TOPIC IMPORTANCE – GRIEVANCE HANDLING

In the present corporate world the most important resources are human resource. There is
hardly a company where the employees do not have grievances of one kind or the other.
These grievances seriously disturb the employees. This may affect their morale. Productivity
and their willingness to co-operate with the organization. Ultimately, it affects employee’s
concentration, efficiency and productivity. A large number of work stoppages, shop floor
incidents and strikes could be attributed to the faulty handling or grievances. The cost of a
Grievance can be high in terms of time lost, poor work, damages to costly machines by
neglect, employee resentment, poor customer service, resistance to change, union
management conflict and so on. The organizations that do not provide such compliant
processing mechanisms for their employees may suffer from consequences, which could
enfeeble the organization process.
Grievance may be any genuine or imaginary feeling of dissatisfaction or injustice which an
employee experiences about his job and its nature, about the management policies and
procedures. It must be expressed by the employee and brought to the notice of the
management and the organization.
Grievances take the form of collective disputes when they are not resolved. Also they will
then lower the morale and efficiency of the employees. Unattended grievances result in
frustration, dissatisfaction, low productivity, lack of interest in work, absenteeism, etc. In
short, grievance arises when employees’ expectations are not fulfilled from the organization
as a result of which a feeling of discontentment and dissatisfaction arises. This
dissatisfaction must crop up from employment issues and not from personal issues.
Grievance may result from the following factors-

a. Improper working conditions such as strict production standards, unsafe workplace,

bad relation with managers, etc.
b. Irrational management policies such as overtime, transfers, demotions,
inappropriate salary structure, etc.
c. Violation of organizational rules and practices

When the employee’s expectations in the organization are not fulfilled, he would have
raised against employer, which is called grievance.

A grievance can be defined as any discontent or dissatisfaction with any aspect of the
organization. It may be real or imaginary, legitimate or not, said or unsaid, written or oral.
However, it must find expression in some foreign or the other.
When a compliant, because of dissatisfaction remains unattended and the employee
concerned feels a sense of lack of justice and fair play, the dissatisfaction grows and
assumes the status of grievance.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines a grievance as a complaint of one
of more workers with respect to wages and allowance, conditions of work and
interpretation of service conditions covering such areas as overtime, leave, transfer,
promotion, seniority, job assignment and termination of service. Grievance can be individual
group grievances. If the issue involved relate of one or a few individual employees it needs
to be handled as grievance procedure, on the other hand its general issued with policy
implications and wider interests are involved, they become subject matter for collective
bargaining.
An effective grievance procedure ensures an amiable work environment because it
redresses the grievance to mutual satisfaction of both the employees and the managers. It
also helps the management to frame policies and procedures acceptable to the employees.
It becomes an effective medium for the employees to express t feelings, discontent and
dissatisfaction openly and formally.
 TOPIC FOLLOW UP – GRIEVANCE HANDLING

CAUSES FOR GRIEVANCES:

Economic:
Wage fixation, wage computation, overtime, bonus, etc. Employees feel they are feelings
less that what they ought to get.
Work Environment:
Poor working conditions, defective equipment and machinery, tools, materials, etc.
Supervision, Disposition of the boss towards the employees, perceived notions of favoritism,
nepotism, bias, etc.
Work Group:
Strained relations or incompatibly with peers, feeling of neglect, and victimization.
Work Organization:
Rigid and unfair rules: too much or too less work responsibility; lack of recognition, etc.

The following are some of the main causes for employee grievances.

1. Amenities
2. Compensation
3. Conditions of Work 
4. Continuity of Service
5. Disciplinary action
6. Leave
7. Fines
8. Medical benefits
9. Nature of job
10. Payments
11. Promotions
12. Safety environment.
13. Superannuation.
14. Super session
15. Transfers
16. Victimization.

EFFECTS OF GRIEVANCES:
Grievance can have several effects, which are essentially adverse and counterproductive to
organizational purposes. The adverse effects include.
 1. Loss of interest in work and consequent lack of male an commitment
2. Poor quality of production
3. Low productivity
4. Increase wastage and costs
5. Increase in absenteeism
6. Indiscipline
7. Unrest

AWARNESS OF GRIEVANCES:
A good management redresses grievances as they rise, excellent management anticipates
them and prevents them from arising. A manager can know about the simmering even
before they turn into actual grievances through several means. Knowing about the levels of
grievances is very important to handle such grievance. Some of the important ways of
discovering grievances are discussed as hereunder.

