Five Steps to Handling Employee Complaints

October 10, 2016

employee complaint

Employee complaints or disputes will happen, almost as a fact-of- life.  They may range from minor issues such as, “Why can’t we wear jeans to work?” to significant issues such as, “My boss is demeaning me in front of my peers.”  Every employee complaint is worthy of management’s careful listening, understanding and offering a fair and impartial answer to the employee.  Not every employee complaint or dispute can nor should be fixed.  In the example of “Why can’t we wear jeans to work?” the answer may simply be that the company has customers in the building on a frequent basis and the company wants to project a professional image at all times.  Perhaps a compromise can be made that Friday’s are “Wear jeans to work day.”  There doesn’t have to be a compromise, but the point is that every employee complaint deserves to be heard, considered and answered.

Sometimes repeated common complaints such as “the break room is too hot” may be ignored with one complaint; but after numerous complaints, it tells management that employees are genuinely upset about it.  Even minor issues can become big if ignored long enough.  They can negatively impact employee morale, productivity and culture.  No employer wants their employees speaking poorly of the company outside of work, or more frequently the case today, on social media.  Even the smallest things can be blown out of proportion on social media and social media greatly affects how prospective employees perceive a company.  If the current employees are not happy, why would they want to work there?

When an employee has a complaint, good practice is to do the following:

These five basic steps are core to compliant and dispute resolution.  Treating individuals fairly and respectfully throughout the process is important.  There will always be some individuals who complain simply because they can, but in all situations management should consider these five steps to a successful resolution.