to indiscipline and may result in go-slow, increased absenteeism, work-to-rule, demonstrations, gherao, violence, and strikes. Proper disposal of grievances requires serious consideration for harmonious industrial relations and maintenance of industrial peace. Employees sometimes do not know precisely what makes them dissatisfied. But they still feel something which dissatisfies them.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) classifies a grievance “as a complaint of one or more workers with respect to wages and allowances, conditions of work and interpretations of service stipulations covering such areas as overtime, leave, transfer, promotion, seniority, job assignment and termination of service”.
The National Commission of Labour states that “Complaints affecting one or more individual workers in respect of their wage payments, overtime, leave, transfer, promotion, seniority, work assignment and discharges would constitute grievances.”
Employee Grievance – 6 Varied Reasons for the Arising of Grievances
There may be varied reasons for the arising of grievances which may be summarized as follows:
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(i) Differences of opinion or thought may give rise to a grievance. When both the parties strike to their contradictory views and opinions and it becomes a prestige point for both the parties, grievance may arise.
(ii) Position of trade union in the organisation may be the reason for grievance. Where labour organisations are new and/or strong and they bent upon to do something which they consider it to be in the interest of the workers, but the management does not agree to the proposal made by them, the grievance arises.
(iii) Doubts and fears in the minds of workers for any injustice to be committed to them may give rise to the grievance.
(iv) Demand for labour welfare facilities or for improvement in the working conditions of labour may be the case for grievance.
(v) Grievance may be caused by any social injustice. If a facility is provided in similar units, it may be a bone of contention in this industry or unit.
(vi) Grievances may arise on company’s personnel policies, practices and procedures involving matters of discipline, dismissal, payment of wages and other fringe benefits, working time, over-time, promotions, demotions, transfer, rights deriving from seniority, rights of supervisors and union officials, relationship of work rules to the collective agreement and fulfilment of obligation relating to safety and health. If such matters are not dealt with strictly according to a procedure that secures the rights of the parties or dealt with in a prejudiced manner or such questions are being assigned a different explanation may give rise to a grievance.
The grievance, as soon as it is brought to the knowledge of the manager/employer should be anlaysed. The systems, procedures, practices and personalities in the organisation need to be examined. It is because sometimes the formally stated grievance is not always the real grievance. There may be some hidden reasons which should be looked into.
Employee Grievance – 4 Important Tools that Help in Discovering Grievances
The following are the important tools, which help in discovering grievances:
Tool # 1. Exit Interview:
Employees usually quit organizations due to dissatisfaction or other prospects elsewhere. Exit interviews, if conducted carefully, can provide important information about employees’ grievances.
An exit interview is typically a meeting between at least one representative from a company’s human resources (HR) department and a departing employee. (The departing employee usually has voluntarily resigned vs. getting laid off or fired.) The HR representative might ask the employee questions while taking notes, asks the employee to complete a questionnaire, or both.
Human resource departments conduct exit interviews to gather data for improving working conditions and retaining employees. However, a hidden purpose is to help employers avoid costly litigation down the road, caused by “disgruntled” employees. In other words, an employee’s comments and the notes an HR representative takes during an exit interview might be used against an employee in court, should he decide to sue former employer.
From the departing employee’s interviewee perspective, an exit interview is a chance to give some constructive feedback, and to leave on a positive note, with good relations and mutual respect. Recrimination, blame, revenge and spite are destructive feelings and behaviours, so resist any temptation you might have to go out all guns blazing. Be calm, fair, objective and as helpful as possible.
In the future you may wish to return to the organization (situations and people change), and you may cross the paths of your ex-colleague, managers in the future. The adage about treating people well on your way up because you might meet them on the way down applies just as well on your way out. The exit interview is an opportunity to shake hands and leave friends, not enemies.
Tool # 2. Gripe Boxes:
These are the boxes where the employees can drop their anonymous complaints, suggestions, opinions, etc. They are different from suggestion boxes, in which employees drop their named suggestions with an intention to receive rewards. This technique is to facilitate employee free expressions of thought. The HRD department seriously looks into the gripe boxes and initiate changes based on the same.
Tool # 3. Opinion Surveys:
It is one of the ways of getting information about employee satisfaction and experience of a particular system or process in place. This can be done through different means like group meetings, periodical interviews with employees, collective bargaining sessions, etc.
