Unit 13 Grievance and Grievance

Procedure

Dr. Smita Choudhary

Faculty HR & OB

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 Contents
Introduction
•Concept of Grievance
•Causes of Grievances
•Forms and Effects of Grievance
•The Grievance Handling Procedure
•Need for Grievance Redressal Procedure
•Summary
•Check Your Learning
•Activity

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EMPLOYEE GRIEVANCE
Every employee has certain
expectations, which he thinks must be
fulfilled by the organization he is
working for. When the organizations
fail to do this, he develops a feeling
of dissatisfaction. When an employee
feels that something is unfair in the
organization, he is said to have a
grievance.

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 Introduction
• Almost every organization has some or the other type of grievance.
• In some cases employees may have complaints against their employers while sometimes employers may
have complaints against employees.
• Employee grievance causes unhappiness, frustration, dissatisfaction, lack of interest, poor morale.
• This has a negative effect on employee’s efficiency and productivity.

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 Learning Objectives
After studying this unit, you
will be able to
• Explain the meaning of
grievances and the
reason why they arise
• Understand the
importance of grievance
handling
• Describe grievance
machinery and procedure

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 Concept of Grievance
• Grievance is any discontent or dissatisfaction that affects organizational
performance.
• Grievance can be either dissatisfaction, or a complaint, or a grievance.
• Dissatisfaction is anything that disturbs an employee.
• A complaint is spoken or written dissatisfaction brought into the notice of the
supervisor.
• Grievance is a complaint conveyed by the employee or employees to the
management.

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 Concept of Grievance
Grievance is a sign of an employee’s discontent with job and its
value-any dissatisfaction or feeling of injustice in connection with
one’s employment situation that is brought to the notice of the
management.
•The broadest interpretation of the term grievance would include
any discontent or dissatisfaction that affects organisational
performance.
•The word grievance is often used in a generic form to indicate
various forms and stages of an employee’s dissatisfaction while at
work.
•While the dissatisfaction could be defined as anything that
disturbs an employee, a complaint is a spoken or written
dissatisfaction brought to the attention of the manager or to the
HR department/team member.
•Often employees view the HR team as the custodian of
employee content/discontent and take up their grievances with
the HR team.
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 Concept of Grievance
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) classifies grievance as a complaint of one or
more workers with respect to wages and allowances, conditions of work, 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.
•It must be expressed by the employee and brought to the notice of the management
and the organisation.
•Grievances take the form of collective disputes when they are not resolved. Also they
will then lower the morale and efficiency of the employees.

Unattended grievances result in frustration, dissatisfaction, low productivity, lack of

interest in work, absenteeism, etc.
•In short, grievance arises when employees’ expectations are not fulfilled from the
organisation, as a result of which a feeling of discontentment and dissatisfaction arises.
•This dissatisfaction must crop up from employment issues and not from personal issues.
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• “Grievance is a written complaint filed by an
employee and claiming unfair treatment”
---- Dale Yoder
• “Grievance is 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 unfair,
unjust or inequitable.”
---- Prof. Jucious
• Grievance is dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction of
an employee is anything that disturbs the
employee, whether expressed or not.
---- Prof. Pigors and Meyers

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 Factors affecting the
grievance
There are many factors of
grievance. Some of them are
—
1.Violation of management’s
responsibility such as poor working
conditions.
2.Violation of company’s rules and
regulations.
3.Violation of labour laws.
4. Violation of natural rules of justice
such as unfair treatment in promotion.

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Causes of Grievances

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 The Grievance Handling Procedure

• Guidelines to help a supervisor while dealing with grievance are:

• •Treat each case as important and get the grievance in writing.
• •Talk to the employee directly. Encourage him/her to speak the truth. Give him/her a patient hearing.
• •Discuss in a private place. Ensure confidentially if necessary.
• •Handle each case within a time-frame.
• •Examine company provisions in each case, Identify violations, if any, do not hold back the remedy if the
company is wrong. Inform your supervisor about all grievances.
• •Get all relevant facts about the grievance, examine the personal records of the aggrieved worker. See
whether any witnesses are available. Visit the work area. The idea is to find where things have gone wrong
and who is at fault.

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The Grievance Handling Procedure

• Gather information from the union representative, what he has to say, what he wants etc. Give short replies, uncovering
the truth as well as provisions. Treat him properly.
• •Control your emotions, your remark and behaviour
• •Maintain proper records and follow up the action taken in each case
The essential requirements of a good grievance procedure are:
• • Legality sustainable
• It should be ensured by the organisation that its grievance procedure is in conformity with the existing laws of nation.
• The procedure cannot violate any of the rights of the employees guaranteed by the law.

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The Grievance Handling Procedure
• •Mutually acceptable
• In order to be effective, the grievance procedure must enjoy the confidence of all the relevant parties, i.e.,
the management and the unions.
• It should not be like a battleground. Procedure must ensure equity, justice and openness.
• •Easily understandable
• The grievance procedure must be reasonably simple and easily understandable.
• Known to all the employees of the organisation.
• If someone has some grievance, then he/she should know who is to be contacted.

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The Grievance Handling Procedure
• Highly flexible
• The grievance procedure should be flexible enough to respond to the reported grievance quickly.
• The number of stages in the grievance procedure should be kept to the minimum.
• Sufficiently knowledgeable
• The managers, supervisors, union leaders and others dealing with employee grievance must be well-
trained in the grievance handling procedure.

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 Need for Grievance Redressal Procedure
• A grievance redressal procedure is needed for
the following reasons:
• In the absence of a grievance redressal
procedure, an employee could either keep his or
her dissatisfaction to himself/herself or share
with his/her colleagues. If he/she has no means
of express he/she will get frustrated.
• If the settlement does not satisfy at the first
level he/she can approach the next level.
• Grievance procedures keep a check on arbitrary
action.
• Grievance procedures help in upward
communication.
• A good grievance redressal system ensures that
employee grievances are settled before they
turn into an industrial conflict.

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Need for Grievance Redressal Procedure

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 Model Grievance Handling
Procedure
Arbitration

Top Management Top Union Leadership

Middle Management Company Union Grievance

Committee

Supervisor Union Steward

Aggrieved Employee

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