When it comes to formal grievance procedures, some employees may hesitate to raise concerns because they fear retaliation, being labelled as “difficult,” or simply believe nothing will change.
Making grievance procedures accessible and psychologically safe isn’t just about compliance – it’s about creating a culture where people feel heard and respected.
What are common barriers to raising a workplace grievance?
There can be many different factors relating to why an individual may not want to raise a workplace grievance. This can be due to personal factors or issues with the organisation as a whole. Some of them may include:
- Fear of retaliation
- Fear of feeling isolated from others
- Effect it may have on others
- Lack of confidence in management
- A belief that the grievance is insignificant
- Lack of awareness
- Unresolved past grievances
- Unclear policies
- Impact it may have on their mental health
- Unsupportive culture
How to create an accessible grievance procedure
A good way to start creating an accessible grievance procedure is with communication. This can be done in several ways.
- Make policy wording simple and easy to understand whilst advising the following:
- How to raise a grievance
- Who the grievance should be sent to
- Step by step procedure
- Share policies and procedures in multiple ways in different formats.
- Website
- Intranet
- Handbook
- Emails
- Digital
- Hardcopy
- Text-to-speech compatibility.
- Reminding staff of their rights and offer support.
- Meetings
- Internal communication
- Onboarding or training to include grievance procedures.
- Appoint a point of contact (and an alternate) so the company knows who to go to.
- Having a designated Mental Health first aider.
- Providing various ways to submit a grievance.
- Web portals
- In-person
- Handwritten
All organisations must follow a full and fair procedure in line with the Acas Code for disciplinaries and grievances. Making the employee aware of these points as well as upholding them will help towards communication, transparency and an accessible grievance procedure.
Organisations should:
- Make clear that they will deal with grievances fairly and consistently.
- Investigate to get as much information as possible.
- Allow the employee to bring a relevant person to a grievance meeting.
- Give everyone a chance to have their say before deciding.
- Take actions and make decisions as soon as they can.
- Allow the employee to appeal against the grievance outcome.
For more information, visit the Acas website.
What should grievance procedure training include?
Training should be given to both management and employees so that both know what to expect and how to proceed.
Management training should cover the basics, such as how to handle employee complaints, what the formal and informal processes are, empathy, active listening and unconscious bias. Preferably, the training should also cover aspects such as legal and ethical responsibilities, investigation skills and conflict resolution skills.
Employee training should include formal and informal processes, when and how to escalate and the options available to them.
How can WA Management help?
WA Management offer an online Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures training course, suitable for employees of all levels.
Bullying in the Workplace and Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures training courses are essential tools in improving workplace culture and employee wellbeing. Make sure you don’t miss out on our 10% off deal on these courses, available until the end of November. Simply enter the code ‘culture10’ at checkout to save!
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