Tool # 4. Open-Door Policy:
Some organizations extend a general invitation to their employees to drop in the manager’s room any time and talk over their grievances.
At first glance, this policy may appear very attractive but it has the following limitations:
i. Open door policy is workable only in very small organizations. In big organizations when management by exception is practiced, the top management does not have the time to attend to innumerable routine grievances daily that is the work of lower-level managers.
ii. This policy bypasses the frontline supervisor who should be the first man to know about the grievances of his subordinates. 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 the superior will interpret this as his failure to handle his subordinates.
iii. By following an “open-door” policy the top management cannot have adequate clues to assess a supervisor’s skill in handling grievances. It does not know what action the supervisor would have taken to resolve a grievance.
iv. Top management is likely to be too unfamiliar with the work situation in which the grievances developed to be able to evaluate correctly the information that it gets. There may be several levels of management between the operative employees and the top president of a company. Theoretically, each level affords an equal opportunity for distortion, fading and delay of certain facts on which a complaint may be based.
v. Though the door of the executive’s office remains physically open, psychological and social barriers prevent employees from actually entering it. Some employees hesitate to be singled out as having a grievance. Others are afraid they will incur their supervisor’s disfavour.
vi. Sometimes an open-door policy is used to hide the top management’s own hesitation to make contacts with the operatives and the open door is often a slogan to conceal closed minds.
The way the open-door policy can be most effective is for a manager to walk through it and get out among his people. The open door is for managers to walk through, not employees. The true test of such a policy is whether the top man behind the door has an open attitude and his employees psychologically free to enter.
Employee Grievance – Factors which Disturb the Employees
Grievances arise on account of some factors which disturb the employees.
These factors are:
(a) Poor working conditions in the organization.
(b) Violation of the rules of promotion and growth of the company, where the employee suffers.
(c) Violation of labour laws by the company.
(d) The management breaching the agreement with the trade unions regarding employee oriented issues.
(e) Irrational way of removing people from job, or transferring them from a job to another.
(f) Unrealistic production standards, timings of the factory etc.
From the above mentioned factors, it is clear that grievance is:
(i) A feeling of discontent or dissatisfaction with any aspect of the organization.
(ii) Discontent may be for very imaginary reasons sometimes. It has been noticed that many a times, the perception of employee about a particular issue, valid or invalid, legitimate or irrational disturbs him. This disturbance in his mind brings in him a feeling that injustice has been done to him. There may or may not be a valid reason for the grievance but it is noticed.
(iii) If discontent is taken care of by the leaders, grievances never happen. Only when the discontent is ignored for a long time, grievances come up. It has been experienced by managers that a hearty talk with employees clarifies more than ninety per cent issues related to pay hikes, growth etc. and the grievances are settled. But, they may again grow when after a lapse of some time, some issues remain unattended or unsolved.
(iv) A grievance is basically an unfulfilled desire, need, want or expectation. The unfulfilled expectations of an employee from the employer are sometime noticed but sometimes not noticed. The voiced discontent may be addressed but unvoiced discontent lays foundation for grievances in future.
Employee Grievance – 3 Main Characteristics: Factual, Imaginary and Disguised
A grievance may have the following characteristics:
i. Factual:
The employer-employee relationship depends upon the job contract in any organisation. This contract indicates the norms defining the limits within which the employee expects the organisation to fulfill his aspirations, needs or expectations. When these legitimate needs of expectations or aspirations are not fulfilled, the employee will be dissatisfied with the job.
Such dissatisfaction is called factual grievance. For instance, when an employee is not given promotion which is due to him or when work conditions are unsafe, grievances of employee relating to these issues are based on facts. In other words, these grievances reflect the drawbacks in the implementation of the organisational policies.
ii. Imaginary:
When the job contract is not clear-cut and does not indicate the norms defining the limits within which the employee expects the organisation fulfill his needs or aspirations, the employee develops such needs which the organisation is not obliged to meet. Here, grievances are not based on facts. Even then the employee feels aggrieved.
