How to Manage Employee Grievances

Most grievances, whether they are raised formally or informally, can be resolved informally i.e. without the need for a longwinded investigation if they are handled in a proactive, fair and professional manner. 

Although the complainant can choose for a formal investigation and hearing to take place we encourage employers to try and manage complaints informally in the first instance and the CIPD agree with this approach.

Where the individual wishes the organisation to go down the formal route then a structured investigation should take place and outcomes decided based on the evidence.

According to the CIPD (see www.cipd.co.uk for further details), ‘grievance’ is the term used to describe ‘an employee’s concerns, problems or complaints in the workplace relating to the way they believe they have been treated by the organisation or managers / staff acting on its behalf, or about any aspect of work’ including but not limited to:

• Working conditions.
• Pay and benefits.
• Working hours.
• Treatment at the hands of management or fellow workers.
• Health & Safety concerns.
• Breach of an individual’s Statutory Rights.

On receipt of a complaint we advocate holding an initial meeting with the complainant to discuss their grievance and how they would like it to be resolved. The main options are for their grievance to be managed informally (see step 2 below) or formally (see steps 3-11), which would involve a formal investigation, grievance hearing and potentially an appeal against the outcome.

Clearly, the organisation will wish to handle the grievance in the least disruptive and costly way possible, but also one that is fair and resolves the matter to everyone’s satisfaction. Following the 11 steps explained in this article will help organisations to achieve this. The steps are as follows:

• Meet with the employee
• Managing an Informal Grievance
• Formal grievance initial actions
• Decide who will hear the grievance and decide the outcome. 
• Formally invite the complainant to a grievance hearing.
• The grievance hearing.
• Formal investigation into the allegations raised.
• Deciding the outcome of the grievance
• Informing the complainant of the outcome  
• Actioning the grievance outcomes
• The appeal process

This article is a summary of the process. For a more comprehensive guide that includes more detailed explanations of each stage of the grievance process, CIPD approved model policy documents, CIPD approved model letters covering every eventuality of each stage, along with 2 hours of telephone-based consultation with a highly experienced, highly CIPD qualified senior HR professional click here. The guide is compliant with the Acas Code of Practice and costs £249 plus vat.

The guide was written by the founder and director of 186hr, Peter Appleby, who has vast, proven experience in managing employee grievances, having specialised in employment law and employee relations issues for over 20 years in senior HR roles for companies of all sizes and in many different sectors, and through his status as a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD. 

Along with Peter’s expertise in this area we have drawn on the latest guidance, requirements and best practice from both ACAS (see www.acas.org.uk) and the CIPD. 

The Law regarding employee grievances

There is very little employment law that is specific to grievances. However, Acas have produced a ‘Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures’ that Tribunals take into account when deciding on the merits of any cases and the process followed. They expect employers to follow it.

Therefore, although it is not a stated legal ‘requirement’ to follow the Code, in effect it is, as failure to do so is likely to result in an employer losing a Tribunal. They also risk any compensation awarded to the Claimant being uplifted by up to 25 percent for failure to follow a reasonable process.

Another legal requirement is that, as you will be aware from previous articles, all employers must issue each employee with either a contract of employment or, as a minimum, a ‘written statement of terms and conditions of employment’. 

Whichever document has been issued the law demands that it must contain certain information about grievances, namely ‘with whom and how a grievance should be raised’. Thankfully, rather than full details needing to be in the contract it is acceptable for the document to ‘refer the employee to some other easily accessible document’ such as a grievance policy and this is our recommended approach for all organisations we work with.

When introducing a grievance policy we strongly recommend that you ensure this, and all other employee policies e.g. for disciplinary action, is clearly labelled as a non-contractual policy. Failure to do so may expose the employer to unnecessary claims.

Finally with regards to legal requirements, all employees (and workers) have the statutory right to be accompanied by a fellow worker or trade union official when they attend any formal grievance hearing or grievance appeal hearing.

Grievance policy

The grievance policy underpins the employment relationship, providing employees with an opportunity to raise any issues they are unhappy about and have them investigated and resolved. It also explains the process that will be followed by the employer to resolve their complaint.