DIRECT OBSERVATION:
A good manager must know how his subordinates behave in ordinary circumstances when
significant changes in the behavior occur, it is sure to affect performance. Absenteeism,
lateness, indifference are some of the forms in which discontent and dissatisfaction find
expression. A careful analysis of grievance rates, accident rates, requests for transfer
indiscipline, etc. may reveal general patterns there are not easily discernible in the first
instance.

OPEN DOOR POLICY:

Most organization preach open-door policy, but do not practice it. The policy is good and
democratic, but usually ineffective and at times counter-productive. Organizations would do
well to have a grievance procedure. If a grievance producer exists, open-door policy
becomes redundant.

EXIT INTERVIEW:
Employees usually quit organizations due to dissatisfaction or better prospects elsewhere. It
requires certain skill to know the real reasons for leaving the job. Exit interviews, if
conducted effectively, can provide vital information. Some organizations mail an exit
questionnaire three months after an employee leaves so that he need not fear about a poor
reference and give the truth without fear or favor.

OTHER CHANNELS:
Group meetings, periodical interviews with employees, collective bargaining sessions are
some of the other channel through which one can have information about employee
discontent and dissatisfaction before they become grievance or disputes.
The manager should immediately identify all grievances and must take appropriate steps to
eliminate the causes of such grievances so that the employees remain loyal and committed
to their work. Effective grievance management is an essential part of personnel
management. The managers should adopt the following approach to manage grievance
effectively-

 Quick action- As soon as the grievance arises, it should be identified and resolved.
Training must be given to the managers to effectively and timely manage a
grievance. This will lower the detrimental effects of grievance on the employees and
their performance.

 Acknowledging grievance- The manager must acknowledge the grievance put forward
by the employee as manifestation of true and real feelings of the employees.
Acknowledgement by the manager implies that the manager is eager to look into the
complaint impartially and without any bias. This will create a conducive work
environment with instances of grievance reduced.

 Gathering facts- The managers should gather appropriate and sufficient facts
explaining the grievance’s nature. A record of such facts must be maintained so that
these can be used in later stage of grievance redressal.

 Examining the causes of grievance - The actual cause of grievance should be identified.
Accordingly remedial actions should be taken to prevent repetition of the grievance.

 Decision - After identifying the causes of grievance, alternative course of actions

should be thought of to manage the grievance. The effect of each course of action on
the existing and future management policies and procedure should be analyzed and
accordingly decision should be taken by the manager.

 Execution and review- The manager should execute the decision quickly, ignoring the
fact, that it may or may not hurt the employees concerned. After implementing the
decision, a follow-up must be there to ensure that the grievance has been resolved
completely and adequately.
 COCA COLA – GRIEVANCE HANDLING

The Coca-Cola Company ('Coca Cola') is the world’s largest beverage company with its global
headquarter located in the USA. Coca Cola has a portfolio of 20 major brands in terms of
annual retail sales and has more than 250 bottling partners as well as 900 plants worldwide.
In 2014 Coca Cola realized an updated version of its Human Rights Policy which applies to
the company, the entities that it owns, the entities in which it holds the majority of
interests, and the facilities that it manages. In addition, Coca Cola has developed the
Supplier Guiding Principles setting its expectations for the conduct of direct suppliers
regarding at least compliance with applicable environmental laws and human rights.

The Human Rights Policy includes provisions on:

 Community and Stakeholder Engagement;

 Equal opportunity and intolerance of discrimination and harassment;
 Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining;
 Safe and Healthy Workplace;
 Workplace Security;
 Prohibition of Forced Labor;
 Prohibition of Child Labor;
 Work Hours, Wages and Benefits.

In order to express any type of concerns or report a potential violation of the Human Rights
Policy the Company has developed the EthicsLine which is administered by a third party,
Global Compliance.

Addressing for Grievances at Coca Cola

All employees can raise a concern or report a suspected violation of the Human Rights
Policy through the EthicsLine system. Reports can submitted anonymously.

The EthicsLine is a reporting service offered by Coca Cola and administered by a third party,
Global Compliance. Concerns and suspected violations of the Human Rights Policy can be
reported:

 Through the EthicsLine website;

 By calling one of the toll-free numbers of the country where the concerned
employee is located.

