Dear all, Greetings to all HR professionals.
I have been following the references given here, I work as an Executive HR in a manufacturing plant having employee strength 1500(approx) Uttarakhand region we needed to update our Grievance policy.
Can someone please help me clear my doubts and provide basic outline so I can frame the policy keeping in consideration the legal implications of staff and workmen?
20 plus members we need to have a grievance mechanism mandatorily, we have an active work committee..can someone please help me with the scope of the policy and also what should be the general steps and whether it would be same for all employee level and weather plant policy and policy in corporate office could be the same.
Please help me out to frame the policy keeping in view all the necessary steps for a policy covering all. Please it would be helpful if you can share the policies of your organisation I want to study and know the differences amount them so I can frame the policy keeping in mind all the merits and demerits of the same. Mostly how to cover staff , workmen, and employees at other corporate offices.
Thank you so much.
Looking for your positive response.
From India, New Delhi
2I have been following the references given here, I work as an Executive HR in a manufacturing plant having employee strength 1500(approx) Uttarakhand region we needed to update our Grievance policy.
Can someone please help me clear my doubts and provide basic outline so I can frame the policy keeping in consideration the legal implications of staff and workmen?
20 plus members we need to have a grievance mechanism mandatorily, we have an active work committee..can someone please help me with the scope of the policy and also what should be the general steps and whether it would be same for all employee level and weather plant policy and policy in corporate office could be the same.
Please help me out to frame the policy keeping in view all the necessary steps for a policy covering all. Please it would be helpful if you can share the policies of your organisation I want to study and know the differences amount them so I can frame the policy keeping in mind all the merits and demerits of the same. Mostly how to cover staff , workmen, and employees at other corporate offices.
Thank you so much.
Looking for your positive response.
From India, New Delhi
Dear Mani Bhandari,
If you have just 2o staff members in your company then no need to make the "Grievance Redressal Policy" as such. The objective of this policy is to create an atmosphere of fairness. The juniors often get dominated by the seniors and sometimes if the injustice happens to them then it has to be addressed immediately. The grievance policy comes handy in such a case. Grievance policy is one of the means of creating a culture of upward communication in the organisation.
However, 20 is a too small number of staff for the policy on the grievances. Not that policies are linked to the strength of the employees. However, if you create such a policy and educate the junior members on this policy, possibly it could boomerang on you as there could be cases of filing for grievance handling and you will waste more time in sorting out these issues.
When your employee strength crosses 100, you need to prepare the standing orders. The procedure of grievance handling will have to be enumerated in the standing orders as such. That will suffice the purpose. Therefore, even at that time also, on and above the standing orders there is no need to make a grievance handling policy.
Nevertheless, from the standpoint of management science, we need to create a culture of teamwork and collaboration. Rather than relying on the legal provisions, the employees should have cultural connect or emotional connect. Therefore, let your leadership encourage upward communication. The constant touch with the down most employees always helps. They should be felt that they are being valued and not belittled.
To foster the culture of teamwork and collaboration the basic requirement is to create a healthy interpersonal environment in the company. Let your leadership do that first. Train the staff on interpersonal skills. When managers forever take care of the motivation of their juniors, there will not be any need for the grievance handling policy.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
If you have just 2o staff members in your company then no need to make the "Grievance Redressal Policy" as such. The objective of this policy is to create an atmosphere of fairness. The juniors often get dominated by the seniors and sometimes if the injustice happens to them then it has to be addressed immediately. The grievance policy comes handy in such a case. Grievance policy is one of the means of creating a culture of upward communication in the organisation.
However, 20 is a too small number of staff for the policy on the grievances. Not that policies are linked to the strength of the employees. However, if you create such a policy and educate the junior members on this policy, possibly it could boomerang on you as there could be cases of filing for grievance handling and you will waste more time in sorting out these issues.
When your employee strength crosses 100, you need to prepare the standing orders. The procedure of grievance handling will have to be enumerated in the standing orders as such. That will suffice the purpose. Therefore, even at that time also, on and above the standing orders there is no need to make a grievance handling policy.