The 186hr Practical Guide to Managing Grievances includes two CIPD approved model policies to choose from that can be tailored to suit your organisation’s needs and culture, along with detailed explanations of each stage of the grievance process, CIPD approved model letters covering every eventuality of each stage, and 2 hours of telephone-based consultation with a highly experienced, highly CIPD qualified senior HR professional. click here for further details. The guide is compliant with the ACAS Code of Practice and costs £249 plus vat.

We’ll now discuss each of the 11 steps in the grievance process that should be followed when managing an employee’s complaint. 

Step 1. Meet with the employee

The grievance policy, or the employment contract, should direct employees to raise any complaints with their line manager or HR. Alternatively they may approach some other suitable senior individual if, for example, the grievance involves their line manager.

A meeting should then be convened with the complainant to understand the nature of their complaint, assess the risk to the company, explain the options available to the employee to deal with their complaint, and describe the process that will be followed.

Once the employee has described their complaint, the following four options should be explained to them so they can decide how they wish the organisation to proceed (it is the employee’s choice which option is followed, not for the employer to decide):

• Treat the matter as Information only
• Informal grievance.
• Mediation
• Raise a formal grievance. 

Full details of what to include when explaining each option to the complainant are contained in the Practical Guide to Managing Grievances. Click here for further details. 

Even where the initial complaint has been put in writing as per the formal grievance procedure, many grievances can still be resolved informally with a quiet word and this is often preferable for all concerned. We encourage organisations to try and resolve grievances informally in the first instance and the CIPD agree with this approach.

Whichever option the individual chooses, the conversation should be followed up with email confirmation of what was agreed and a file note made for future reference.

A trap that employers often fall into at this early stage is not recognising what is a formal grievance – it is not as straightforward as you may imagine – and failure to treat a complaint as a grievance may prove very expensive at Tribunal! 

Surprisingly (although it is what it is!), Tribunals have found that any written complaint from an employee – whether or not it states it is a grievance – should in fact be treated like a grievance unless the employee states otherwise.

Therefore, any employee complaint received in writing e.g. in an email or a resignation letter should be treated like a grievance and the employer should hold the above ‘initial meeting’. Organisations have lost Tribunals due to not doing this even though the employee often never stated that their written complaint was a grievance. 

Step 2. Managing an Informal Grievance

Either during the initial meeting described in Step 1 above or shortly after, if the employee confirms that they would like their grievance to be managed informally it should be agreed who should then speak to the individual(s) who the complainant feels are acting unfairly. The process that will be followed with the perpetrators should then be explained.

Various people can hold that meeting including the individual themselves, their line manager, the line manager of the individual(s) being complained about, HR, or another individual who the complainant agrees would be appropriate. 

 A comprehensive explanation of how to approach such a meeting with the alleged wrongdoer(s) is included in the Practical Guide to Managing Grievances. Click here for further details.

It is important to clarify to the complainant that, as the matter is being dealt with informally, there will be no formal outcomes of this process such as disciplinary warnings, only a file note on everybody’s file to be used for future reference if there is a repeat of the behaviour. 

As the meeting is informal there is no need to give the perpetrator notice of the meeting or allow them to be accompanied by a Representative although, depending on the circumstances you may wish for a note taker to be present at the meeting.

The meeting should then take place, the complaint explained to the people accused of acting unfairly, and they should be asked to stop behaving in the way described.

It is natural to try and defend yourself when accused of unacceptable behaviour and sometimes the individual will deny they have behaved as described, accuse the complainant of acting wrongly themselves, or try to justify their actions in some other way. 

We advise managers to remain neutral in such circumstances, thank them for their explanation and leave it at that so as not to inflame the situation or cause a counter grievance. However, if they are insistent that the complaint against them is unfair then informal mediation can often be effective. It can be the grown-up equivalent of the school day ‘bang their heads together’ approach! 

After the meeting has taken place, a file note describing the conversations and what was agreed should be placed in both the complainant’s and the alleged perpetrator’s file.

Step 3. Formal grievance initial actions

Where a grievance cannot be resolved informally the company’s formal grievance procedure should be followed. The only exceptions to this are when the matter complained of is considered to be too trivial for a full formal grievance investigation to take place, or the complaint is linked to another grievance that is being or has been looked into. 

