Grievance procedure

Wiki home Page list Inbound links Page history

Where a team member feels that a management decision or action is unfair or unreasonable, they should have a means to have the decision reviewed.

The organisation may have a grievance procedure which can be used. Generally this will include a number of stages.

The team member takes up the matter with their line manager informally.
If no satisfactory solution is found at an informal meeting between the team member and the line manager, the team member formally writes to their line manager, using a grievance form see Resources
If the team member is not satisfied with the written response or indeed does not receive one, the team member writes to the next level of management and so on.
If no satisfactory solution found within the organisation, the team member can appeal to an external body such as Labour Tribunal .

Risks

Failure to have a grievance procedure which responds to genuine complaints can lead to frustration and high staff turnover
Failure to find an acceptable solution early on can lead to a hardening of positions, and mounting costs in both time and money during subsequent stages of the grievance procedure
The management structure will be undermined if team members unjustifiably jump one or more stages especially if grievances are unfounded, malicious or minor.