Nevertheless, from the standpoint of management science, we need to create a culture of teamwork and collaboration. Rather than relying on the legal provisions, the employees should have cultural connect or emotional connect. Therefore, let your leadership encourage upward communication. The constant touch with the down most employees always helps. They should be felt that they are being valued and not belittled.
To foster the culture of teamwork and collaboration the basic requirement is to create a healthy interpersonal environment in the company. Let your leadership do that first. Train the staff on interpersonal skills. When managers forever take care of the motivation of their juniors, there will not be any need for the grievance handling policy.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Thank you so much for the response sir. And sorry for confusing you.
But my company is a manufacturing company and we already have standing order as employee strength is 1500 approx. for our manufacturing plant , consisting of staff and workers.
We have a set hierarchy please help me with the basics of grievance policy like how should I formulate the policy on what grounds who will address grievances and timelines keeping in view the legal implications.
Scope & applicability of the policy on staff and workers and what should be the steps for redressal.
Or it would be really helpful if you can share grievance policy of MNC companies so I can benchmark on them.
Thank you for the quick response sir. I appreciate your time.
From India, New Delhi
But my company is a manufacturing company and we already have standing order as employee strength is 1500 approx. for our manufacturing plant , consisting of staff and workers.
We have a set hierarchy please help me with the basics of grievance policy like how should I formulate the policy on what grounds who will address grievances and timelines keeping in view the legal implications.
Scope & applicability of the policy on staff and workers and what should be the steps for redressal.
Or it would be really helpful if you can share grievance policy of MNC companies so I can benchmark on them.
Thank you for the quick response sir. I appreciate your time.
From India, New Delhi
Even if the environment is healthy and we have terms regarding the grievance redressal in our standing order .
So my question is, if we have standing order do we need not to have a policy in place ?
Is it not mandatory? As far as my knowledge standing order are applicable to workmen level employees..so sir how will we address concerns of staff level ....or our corporate office I guess they need to maintain a policy for redressal.
Please sir state your point to clear my doubts.
From India, New Delhi
So my question is, if we have standing order do we need not to have a policy in place ?
Is it not mandatory? As far as my knowledge standing order are applicable to workmen level employees..so sir how will we address concerns of staff level ....or our corporate office I guess they need to maintain a policy for redressal.
Please sir state your point to clear my doubts.
From India, New Delhi
Dear Mani Bhandari,
So far as your establishment is concerned, it is mandatory to constitute a Grievance Settlement Committee as per the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
The very constitution of the Grievance Settlement Committee is not only a step forward in giving sufficient room for the Alternative Dispute Mechanism within the industrial establishment but also to promote collective bargaining which is the foundation under the IDA, 1947 for prevention as well as amicable resolution of industrial disputes in an effective manner.
The objective and purpose of Standing Orders is certainly different from that of an internal mechanism for grievance redressal. Of course, it would have been somewhat pertinent had you questioned the need for GSC u/s 9-C when there is a Works Committee constituted u/s 3 of the IDA, 1947. The Works Committees are normally concerned with the problems arising in the day-to-day working of the concern. But the function and responsibility of the WCs cannot go beyond recommendations. Therefore, employee grievance being a matter of personal concern can only be resolved only by a special machinery constituted for that specific purpose and hence the need for GSC u/s 9C.
If you carefully analyze the relevant provisions like its constitution, rotational chairpersonship among the management and labor, proportionate representation of women employees, compulsion to exhaust the grievances first before the GSC, in the event of refusal to accept the decision of the GSC, the right to agitate the grievance before other forums like conciliation, arbitration and adjudication, certainly you will realize the need for such an internal machanism not by way of mere statutory compliance.
The concern for the redressal of non-workman category employees also would highlight the need for such a policy in place.
From India, Salem
So far as your establishment is concerned, it is mandatory to constitute a Grievance Settlement Committee as per the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
The very constitution of the Grievance Settlement Committee is not only a step forward in giving sufficient room for the Alternative Dispute Mechanism within the industrial establishment but also to promote collective bargaining which is the foundation under the IDA, 1947 for prevention as well as amicable resolution of industrial disputes in an effective manner.
