EMPLOYEE GRIEVANCES IN TODAY’S CONTEXT AND SOLUTIONS

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What is employee grievance?

According to Kleiman (2005), concern, complaint, or a problem which employee faces related to his work place, a colleague or work which causes dissatisfaction for them and believes it is unfair is an employee grievance. The employee should be provided with a safe working environment, adequate compensation, clear job responsibilities, and respect. Based on the gap between employee expectations and what he actually gets, a grievance can occur. Though grievance is justified or not, the grievances should be tackled adequately as it affects the performance and the motivation of the employee.

Employee grievances in today’s context



Most of the employee grievances in current context are related with the employee pay and benefits, workload and work conditions (Guasco and Robinson,  2007). With the economic downturn every organisation faces with the Covid 19 pandemic, the pay and the benefits provided for the employees have been reduced. Hence, this has led to many employee grievances. Also, the employees have to do a heavy work load as the companies-initiated layoffs to manage the economic crisis. The work conditions are not up to the satisfactory level in most of the organisations which cause high dissatisfaction for the employees (Jackson et al., 2012).

Solutions for current employee grievances

The employees should be encouraged to communicate any problem, complaint or concern clearly with the management so that the grievance is managed efficiently from the initial stage. Every employee should be treated equally and should provide pay and benefits fairly for the job role they do. A well-formed grievance procedure should be followed (Akuratiyagamage et al ., 2002).

 


Figure 1- Grievance Process

Source : https://bbamantra.com/grievance-handling-forms-procedure/

Grievance Handling by Organisations

With the Covid-19 pandemic, most of the companies are facing with many issues. The employee grievances have also been increased due to many factors. Many organisations like Amazon, Apple and Google have encouraged their employees to work from home so that they are working in a familiar environment and employees are able to save their travelling cost etc. through working from home. The organisations in turn have been able to save large costs which can be used for providing benefits for the employees (Torrington et al., 2011).

In Sri Lankan context, organisations take different initiatives to handle grievances. Apparel sector is one of the industries with highest grievances. Brandix apparels, Mas Holdings, Timex Garments have set separate grievance handling departments so that the grievances are handled effectively without any issue (Opatha, 1994) 

Conclusion

Grievances within an organisation should handle adequately so that inefficiencies do not occur in the organisation. Pay and benefits, work conditions and the work load are the main issues which causes employee grievances. These reasons should be identified and provide solutions to ensure that the employees are satisfied (Stewart et al., 2014).  

References

Akuratiyagamage, V.M. and Opatha, H.H.D.N.P. (2004), “Grievances of middle managers: an empirical investigation into perceptions of commercial bank branch managers in Sri Lanka”, Journal of Management Research, Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, 4: 2, August, pp. 99-112.

Guasco,  M.P.  and  Robinson,  P.R.  (2007), Principles  of  Negotiation,  New  York:  EP Entrepreneur Press. 

Jackson,  S.E.,  Schuler,  R.S.  and  Werner,  S.  (2012),  Managing  Human  Resources,  11th ed., Mason, OH: SOUTH-WESTERN CENGAGE Learning.

Kleiman, L.S.  (2005), Human Resource Management:  A Managerial Tool for Competitive Advantage, Cincinnati: South-Western College Publishing.

Opatha,  H.H.D.N.P.  (1994), “Employee  Grievance  Settlement  Procedure:  A  Case  Study  of Two  Corporations”,  Management  Review,  Faculty  of  Management  Studies  and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, Vol. 1, No.2, pp.53-60.

Stewart,  G.L.  and  Brown,  K.G.  (2014),  Human  Resource  Management:  Linking  Strategy  to Practice, 3rd ed., Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 

Torrington, D.  Hall, L., Taylor,  S. and Atkinson, C.  (2011), Human  Resource Management,  8th ed., London: Pearson.


Comments

  1. ARSHAD MBADecember 17, 2021 at 8:49 PM

    A very god article, in generally grievance of many employee is not attended by HRM or top management, which is an obstacle for for development and Job satisfaction. Thanks for summarised info.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sachini MahaulpathaDecember 19, 2021 at 11:27 AM

    Employee mental health has a direct impact on company performance since a positive and healthy state of mind allows employees to focus on their duties and obligations. Employees that have a healthy and tranquil attitude are more creative and come up with fresh ideas and proposals that benefit the company. You have nicely explained how to identify the fundamental reasons of employee problems and how to effectively resolve these grievances in your essay. This is a fantastic article. Thank you for providing this information.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dilrukshi indurugollaDecember 19, 2021 at 12:31 PM

    Employee Dissatisfaction or Grievance A formal complaint made by an employee against a coworker, boss, or even the company is known as a grievance. Employees typically file grievances for workplace harassment, discrimination, nepotism, team management concerns, or employment terms.

    ReplyDelete

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