Employee Grievances

Meaning
Every employee has certain expectations, which he thinks
must be fulfilled by the organization he is working for.
When the organization fails to do this he develops a feeling
of dissatisfaction. When an employee feels something is
unfair in the organization he is said to have a grievance.
According to International Labour Organisation,
Grievance means, a complaint of one or more workers in
respect of wages, allowances, conditions of work and
interpretation of service stipulations covering such areas as
overtime, leave, transfer, promotion, seniority, job
assignment, and termination of service.

Meaning
Employee grievance are situations in which the
employees are dissatisfied with the company.
A grievance is any dissatisfaction that adversely
affect the organizational relations and
productivity.
Michael J. Jucious defined Grievances as any
discontent or dissatisfaction, whether valid or not,
arising out of anything connected with the
company that one employee thinks, believes or
even feels, is unfair, unjust or inequitable.

Meaning
It arises when an employee feels that something
has happened or is going to happen which is
unfair, unjust or inequitable. Thus, a grievance
represents a situation in which an employee feels
that something unfavorable to him has happened
or is going to happen. In an industrial enterprise,
an employee may have grievance because of
long hours of work, non-fulfillment of terms of
service by the management, unfair treatment in
promotion, poor working facilities, etc.

Causes of Grievances
There are certainly some of the causes that can
lead to Grievances. Some of them are listed
( III ) Supervision
below:
( II ) Work Environment

(I)
Economic
Wage fixation.
Overtime.
Incentive.

Poor physical condition of

workplace like- unsafe working
conditions, illumination, poor
ventilation and unsafe
equipments.
Stringent production norms.

Allowances.

Defective tools and

equipment.

Increments

Poor quality of material.

Unfair practices.
Nature of Job.
Poor quality raw material,
tools, equipments.etc.

Relates to the attitude of

the supervisor towards the
employee such as
perceived notions of bias,
favoritism, regional
feelings etc.
( IV ) Work Group
Employee is unable to
adjust with his colleagues.
Suffers from feelings of
neglect.
Victimization and
becomes an object of
ridicule and humiliation
etc.

Nature of Grievances
Grievances are symptoms of conflicts in the
enterprise. Just like smoke could mean fire, similarly
grievances could lead to serious problem if it is not
addressed immediately. So they should be handled
very promptly and efficiently.
While dealing with grievances of subordinates, it is
necessary to keep in mind the following points:
A grievance may or may not be real.
Grievance may arise out of not one cause but
multifarious causes.
Every individual does not give expression to his
grievances.

Forms of Grievances
A grievance may take any of the following forms:
Factual: When an employee is dissatisfied with
his job, for genuine or factual reasons like a
breach of terms of employment or any other
reasons that are clearly attributed to the
management, he is said to have a factual
grievance. Thus, factual grievances arise when
the legitimate needs are unfulfilled. The problem
that he has is real and not virtual.

Forms of Grievances
Imaginary: When an employees grievance or
dissatisfaction is not because of any factual or
valid reason but because of wrong perception,
wrong attitude or wrong information he has. Such
a grievance is called an imaginary grievance.
Though it is not the fault of management, the
responsibility of dealing with it still rests with the
management. So the problem is not real. It is in
the mind or just a feeling towards someone or
something. So be careful your grievances could
be very much imaginary!

Forms of Grievances
Disguised: An employee may have
dissatisfaction for reasons that are unknown to
himself. This may be because of pressures and
frustrations that an employee is feeling from
other sources like his personal life.

Identifying Grievances
Exit interview: Employees usually quit
organizations due to dissatisfaction or better
prospects elsewhere. Exit interviews, if conducted
carefully, can provide important information
about employees grievances. This can help the
management to gather feedback and to
genuinely incorporate feedback. The
management should carefully act upon the
information drawn from such employees .It should
be careful that the discontentment is reduced so
that no more employees quit the organization
because of similar reasons.

Identifying Grievances
Gripe Boxes: These are boxes in which the
employees can drop their anonymous complaints.
They are different from the suggestion boxes in
which employees drop their named suggestion
with an intention to receive rewards. It is normally
said that if you want to progress in life, you
should be close to critics. These gripe boxes can
perform the role of critics for the organization.
The management should carefully act upon the
information thus gathered.

Identifying Grievances
Opinion Survey: The management can be
proactive by conducting group meetings, periodical
interviews with employees, collective bargaining
sessions etc. through which one can get
information about employees dissatisfaction
before it turns into a grievance.
Open-door Policy. Some organization extend a
general invitation to their employees to informally
drop in the managers room any time and talk over
their grievances. This can be very effective
because it can nip the evil in the bud. That is it can
take care of the problem before it gets out of hand.

Effects of Grievances

Frustration
Alienation
De-motivation
Slackness
Low Productivity
Increase in Wastage & Costs
Absenteeism
In discipline
Labor unrest

Principles for handling

Grievances
In handling grievances, a considerable amount of
time must be spent in talking with employees,
gathering data from them and passing on various
types of information.
The management executive or representative must
seek to develop an attitude towards employees,
that should result in gaining their confidence. He
should avoid giving the impression that
subordinates are ignored.
In handling grievances, consideration should be
given not only to the effect in the present but also
to long run.

Principles for handling

Grievances
A positive attitude of management and their
representatives indicating their full awareness of
and willingness to carry these burdens must be
apparent to employees in order to gain their
respect and co-operation.

Steps in Grievance
procedure
Step-1: An employee who believes the company
has violated the contract, complains to his union
steward who may accept or assist in the writing of a
grievance. Then the steward will present the
grievances to the grievant superior who has the
opportunity to answer or adjust it.
Step-2: If the grievance is denied at step-1, then
the steward will pursue it to a plant industrial
relations representative or the employees superior.
Step-3: If the grievance is likely to involve
possibilities of major cost, then the IR
representative may deny it and send it to step-3.

Steps in Grievance
procedure
The participants at step-3 may vary
substantially depending on the contract. Typical
arrangements would include the following
parties.
Firstly, the grievance may be settled locally with the
local negotiating committee and management.
In more complex situations grievance may be settled
by a corporate level of IR director.

Step-4: When a grievance is unresolved at the third

step, the parties submit the dispute to a neutral
arbitrator who hears evidence from both sides and
renders a decision in favor of one side.