In order to report a concern or supposed violation, the concerned employee has to select
the type of reported issue (such as questions concerning the Human Rights Policy, or
reporting about child labor or discrimination issues). The complaint must then provide a
detailed description of the arisen issue.

The description should include:

 the date and time of the occurred issue and whether it is still recurring;
 the people involved in the issue;
 the description of the issue;
 the reason for which the issue is being reported.

If the complainant wishes to remain anonymous the EthicsLine website advises not to

provide details that will reveal the identity of the complainant.

Once the report is submitted, the concerned employee will receive a Report Number and a
Personal Identification Number in order to follow-up on the report.

Coca Cola states that the information submitted by the complainant will be treated with
confidentiality. The Human Rights Policy further states that no reprisal or retaliatory action
will be taken against any employee who has raised a concern. It also states that the Coca
Cola is committed to investigate, address and respond to the concerns of employees and to
take appropriate action in response to any violation.

Coca Cola evaluates the achievements of individual employees every year along with their
competency evaluation. Annual salaries are graded based on the comprehensive evaluation
results, and respective annual employment contracts are concluded. Coca Cola’s fair
performance evaluation schemes include interim management systems and formal
objection procedures to prevent unfairness in the evaluation scheme.

Under the principles of “Non-discriminatory Compensation” and “Performance-based

Compensation,” Coca Cola strives to ensure fairness and competitiveness in its
compensation schemes. Accordingly, the company apply the identical rate to the same
position grades, irrespective of gender, nationality, religion, social position or age.
Compensation is differentiated only according to performance. The compensation is
delivered in the forms of basic salary and performance-based incentives. The basic salary
has a set table of grade-based schemes and the incentives are differentially paid according
to achievements against targets. The incentive program is divided into individual
performance incentives and group performance incentives. The group performance
incentives program is also segmented into productivity incentive and profit sharing. The
global compensation system basically follows a merit based adjustment method, with local
discretion in setting wage systems in compliance with the local regulations of each nation.

Equal Opportunity and Non-discrimination

The Coca Cola Code of Conduct prohibits discrimination in employment, assignment,
promotion, payment, education and retirement based on academic and / or regional
backgrounds, gender, religion and race. In order to promote female workers’ participation in
economic activities, Coca Cola applies quotas for new recruitment.

Building Cooperative Labor-management Relations

Coca Cola have a labor union that was established under the UN Law. Therefore, a collective
bargaining agreement apply to their employees, suppliers and external stakeholders.
Therefore Coca Cola has the Labor Council (similar to the Work Council in the Europe),
which discusses and resolves issues regarding workers’ welfare and working conditions
under the Act on the Promotion of Worker Participation and Cooperation.

The Labor Council is a labor-management cooperation mechanism to reflect employees’

opinions in business activities and realize corporate democracy. The Council works on
improving working conditions, consults and cooperates with the company on corporate
issues of common interest, contributing to the mutual development of the company and the
employees. The company also implement a variety of activities to help our employees better
understand the business operations and motivate them to work harder in a bid to enhance
competitiveness and productivity.

CONCLUSIONS

Grievance handling is preventive rather than curative. It alerts the company about an issue
or concern before it becomes a big problem. Once an employee is convinced of existence of
a fair grievance redressal, he feels comfortable working in the concern and feels valued.
When there is a channel to vent their grievance, employees feel relieved.
One interesting outcome of the study is that their immediate superior actively listens to
their grievances. This is a good sign. By training superiors to handle those grievances
effectively will help a lot for the company. Proper grievance handling checks expensive
employee turnover. The major grievance of employees is with regard to the workflow and
procedure, and this can be resolved if employees are also involved in planning the workflow.
Instead of going through formal channels they prefer carrying their grievance through
multiple ease channels. The reason may be either due to friendly environment created by
companies, or the employees do not want to make record of their grievance through formal
channels. Management should try hard to have confidence in the minds of the employees
that their grievance will be addressed fairly and taken care of. For this to materialize
Grievance handling Procedure should be in practice rather than in papers.
To conclude, grievance is not negative, but a positive, function which gives the company a
proper direction to achieve a business goal set by organization.
References:
1. Employee Grievance Redressal Procedure in Indian organizations