Normally, the organisation does not feel any kind of responsibility for such grievances and their redressal, because they are based not only on wrong perceptions of the employee but also on wrong information. However, such grievances can have far-reaching consequences on the organisation because the employees are likely to develop an altogether negative attitude towards the organisation which decreases their effectiveness and involvement in work.
iii. Disguised:
In general organisations consider the basic requirements of their employees. Psychological needs of the employees such as need for recognition, affection, power, achievement etc., are normally unattended and ignored.
For instance, an employee complaining very strongly about the working conditions in the office may in turn be seeking some recognition and appreciation from his or her colleagues. Hence, disguised grievances should also be considered since they do have far-reaching consequences in case they are unattended and ignored.
Some more features of grievance are:
1. The discontent should have been caused by something connected with the organisation concerned.
2. The discontent may be valid or invalid, genuine or ingenuine, real or imaginary, true or untrue, rational or ridiculous, in writing or not.
3. The discontent may be expressed or implied.
Employee Grievance – 5 Important Features: Discontent, Employment Concerned, Voice, Validity and Consequences
Some important features of grievances are as under:
1. Discontent – A grievance refers to any form of discontent or dissatisfaction with an aspect of the organisation.
2. Employment Concerned – The dissatisfaction may arise out of employment and not due to personal or family problems.
3. Voice – A grievance may be voiced or unvoiced.
4. Validity – A grievance may be valid or invalid, legitimate or irrational, justifiable or ridiculous.
5. Consequences – A grievance raised unhappiness, discontent, frustration, indifference to work, poor morale and ultimately results inefficiency and low productivity.
Features of a Good Grievance Procedure:
Every employee joins in an organization with a set of expectations. When the management fails to fulfil some of his expectations, it turns into grievance or dissatisfaction. Thus, grievance arises due to the gap between expectation and the extent of fulfilment.
The grievance procedure should be built on the following principles:
1. Conformity to Legal Provisions – Grievance procedure should conform to legal provisions.
2. Acceptability – Grievance procedure should ensure a sense of fair play and justice to employees, adequate participation of employees and union, and reasonable exercise of authority by management. Thus, it should be acceptable to employees, union and management.
3. Simplicity – The procedure prescribed should not be too cumbersome to follow. Employee should understand whom they should approach and what they should do.
4. Promptness – There should be a time frame within which grievance should be addressed at various stages. All persons involved in grievance should be trained in handling the grievances.
Employee Grievance – Various Sources of Grievance
Various sources of grievance may be categorized under three heads:
(i) Management policies,
(ii) Working conditions and
(iii) Personal factors
1. Grievance resulting from management policies include:
a. Wage rates
b. Leave policy
c. Overtime
d. Lack of career planning
e. Role conflicts
f. Lack of regard for collective agreement
g. Disparity between skill of worker and job responsibility
2. Grievance resulting from working conditions include:
a. Poor safety and bad physical conditions
b. Unavailability of tools and proper machinery
c. Negative approach to discipline
d. Unrealistic targets
3. Grievance resulting from interpersonal factors include:
a. Poor relationships with team members
b. Autocratic leadership style of superiors
c. Poor relations with seniors
d. Conflicts with peers and colleagues
It is necessary to distinguish a complaint from grievance. A complaint is an indication of employee dissatisfaction that has not been submitted in written. On the other hand, a grievance is a complaint that has been put in writing and made formal.
Grievances are symptoms of conflicts in industry. Therefore, management should be concerned with both complaints and grievances, because both may be important indicators of potential problems within the workforce. Without a grievance procedure, management may be unable to respond to employee concerns since managers are unaware of them. Therefore, a formal grievance procedure is a valuable communication tool for the organization.
Employee Grievance – Steps (Adopted by the Indian Labour Conference)
Grievance machinery will be required to be set up in each undertaking to administer the grievance procedure.
The model grievance procedure as has been given by the 16th session of the Indian labour conference in September 1958 is listed as under:
1. The aggrieved employee would present his/her grievance to the one designated by the management expecting a reply within 48 hours.
2. If not satisfied, they present the grievance to the head of the department, expecting the reply within three days of representation.
3. If the decision of the head is not satisfactory, the grievance may be forwarded to the grievance committee, which shall make recommendations within seven days.