For cases of the former, the Practical Guide to Managing Grievances includes the CIPD approved ‘Letter explaining the grievance is too trivial to be dealt with under the grievance procedure’ that should be sent to the complainant. There is also a letter covering the latter scenario. Click here for further details about the Guide.

Step 4. Decide who will hear the grievance and decide the outcome.

The company should choose who will hear the grievance. Normally this will be HR, the individual’s line manager or another appropriate manager / director. 

Clearly, if the individual’s line manager is named in the grievance or should realistically have acted to rectify the issue before it became a formal grievance that individual should not be chosen to investigate or hear the grievance.

The individual chosen should, wherever possible, be unconnected to the events complained of and be more senior than individuals who are the subject of the grievance as clearly it would be difficult for a junior manager to criticise and find judgement against their more senior colleagues.

Where it proves difficult to find a suitable manager to hear the grievance the employer should consider using an independent external professional such as a HR consultant or other trusted source.

When deciding who should hear the grievance employers should also have one eye on who may hear any subsequent appeal if the employee disagrees with the outcome. Whereas it may initially seem a good idea to ask a director to hear the grievance, remember that a more senior person should hear the appeal and if the organisation has a relatively flat structure this may mean the MD or CEO will need to hear any appeal and they may not thank you for that!

Whoever is chosen to carry out this important task should have received formal training in how to investigate and manage grievances. Where managers have not been trained, following the Practical Guide to Managing Grievances, including making use of the 2 hours of telephone support from an experienced HR professional should suffice. Click here for further details.

At the grievance hearing a note taker should be present. This is especially important if there is a chance the issue may result in legal proceedings at a later point as there will be a formal record of the meeting. HR would normally perform this task but if this is not possible, a suitable individual with the required skills and who can be trusted to keep the content of the hearing confidential should be chosen. The Practical Guide to Managing Grievances contains the CIPD recommended format for note taking at formal hearings. Click here for further details.

Finally there are occasions where an employee who has previously raised a grievance but is unhappy with the outcome raises a further grievance about the same issues i.e. raise a grievance about their grievance! Clearly, where the organisation has followed a robust investigation process and made conclusions and decisions based on the evidence, and has given the employee an opportunity to appeal they do not then wish to be caught up in an endless cycle of having to investigate further grievances regarding the same issues. 

Under these circumstances you should send the CIPD approved ‘Letter stating that no further action will be taken where an employee’s grievance repeats an earlier complaint’ included in the Practical Guide to Managing Grievances Click here for further details.

Step 5. Formally invite the complainant to a grievance hearing.

Please see the Practical Guide to Managing Grievances for the CIPD approved ‘Letter confirming receipt of a formal grievance’, which invites the complainant to a formal meeting, or hearing, to discuss their grievance and can be adapted to the circumstances. 

The Guide also includes more detailed advice about certain paragraphs e.g. regarding the notice that must be given of such a meeting and the legal right to be accompanied at the hearing by a Representative, along withadvice and CIPD approved letters to send if the individual either does not attend the hearing or is absent through illness.

Step 6. The grievance hearing.

The nominated manager / director / HR representative should chair the hearing. There will normally be 3 other individuals present: HR or another company representative to take notes; the employee who has raised the formal grievance; and their Representative if they have chosen to bring one.

Please see the Practical Guide to Managing Grievances for further details regarding employee Representatives, including who can be chosen and their role at the hearing

There are 3 distinct parts to the hearing: the introduction; the main body of the hearing; and the summary and close. The Practical Guide to Managing Grievances includes detailed guidance of what to include in all three sections e.g. the roles of those present, what will be confirmed in writing, and what happens next, along with documents that may be useful at the hearing e.g. the CIPD approved ‘Form to record notes of discussions during formal hearings’. 

Explanations and questions should be prepared before the hearing and then during the meeting the complainant should be gently pressed to try and remember specifics such as when and where the acts took place, whether there were any witnesses, and especially the words used as, wherever possible, the organisation needs to be able to quote what an individual is alleged to have said or done in any subsequent disciplinary hearing.

