SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY MBA(FRIDAY) HRM, Fall- 2019 Industrial Relations (IR) Course Code: HRM 6190 TOPIC: EMPLOYEE GRIEVANCES Class- 13 Date: Course Teacher: Md. Mashequr Rahman Khan mashequrrahmankhan@yahoo.com Grievance What is Employee Grievance? • Grievance is any dissatisfaction or injustice in connection with one’s employment situation • It can be any discontent or dissatisfaction, may be expressed or not, valid or not • Arising out of anything connected with the Company that an employee thinks, believes or even “feels” is unfair, unjustified or inequitable • It may be workplace violation. . What is Employee Grievance? In short, grievance is a • state of dissatisfaction, • expressed or unexpressed • written or unwritten • justified or unjustified having connection with employment situation . International Labor Organization (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. Common Causes of Grievances: • Compensation & Benefits related: Wages/ salary, Bonus, Overtime, House Rent/Housing Facilities etc. • Work Environment: Health & Safety, Lack of PPE, Defective Equipment, Work-life Balance, Working Hours, Leave • Unfair Trade Union • Lack of proper supervision & Justice • Inequity • Different types of Abuse, Misbehavior • Gender Inequity • Lack of Training & Development • Lack of Career Development • Lack of abiding Rules • Other relevant issues related to job and also work- life balance…… Common causes of Grievance Nature of Grievance Grounds/Areas of Employee Grievance: • • • • • • • • • • • • Promotions &Transfer Amenities Nature of job, Job contract Condition of Work & Continuity of service Different types of harassment Compensation and increment Disciplinary action Fines and Recovery of dues Safety appliance Leave Medical benefits and Others. Grievance Procedure • Grievance procedure is a method by which a grievance is filed and carried through different steps to an ultimate decision. The following are the feature of a good grievance procedure: – – – – – It should be demonstrably fair The provisions/rules should be clear and transparent Grievance procedure should be simple It should be function promptly Through this procedure discontent can be communicated Grievance Procedure (Cont....) • For retention of people good organizations normally draw up grievance procedure for dealing with grievances of the employees, which is possibly a very important tool of the management to provide satisfaction to the employees and retain them. • There are two types of grievances, individual grievance and group grievance. • Individual is normally relating to Transfer Promotion, Salary fixation etc. for individual. • Group relating to demand for job related demands, permanency of workers or unbearable heat in the shop floor or absence of water cooler during the Summer season etc. Principles of Handling Grievances The “Open Door “ Policy • A general invitation to all employees to informally drop in any time and talk over their grievances. Principles of Handling Grievances • • • • • • Open Door Policy-Opportunities Declaration itself a good message Reduce bureaucracy Employees’ morale boost up Reduce conflicts significantly Employees’ productivity enhance Management has more control and aware of effective situation Open Door policy- Limitations • Workable only in a small organizations • Front-line Supervisor is by passed • The top level management cannot get adequate clues to assess • Top management is likely to be too unfamiliar with the work situation. • Some employees hesitate to be singled out as having a grievance. Principles of Handling Grievances • GRIPE BOXES: This is a facility to file anonymous complaints about the causes of discontents and dissatisfactions- Purpose is to management know what employees feel that can be expressed without fear of victimization. • EXIT INTERVIEW: When employee(s) leave the organization, management can get the real picture • FORMAL EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION BY OUTSOURCING EXPARTS/ CONSULTANTS: Principles of Handling Grievances • Principles of Interviewing – – – – – Place the employee at ease Encourage talk Select a favorable location Hear the case fully Reach a definite closure Role of Supervisor – First opportunity to handle grievance – Front line supervisors play an important role How to Handle Grievances ? • • • • • • • • Put the Employee at Ease Listen with Sincere Interest Discuss Do Not Argue Get the Story Straight Get All the Facts How to Say No Save the Face of Complainer Prompt Action & Don’t Let in Happen Twice Assuring Safeguards • Transparency in management action • Free flow of communication • Clear personnel policy • Unspoken grievances are worse than spoken one. Grievance as per Labor Law • Labor law stipulates that when a worker submits his grievance to the manager in writing within 15 days of the cause of grievance, only then it becomes a grievance. • If we want a healthy work environment in our organization, we should look for unexpressed grievances also. • The best thing is to settle grievance on the spot, promptly and informally. if it fails, only then it should be processed in writing . • Please see: Chapter XIV of BLA-2006= Disputes, Labour Court, Labour Appellate Tribunal, Legal proceedings etc. Rules on Grievance Procedure • One important addition brought in by the BLR is in relation to grievance procedure. • CHAPTER II ,Section 33 of the BLA presented that: “Any worker, including a worker who has been laid-off, retrenched, discharged, dismissed, removed, or otherwise severance from employment, who has grievance in respect of any matter covered under chapter II, and intends to seek redress thereof under this section, shall forward his grievance to his employer, in writing, by registered post within thirty days of being informed of the cause of such grievance.” Grievance Procedure continued… • Section 33(3) of the BLA : “If the employer fails to give a decision … or if the worker is dissatisfied with such decision, he may make a complain in writing to the Labour court …” • The BLR in Rule no. 33 provides that such complaint to the Labour court must be made in the Form- 14. • The BLR in Rule no. 33 adds that Labour court may accept complaints not made in the Form-14 on reasonable grounds. The Crucial “W”s of Grievance Investigations Who When Where What Why Crucial “W”s (cont.) • • • • WHO is involved WHEN did it happen WHERE did it happen WHAT happened (EXACTLY) Crucial “W”s Continued • WHY it is considered as grievance • WHAT are the deadline dates • WHAT must be done to resolve the grievance Guidelines for writing Grievances • The Situation – Who, what, when & where • The Contention – Why is it grievable • The Remedy – What is needed to remedy the situation Grievance Handling System • A grievance handling system serves as an outlet for employees frustrations and discontentment. It operates like a pressure release valve on a stream boiler. Continued..... • The existence of an effective grievance procedure reduces the likelihood of arbitrary action by supervising staff because the supervisor knows that the worker can go higher up. • Employees have a right to be heard and are actually heard helps to improve morale of the people. A Broad Perspective… • Almighty Allah has created people in such a manner that at every stage of his life , except a few exceptional ones, he will have grievances. • A poor man’s grievance is that he does not have enough money. The rich man’s grievance is that he cannot sleep at night. • The opposition party in the parliament has innumerable grievances and they think that they will have no grievance when they will go to power. When they actually go to power, they have many grievances against the opposition party. • This will continue for ever...... But we have to address these with sympathy, empathy, lawfully and logically Essential Message • There are no hard and fast rules about dealing with all grievances. Good judgment will tell how to resolve a particular grievance. • When a Manager is over confident, he makes mistakes and ignores grievances and finally ends up with big trouble. It’s like Car driver. Normally the over confident drivers meet with big accidents. • For an example- I transferred a Manager without consulting his boss. The boss refused to release him. I had to cancel the transfer order. I was over confident, for which I failed.