4. If not satisfied still, the employee has the right to appeal to the management for revision of the case.
5. If no agreement is still possible, union and management may refer the grievance to voluntary arbitration.
6. Workers representatives on the grievance committee shall have the right to access any document connected with the enquiry.
7. The management shall provide the necessary clerical and other assistances for the smooth functioning of the grievance machinery.
8. This procedure would not apply in case of grievances arising out of discharge/dismissal of a workman.
Model Grievance Procedure
Since Independence, a number of steps have been taken by the Government under various Acts to provide machinery for handling grievances of the industrial workers at unit level. In many industrial units, management and trade unions worked out grievance procedures by mutual agreements but there were still many industrial units which did not have any grievance handling machinery and procedure.
When day to day grievances piled up and the situation turned into worse, the matter was referred to the 15th Session of the Indian Labour Conference 1957 which accepted the code of discipline. It also worked out a Model Grievance procedure for adoption by the parties.
The Model Grievance Procedure as adopted by the Indian Labour Conference is follows:
A grievance machinery will be required to be set up in each undertaking to administer the grievance procedure. The minimum requirements of such a machinery would be as follows, except where an established procedure is already working to the mutual satisfaction of either party. Even in the latter case, every effort shall be made to bring the procedure in conformity with the guiding principles.
For the purpose of constituting a fresh grievance machinery workers in each department (and where a department is too small, in a group of departments) and each shift, shall elect from among themselves and for a period of not less than one year at a time departmental representatives and forward the list of persons so elected to the management.
Where the union(s) in the undertaking are in a position to submit an agreed list of names, recourse to election may not be necessary, similar is the case where works committees are functioning satisfactorily, since the works committees’ member of a particular constituency shall act as the departmental representative correspondingly, the management shall designate the persons for each department who shall be approached at the first stage and the departmental heads for handling grievances at the second stage.
Two or three of the departmental representative of workers and two or three departmental heads nominated by the management shall constitute the grievance committee the composition of which is indicated in Annexure-B. In case of appeals against discharges it or dismissals, the management shall designate the authority to whom appeals could be made.
While adaptations have to be made to meet the special circumstances such as those obtaining in the reference undertakings, railways plantations and also small undertakings employing few workmen the procedure normally envisaged in the handling of the grievances should be as follows-
(i) An aggrieved employee shall first present his grievance verbally in person to the officer designated by the management for this purpose. An answer shall b£ given within 48 hours of the presentation of complaint.
(ii) If the worker is not satisfied with the decision of this officer or fails to receive an answer within the stipulated period, he shall, either in person or accompanied by his departmental representative present his grievance to head of the department designated by the management for the purpose of handling grievances (for this purpose, a fixed time shall be specified during which on any working day, an aggrieved worker could meet the departmental head for presentation of grievance). The departmental head shall give his answer within three days of the presentation of grievance. If action cannot be taken within that period, the reason for delay should be recorded.
(iii) If the decision of the department head is unsatisfactory the aggrieved worker may request the forwarding of his grievance to the grievance committee which shall make its recommendations to the manager within 7 days of the worker’s request. If the recommendations could not be made within the time limit, the reason for such delay should be recorded. Unanimous recommendations of the grievance committee shall be implemented by the management.
In the event of a difference of opinion among the members of the grievance committee, the views of the members along with the relevant papers shall be placed before the manager for final decision. In either case, the final decision of the management shall be communicated to the workman concerned by the personnel officer within 3 days from the receipt of the grievance committee’s recommendations.
(iv) If no agreement is still possible, the union and the management may refer the grievance to voluntary arbitration within a week of the receipt by the worker of management’s decisions.
(v) Should the decision from the management be not forthcoming within the stipulated period or should it be unsatisfactory, the worker shall have the right to appeal to management for a revision. In making this appeal, the worker, if he so desired, shall have the right to take a union official along with him to facilitate discussion with management. Management shall communicate its decision within a week of the workman’s revision petition.
(vi) Where a worker has taken up a grievance for redressal under this procedure, the formal conciliation machinery shall not intervene till all steps in the procedure are exhausted. A grievance shall be presumed to assume the form of a dispute only whet other final decision of the top management in respect of the grievance is not acceptable to the worker.
