The Dos and Don’ts of Handling Grievances
Key Contact: Juliette Franklin
Top tips from Legal Director Juliette Franklin.
A grievance is a formal complaint raised by an employee, for example alleging discrimination or harassment, unfair treatment or disciplinary actions, an issue with working conditions, or with pay or contracts.
When one arises, handling it effectively is essential to avoid escalation and maintain the employee’s engagement and trust.
If grievances or difficult conversations are poorly managed, they can snowball into claims of constructive dismissal or discrimination.
The early bird catches the… grievance
The key to effective grievance handling is often as simple as catching potential grievances early. By fostering a good communication culture, encouraging open, informal conversations and then intervening early, tensions can be de-escalated before they get to the stage of formal grievance.
How? Not only should staff be encouraged to raise issues as soon as possible, but employers should train managers to spot signs of discontent and approach employees with empathy.
Difficult scenarios
With the best will in the world, difficult situations will arise in every workplace from time to time. Common triggers can include dismissal or redundancy, performance issues, or sensitive topics such as discrimination or harassment. Scenarios such as these require managers or HR professionals to conduct difficult conversations.
Handling tricky conversations
When discussing a difficult topic, preparation is key to avoid being caught off guard. Managers must:
- Understand the issue
- Have the facts ready
- Anticipate emotional responses
- Be clear on the desired outcome.
But being informed (and firm where necessary) shouldn’t come at the expense of making sure the employee feels listened to. Active listening, allowing the employee to express their concerns fully before responding, and approaching the conversation empathetically are essential. This means acknowledging the emotional weight of the topic for the individual, while remaining professional.
Delivering tough news effectively
As the bearer of bad tidings, it is essential to:
- Be clear, concise, and avoid being overly apologetic or defensive
- Manage your own emotions
- Maintain control of the conversation
- Stay calm and objective.
It’s also important to avoid immediate judgment clouding the facts.
If the situation becomes highly emotionally charged and spills over into confrontation, you will need to de-escalate:
- Stay calm
- Restate points
- Direct conversations towards constructive outcomes.
After the conversation has taken place, you should consider ways to learn from the situation and always monitor the outcome.
Designing and implementing an effective procedure for handling grievances
Having a grievance procedure is fundamental, and your benchmark should be the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures, particularly as a tribunal may consider whether this has been followed.
Your procedure should be clear and communicated effectively. It should contain:
- A formal submission process
When a grievance is raised, managers must listen impartially and demonstrably take the complaint seriously
- Investigation
Before taking any action, employers should conduct a fair investigation into the matter. An impartial investigator should be appointed, evidence gathered (including interviews), and confidentiality must be maintained.
- A grievance meeting should take place
This should be properly structured, and the investigation findings presented impartially. The meeting should be documented, and support offered to both the complainant and the respondent.
- Right to representation
Employees should have the right to be accompanied by a colleague or a trade union representative during disciplinary and grievance meetings.
- Fair hearing
Employees must be given a chance to respond to allegations or grievances before a decision is made.
- Written notification
Employers should provide written details of any decisions, including the reasons and any right to appeal.
- Appeals process
There should be a clear process for employees to appeal decisions, ensuring fairness and transparency.
- Feedback and ongoing monitoring
This is important in preventing future issues.
Above all, you must follow your procedure.
Do:
- Have an appropriate policy.
- Make sure your policy is regularly monitored, reviewed and updated.
- Empower stakeholders to raise genuine concerns in the appropriate way.
- Provide HR training to appropriate workers and managers.
- Remain impartial.
- Document everything.
- Follow up.
- Lead by example.
Don’t:
- Leave your policies to go stale.
- Leave concerns unanswered.
- Leave stakeholders believing that their concerns were not valid.
- Make inadvertent disclosures or breaches of confidentiality.
- Dismiss grievances too quickly.
- Get emotionally involved in difficult conversations.
For assistance in dealing with a grievance in your workplace, contact our Employment team.
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