Towards the end of the hearing it is important to check what outcome the individual is hoping for from the process and, whilst there can be no guarantees, the manager should consider this in their subsequent investigation and decision making.

It may be appropriate to suspend the perpetrator during the subsequent investigation process following the hearing. Please see the Practical Guide to Managing Grievances section ‘Suspension of alleged wrongdoer’ for further details.

Step 7. Formal investigation into the allegations raised.

All allegations raised in the grievance should be investigated. This will normally involve looking at any evidence provided by the complainant or that is otherwise available, interviewing witnesses, then interviewing the alleged perpetrator(s).

Please see the Practical Guide to Managing Grievances for the CIPD ‘Terms of reference of an investigation template’ and ‘Investigation report template’, both of which we recommend adopting to give structure to the investigation and subsequent report.

Clearly, evidence may be a range of documents but examples include accident book entries, emails or social media posts, CCTV footage, and performance figures.

When interviewing witnesses, those who may have witnessed what happened but are not being accused of wrongdoing should be interviewed first so the investigator can build a clear picture of what happened before challenging the alleged wrongdoers. Interviewing the alleged wrongdoer(s) should take place towards the end of the investigation. 

Witnesses do not need to be given notice of the investigatory interview even if they will be asked questions that may lead to disciplinary action being taken against them, although if you choose to write to internal and / or external witnesses requesting their help then the Practical Guide to Managing Grievances includes the relevant CIPD approved template letters to do this. Click here for further details.

When interviewing witnesses, the interviewer should start with general, non-leading questions about what they have seen, heard etc and then make the questions more specific as and when required.

The content of the investigation interview should then be typed up and form the basis of a witness statement. The above Practical Guide includes an ‘Example witness statement’. 

There are rare occasions where witnesses request to remain anonymous. Whereas this should generally be avoided it may be acceptable if it is the only way of obtaining vital evidence. Again, full details of how to approach this issue can be found in the Practical Guide.

As explained above, the allegations and evidence should be put to the alleged perpetrator(s) last of all for them to comment on and explain what happened from their point of view. It is important to stress that this interview is not a disciplinary hearing and nothing has been proven against them. However, it should be explained that if the evidence shows the alleged incidents happened then that may result in a hearing where they will have the opportunity to defend their actions before any disciplinary decisions are made.

As with other witnesses, the alleged perpetrator is not entitled to receive notice of the investigatory meeting and is not entitled to representation in the meeting. However, you may wish to send the CIPD approved ‘Letter informing an employee that a grievance has been raised against them by a fellow employee’ contained in the Practical Guide. Click here for further details.

Finally with regards to the investigation process, it may be relevant to consider suspension of certain individuals for the remainder of the process depending on the evidence. Please see the ‘Suspension of alleged wrongdoer’ section of the Practical Guide.

Step 8. Deciding the outcome of the grievance

Once the investigation is finished, conclusions should be reached and then decisions made on the appropriate outcomes of the grievance. Clearly there are numerous outcomes that may be appropriate but, in our experience, the main ones include:

• No action warranted.
• Training.
• Encouraging (but not requiring) perpetrators to apologise.
• Disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
• Other outcomes following a full and fair disciplinary process e.g. moving people away from the complainant’s department and / or into different roles. 
• Changes to company policies or procedures.

Please note that when actioning the grievance outcomes, unless serious matters have been uncovered during the investigation that need to be tackled urgently by the company e.g. a health & safety matter, such actions should not take place until the complainant has received confirmation of the outcomes of their complaint as per Step 9 and has either agreed to them or had sufficient opportunity to appeal against the outcomes if they do not agree with them. 

It may be difficult to undo any actions that were taken prematurely by the organisation if those outcomes are subsequently overturned on appeal.

The grievance investigator should complete their report, including their conclusions and recommendations. Where disciplinary action is recommended the report and all relevant evidence should be passed to the ‘line’ for them to take disciplinary action. Please see the 186hr ‘Practical Guide to Disciplinary Action’ for further details

Step 9. Informing the complainant of the outcome  

The outcome should always be confirmed in writing to the complainant but we find there are various benefits to also meeting with them and explaining the conclusions that were reached along with the company’s proposed actions. 