(vii) Workers representatives on the grievance committee shall have the right of access to any document connected with the enquiry maintained in the department and which may be necessary to understand the merit or otherwise of the workers’ grievances. The management representatives shall have the right, however, to refuse to show any document or give any information which consider to be of a confidential nature, pseudo confidential document(s) shall not be used against the workmen in the course of grievance proceedings.
(viii) If a grievance arises out of an order given by management, the said order shall be complied with before the workman concerned involves the procedure laid down for redressal of grievance. If, however, there is a time-lag between the issue of order and its compliance, the grievance procedure may immediately be invoked but the order nevertheless must be complied within the due date, even if all the steps in the grievance procedure have not been exhausted. It may, however, be advisable for the management to await the findings of grievance procedure machinery.
(ix) There shall be a time limit within which an appeal shall be taken from one step to the other. For this purpose, the aggrieved worker shall within 72 hours of the receipt of the decision at one stage (or if no decision is arrived, on the expiry of the stipulated period) till his appeal with the authority at the next higher stage should he feel inclined to appeal.
(x) In calculating the various time intervals under the above clause holidays shall not be reckoned.
(xi) Management shall provide the necessary clerical and other assistance for the smooth functioning of the grievance machinery.
(xii) If however, there be any complaint against any individual member of the staff, who is nominated by the management to handle grievance at the lowest level, the worker may take up his grievance at the next higher stage i.e., at the level of departmental head.
These five steps are:
1. At the first on initial stage, an aggrieved employee presents his grievance before the management officer. And it is the responsibility of the management officer to give answer within 48 hours of the presentation of complaint.
2. If the employee is not satisfied with the decision of first step, then he goes, either in person or accompanied by his departmental representative, to the head of the department and presented his grievances. The departmental head bound to give his reply with three days of the presentation of grievance.
3. If the decision of the departmental head is found unsatisfactory, then, the employee requested to the grievance committee which gave its recommendation to the manager within 7 days of receiving the employee’s request. Then, the management implements unanimous recommendations of the grievance committee.
Here, there is difference of opinion among the members of the grievance committee, thus, the views of the members are presented before the manager with its relevant papers for final decision. Final decision of the management is communicated to the employee by the personnel officer within three days from the receipt of the grievance committee’s recommendation.
4. If the decision of the management is not communicated to the employee within that period or if the result is unsatisfactory, employee have the right to appeal to the management for a revision. And the management shall communicate its decision within a week of the employee’s revision petition.
5. If no agreement is possible, the union and the management refer the grievance to voluntary arbitration within a week of the receipt by the employee of management’s decision.
Employee Grievance – Redressal Procedure: Open Door Policy and Step-Ladder Procedure
Minor grievances if unsettled, become serious gradually and affect the working of an organization adversely. Therefore, the grievances should be handled promptly by the managers. If they are not handled in time, they disturb the industrial peace. There should be a systematic handling or grievances by every organization so as to dispose them as early as possible. There are two types of grievance procedures for redressing the grievance of employees.
These are:
(i) Open door policy procedure
(ii) Step-ladder procedure.
(i) Open Door Policy:
As the name signifies, it is a policy where all employees are free to meet top management executives of the organization to speak about their grievances. They are represented by some senior employees if they so wish. The aim of the employees is to personally meet the top management of the organization and give them the first hand information about the problems that they face or the deep seated discontent that has grown into a grievance.
The advantage of this policy is that every employee gets a chance to meet top executive with their grievance and so he feels important. There is also a feeling that redressal will come soon after face to face interaction between the two parties. Finally, this method keeps up the morale of employees.
The procedure suffers from the following limitations:
(a) Such a policy is very good for small organizations where top executives sit in the same office, and can be free to talk to employees any time of the day. In big organizations, there is a big special barrier between top executives and workers. They may be placed in some far off locations where it is not practical to personally come in touch with them easily.
(b) Another disadvantage of open door policy is that in big organizations, top executives will be too busy in corporate matters to look into employee grievances.
(c) Lower level executives may feel by passed by the middle or senior level executives who take part in the open door discussions. This may lead to complications in the human relations between employees.
(d) The top executives do not have much idea about the working conditions at the operative level unless they have been through it themselves during earlier part of their life. Thus, they cannot redress the problems at operative levels on account of lack of information about operative climate.
