Effective Strategies for Managing Employee Complaints: A Guide for Better Workplace Harmony

No matter if you have an official or unofficial procedure to handle complaints, or you just handle them case by case, make sure you know how to handling employee complaints the right way. Being an employer handling complaints is part of your work. The way you as an employer handle the conflict shows how professionally it has been done.

Larger companies use proper dispute resolution and arbitration procedures to handle such complaints, whereas for small companies informal procedures are the best. For businesses with few employees, there is no need to determine how you are going to handle those conflicts before they actually happen. You can deal with each case-by-case as it arises.

Consider the information we are going to discuss in this blog to understand how to handling employee complaints properly.

Informal Complaint Procedures

Handling employee complaints is no easy task and no employer wants to spend their time and resources dealing with employee complaints Instead of spending time on accomplishing main goals. Define some common guidelines you can implement in your workplace to ensure your employees know what to do if they have any issues or complaints to not make them feel ignored. Below we have listed a few common informal complaint procedures:

An open-door policy
Frequent staff meetings

Open Door Policy

In Open door policy employees are free to come to you and share their problems and issues with you. It is successful if you have a smaller team and generally happy staff. However, if you have many employees who frequently present problems, then it always results in constant meetings.

Frequent staff meetings

Hold regular employee meetings. If your team meets periodically, set a time to have employees bring up any concerns or issues. You may address common issues at once, instead of dealing with every single issue. In addition, it provides an avenue where they can express themselves in private since some concerns are best expressed in private.

Communicating the policy make sure the employees know what to do when they have a complaint:
Underline the appreciation by the company of its workers and concern for any problem related to their working lives.
Encourage them to come forward, assuring that such a situation would be handled in confidence and dealt with justly regarding their concern.
The complaints should be clearly indicated as being done in person, through written submission, or a scheduled meeting.

Best Practices For a Manager

To prevent conflict in the workplace and for handling employee complaints, managers should follow some directions. There are several best practices that vary upon the nature of complaints, few we have listed below:

Implement open communication
Manage more effectively
Well trained management teams
Create written records of serious infractions
Policies on complaining
Take the complaint from every employee seriously
Protect confidentiality towards employees

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Tips on How to handling employee complaints

Handling employee complaints is normal in any business. One way professionalism and compliance with HR laws are established lies in how one reacts to an employee complaint. The first time an employee comes and complains, it becomes the job of the manager to sit them down and follow the procedure for solving the complaint. Here are some ways on how to handle employee complaints about other employees:

1. Identify and List Down the Issues and Problems Employees are Facing

See if you can detect any patterns that lead to root causes. Small issues may be symptoms of deeper concerns. For instance, excessive absenteeism may be a sign of disengagement, bullying or harassment, stress, or inflexibility in your scheduling system. Having a private and confidential talk with the manager or boss can help in solving conflicts.
2. Ensure You and Your Manager Are Not a Part of the Problem

In small to mid-sized businesses, managers often do not have formal leadership training. If a manager is micromanaging, using unprofessional language, or creating a negative environment, have a conversation. They might need management or communication training. Remember, half of employees leave jobs because of their managers. Training a manager—or letting them go if needed—is more cost-effective than losing valuable team members.
3. Hold Frequent Meeting

Start by meeting with your managers to let them know you’ll be holding a general meeting to address workplace issues where all workers can talk about their issues. They might have valuable insights on employee needs or procedures. In the team meeting, keep comments general so no one feels singled out. For example, if scheduling is a concern, you could say, “I’ve heard our current scheduling system isn’t working for everyone, and I’d like your input on improving it.” Have a volunteer write down ideas on a whiteboard, and follow the ground rules for a productive team meeting.

4. Follow a Proper Policy

Another key area is employee and supervisor compliance with the set procedures for reporting complaints or issues in the organization. For example, you may remind them that to raise an issue, one needs to file a written complaint to HR or the concerned department by filling a given form.
5. Address Root Causes

Conflicts between coworkers can be challenging for managers and can take too much time. But resolving these conflicts is not a manager’s job alone. Encourage your team to take on a team-based approach toward problem-solving. If you have the budget, invite a professional mediator to come in and train the team; if not, lead them through these six problem-solving steps:

Identify the root problem, not the surface issue.
Identify root causes.
Brainstorm potential solutions.
Select and document the best solution(s).
Present solutions to the whole team and gain buy-in.
Implement, monitor, evaluate, and adjust as needed.

It takes some time at first, but employees will be more active, and less dependent on management as a mediator of their issues, saving time and improving workplace harmony.