Please see the Practical Guide to Managing Grievances for the CIPD approved ‘Letter informing an employee of the outcome of a grievance meeting and right of appeal’. 

The letter should include who will hear any appeal against the grievance outcome.  Wherever possible, you should ensure that that individual:

• has not been involved in the process thus far,
• is not accused of wrongdoing in the grievance,
• is more senior than the grievance decision maker and able to overturn decisions, and
• is competent to carry out the appeal process and ideally has been formally trained.

Whereas the complainant can be informed that disciplinary action against the accused employees will take place, the outcome of that action should remain private between the individual(s) concerned and the company so as not to breach confidentiality. 

Step 10. Actioning the grievance outcomes

Once the individual has either appealed, are out of time to appeal, or have confirmed they have decided not to appeal, the outcomes should then be actioned in line with relevant company policies such as the disciplinary policy, training policy etc.

Where the process results in disciplinary action the grievance report, along with all relevant evidence should be passed to the line for them to follow the disciplinary process.

Where an outcome of the process is to move an employee to a different department, unless there are exceptional circumstances it should always be the individual who was found to have breached company policy that is moved rather than the victim. There are rare occasions where moving the victim can be justified but doing so exposes the organisation to various legal claims that would normally have a strong chance of success at Tribunal. 

Where relevant it should also be explained that if anyone treats the complainant less favourably due to them raising a legitimate grievance that will be viewed as a serious disciplinary matter by the company. If the grievance involved discrimination then such action may even be deemed to be Victimisation, which is often considered to be gross misconduct resulting in summary dismissal.

Step 11. The appeal process

Unless stated in the company’s grievance policy, there are no specific rules on the timescales for when an appeal hearing needs to take place, or alternatively for the appeal manager to review the evidence and make a decision if that is the employee’s choice of how the appeal is managed. 

According to the Acas Code the employer simply needs to act ‘reasonably’ with regards to timescales i.e. recognise that this is an important issue for the employee that should be acted on in a timely manner.

As a guide, we would advise contacting the individual within 7 days of receipt of their appeal to invite them to an appeal hearing, inform them of the process that will be followed and explain the expected timescales. Please bear in mind, however, that as the grievance outcomes should not normally be actioned until after the appeal process has ended it is in everybody’s interests to hear the appeal in a timely manner.

The employee will need to specify exactly what it is they are appealing against i.e. the basis of their appeal. If they have not been clear about this in their appeal letter then this should be clarified with them. For example they may:

• feel the outcomes are incorrect based on the evidence,
• challenge that the investigation was not thorough enough and so certain evidence was missed,
• feel that certain evidence was ignored or was incorrectly considered to be unimportant, and that should have changed the outcome in their view, 
• view that the process followed was flawed.

Alternatively, although it is rare, the individual may wish to treat the appeal as a complete re-hearing of their grievance and that should be allowed.

The process to follow when managing the appeal is then very similar to the steps covered above in this article when explaining the process to manage the initial grievance i.e. invite the complainant to an appeal hearing; hold the hearing; investigate any matters that need further clarification; make a decision and then confirm it in writing…..

All steps in the appeal process are explained in detail in the Practical Guide to Managing Grievances, which also contains the relevant CIPD approved letters and other documents that may be needed. Click here for further details.

When confirming the appeal outcome in writing it should be stressed that, unless your policy includes a second appeal (not recommended) the outcomes of the appeal are final.

Other important considerations

There are certain other important considerations in the grievance process that need further explanation but to do so would have made this article too long. 

Please see the Practical Guide to Managing Grievances for full explanations, and CIPD approved letters / other documentation, relating to the following: 

• Right to be accompanied at a grievance or grievance appeal hearing.
• What if the employee retracts their grievance during the process?
• What if the employee’s grievance relates to disciplinary action being taken against them?
• Suspension of alleged wrongdoer.
• What if an employee goes off sick at the same time as their grievance or appeal hearing?
• Anonymous witnesses.
• Supporting those involved in the Process.
• Witness Interviews / Statements.
• ACAS guidance on grievance procedures during the coronavirus pandemic

We hope this article has been useful. If you have any queries regarding grievances or any other HR matters please contact us.