(e) Open door policy is not used by employees at lower level due to lack of confidence in them. They may want not to speak about their problems with top management. This hesitation is bad for their problem’s redressal. Senior executives can, however, use this policy for their grievance redressals as they have better access to the top management. Because of these problems, step ladder procedure may be adopted.
(ii) Step Ladder Procedure:
Under this procedure, the aggrieved employee has to proceed towards his problem’s solution step by step. First he has to present his grievance to his immediate supervisor. If he is not able to get any satisfactory solution, he will then go a step further and may give his grievance in writing to the head of the department.
If the head of the department has not been able to solve the problem then the issue is referred to a joint grievance committee. This committee has people from top management, the department representative and the employee representative.
Many times, the joint committee’s decision is also not acceptable to employees, the matter may be referred to the chief executive. If the grievance has yet not been redressed, the employee should not jump over to the labour courts. He should try to ask for voluntary arbitration for the redressal of his grievance.
Model Grievance Procedure in India:
Step 1:
If grievance gets settled at the first step it is very healthy for both, the management as well as the employee. The supervisor should be able to give his output on the issue within 3-4 days (48 hours).
Step 2:
If no solution is found by the employee from the superior, he may go to the head of the department with the same complaint. The head of the department should give the response within 3 days. If the employee is not satisfied with the response of the head of the department, he will take the next step.
Step 3:
If the employee is not happy with the response given by HOD, he will go to the joint grievance committee with his grievance. The grievance committee will go through the case from the very initial stage and give employee the decision within seven days.
The final decision of the joint grievance committee will be given to management of the organization in the form of a formal report. This report will be gone through by the management and based on it, they will give decision on the grievance. The decision of management must be communicated to the aggrieved worker within 3 days.
Step 4:
After receiving the communication from management, if he is still not satisfied, he can file appeal for revision of the decision with top management of the company. The management must communicate its decision to the appellant worker within seven days.
Step 5:
If the grievance still remains unsettled, the case may then be referred to voluntary arbitration. This is the final step after which the case will be sent to the labour courts/conciliation machinery if so required by the employee.
Employee Grievance – 4 Major Causes: Working Conditions, Management Policies, Personal Factors and Alleged Violations of Rules
The causes of grievances may be grouped under the following categories:
(a) Grievances on Account of Working Conditions:
Employees want to work in good working conditions. They feel very dissatisfied if there are no lights and fans in the workshop, no canteen for their food, no tools for them to work with etc. The machines they are working on may be very old and worn out.
They may feel that the supervisors are unduly strict. Sometimes, the work standards are kept so high by the company that employees feel dissatisfied with them. They, therefore, cause grievances in their mind against the organization.
(b) Grievances on Account of Management Policies:
Grievances arise out of wage payment policies, overtime and incentive schemes, seniority and transfer policies, hostility towards trade unions, unfair leave rules, penalties imposed on misconduct of employees etc.
(c) Grievances Arising out of Personal Factors:
Some employees have grievances due to their own attitude, behaviour and age problems. Over ambitious employees always feel that they have been given lesser jobs than what they deserve. They do not, at times, want to report to a boss who is junior to them in age. They may not want to accept changes which the organization wants from them in terms of technological changes, structural changes etc.
(d) Grievances Arising from Alleged Violations of Rules:
Employees feel cheated when agreements made between labour unions and management under the collective bargaining have been breached. Company rules and regulations, at times, are not followed. This leads to discontent in the minds of employees. It has been observed that some organizations do not observe any rules and regulations regarding giving leave to employees, bonus to employees, festival allowance etc. to them. These past practices, if not changed, agitate the employees. These are the source of employee grievances.
Grievances may occur due to a number of reasons:
1. Economic – Employees may demand for individual wage adjustments. They may feel that they are paid less when compared to others. For example, late bonus payments, adjustments to overtime pay, perceived inequalities in treatment, claims for equal pay, and appeals against performance-related pay awards.
2. Work environment – It may be undesirable or unsatisfactory conditions of work. For example, light, space, heat, or poor physical conditions of workplace defective tools and equipment, poor quality of material, unfair rules and lack of recognition.
3. Supervision – It may be objections to the general methods of supervision related to the attitudes of the supervisor towards the employee such as perceived notions of bias, favoritism, nepotism, caste affiliations and regional feelings.
4. Organizational change – Any change in the organizational policies can result in grievances. For example, the implementation of revised company policies or new working practices.
5. Employee relations – Employees are unable to adjust with their colleagues, suffer from feelings of neglect and victimization and become an object of ridicule and humiliation or other inter-employee disputes.
6. Miscellaneous – These may be issues relating to certain violations in respect of promotions, safety methods, transfer, disciplinary rules, fines, granting leaves, medical facilities, etc.
Grievances may be caused by a number of factors such as organisation related, work environment related, work group related, supervision related, economic issues related, violation of rules related or workers self-related.
However, grievances are mostly related to supervision, working conditions, victimisation, promotion, transfer, retirement, increments, OT, wages, bonus, incentives, seniority, leave, fringe benefits, disciplinary action, fine, difference of opinion, doubts and fears, attitude of trade union, ego, impractical attitude to life, wrong placement and so on.
Chandra’s survey has also pointed out most of these causes. However, at times, the apparent cause of a grievance may not be a real one. The shoe might be pinching elsewhere. Still, the management should make every effort to study every grievance very carefully, analyse its root cause(s) and take remedial steps including change in the relevant policy, if need be.
Employee Grievance – Adverse Effects on Production, Employees and Managers
Grievances, if not identified and redressed, may adversely affect workers, managers, and the organization.
The effects are the following:
1. On the Production:
(a) Low quality of production
(b) Low productivity
(c) Increase in the wastage of material, spoilage/leakage of machinery
(d) Increase in the cost of production per unit.
2. On the Employees:
(a) Increases in the rate of absenteeism and turnover
(b) Reduction in the level of commitment, sincerity and punctuality
(c) Increase in the incidence of accidents
(d) Reduction in the level of employee morale.
3. On the Managers:
(a) Strained superior-subordinate relations
(b) Increase in the degree of supervision and control
(c) Increase in indiscipline cases
(d) Increase in unrest and thereby machinery to maintain industrial peace.
Employee Grievance – Important Steps Taken in Handling Grievances of Employees
A grievance handling system like counselling is a process of employees’ emotional release of their dissatisfaction. It provides a means by which a frustrated and aggrieved employee can become aggressive and strike back at the various controls which any group imposes on him.
Grievance procedures help to establish and maintain a work culture or way of life. A manager tends to deal each problem with more human touch when he knows that some of these actions are subject to challenge and review in a grievance system.
Every worker has equal right to present his grievances to his employer and obtain their redressal. The management must also see that grievances so received are well settled to the satisfaction of the workers.
The following steps should be taken in handling grievances:
Grievances are human problems and are to be handled in a human way. Every worker has the right to present his grievances to his employer and obtain their redressal.
The following are the important steps that should be taken in handling grievances:
1. Identification of the Problem – Define, express and describe the nature of grievance of the employee’s complaint as early as possible, so that the wrong complaint may not be presented and the real grievance may not turn up again.
2. Collection of Facts and Information – After locating the problem, the next step is to gather all relevant facts about the issue. Fact gathering requires interviewing and listening to employees. This will, however, give a feeling to the employees that the management is sincere in giving them justice.
3. To suggest Alternative Solutions – After getting the real picture of the grievance, the management must make a list of alternative solutions. If possible the suitability of the decision may be checked before taking and announcing the final decision.
4. To gather Additional Information – Gather additional information for arriving a best possible solution. For this the past experience of the officer in similar cases may be helpful. Company’s own record of grievances, if maintained can also be used in this respect.
5. To Finalise the Decision – The final decision should then be passed in clear terms to all the concerned at the earliest. The ultimate decision is the prompt action.
6. To do the constant Follow Up – Follow up the case so that it is handled satisfactorily and the trouble is eliminated. It is essential to follow the grievance handled so that the same grievance does not re-occur.
A successful grievance system should follow underlying principles to ensure prompt and complete eradication of the problem:
(i) It should be prompt, well-defined, simple and time-bound.
(ii) It should be settled at the lowest level of the grievance procedure.
(iii) It should provide for reference of different types of grievances to appropriate authorities or bodies.
(iv) It should be in conformity with the existing legislation.
(v) It should involve the union in framing a grievance procedure and in its implementation.