The objective and purpose of Standing Orders is certainly different from that of an internal mechanism for grievance redressal. Of course, it would have been somewhat pertinent had you questioned the need for GSC u/s 9-C when there is a Works Committee constituted u/s 3 of the IDA, 1947. The Works Committees are normally concerned with the problems arising in the day-to-day working of the concern. But the function and responsibility of the WCs cannot go beyond recommendations. Therefore, employee grievance being a matter of personal concern can only be resolved only by a special machinery constituted for that specific purpose and hence the need for GSC u/s 9C.
If you carefully analyze the relevant provisions like its constitution, rotational chairpersonship among the management and labor, proportionate representation of women employees, compulsion to exhaust the grievances first before the GSC, in the event of refusal to accept the decision of the GSC, the right to agitate the grievance before other forums like conciliation, arbitration and adjudication, certainly you will realize the need for such an internal machanism not by way of mere statutory compliance.
The concern for the redressal of non-workman category employees also would highlight the need for such a policy in place.
From India, Salem
Dear mam, thank you so much for your prompt response.
Like you have said an alternative mechanism is necessary..I have a question
We have a proper Work Committee- lead by our LWO with constitution and frequency as per the rules to address the common grievances of workmen.
And we don’t have any union, IR are very good.
Since we all know Work committee is the first step in the ID Act settlement machinery to resolve the grievances with mutual agreement and then the issue is raised further to conciliation officer and so and so.
But I have discussed this with many HR people in the industry and all of them confuse my question, as per my knowledge grievance settlement machinery and work committee are two completely different things and cannot be used simultaneously.
Also both are required to be their , a grievance mechanism to address for individual complains and work committee for collective issues.
So for personal grievances can you please explain in steps or in details what should be considered..how should I draft my policy in accordance for establishing a grievance mechanism.
Also please note that the act states that if the company has already a prevailing grievance handling mechanism, then there’s no need to constitute the committee.
Also in committee workmen representation is required with regular proportionate number, but is it logical to have a committee and for addressing petty grievances a committee with workers have to called upon also what if the grievances of staff employees are their do we still discuss this with our workmen representatives.
Also as stated by you if a employee grievance is not address can he raise it further just like the machinery in the ID act. To conciliation officer and then the conciliation officer , board of conciliation, court of inquiry etc.
As stated by you mam your absolutely correct for both workmen and non workmen staff it is very important, also it will boost the satisfaction level if a clear set of instructions are their.
I want to draft the policy can you please help me with the basic structure and the must haves for this policy which is legally compiled as well.
Please correct if I have stated any wrong information.
From India, New Delhi
Like you have said an alternative mechanism is necessary..I have a question
We have a proper Work Committee- lead by our LWO with constitution and frequency as per the rules to address the common grievances of workmen.
And we don’t have any union, IR are very good.
Since we all know Work committee is the first step in the ID Act settlement machinery to resolve the grievances with mutual agreement and then the issue is raised further to conciliation officer and so and so.
But I have discussed this with many HR people in the industry and all of them confuse my question, as per my knowledge grievance settlement machinery and work committee are two completely different things and cannot be used simultaneously.
Also both are required to be their , a grievance mechanism to address for individual complains and work committee for collective issues.
So for personal grievances can you please explain in steps or in details what should be considered..how should I draft my policy in accordance for establishing a grievance mechanism.
Also please note that the act states that if the company has already a prevailing grievance handling mechanism, then there’s no need to constitute the committee.
Also in committee workmen representation is required with regular proportionate number, but is it logical to have a committee and for addressing petty grievances a committee with workers have to called upon also what if the grievances of staff employees are their do we still discuss this with our workmen representatives.
Also as stated by you if a employee grievance is not address can he raise it further just like the machinery in the ID act. To conciliation officer and then the conciliation officer , board of conciliation, court of inquiry etc.
As stated by you mam your absolutely correct for both workmen and non workmen staff it is very important, also it will boost the satisfaction level if a clear set of instructions are their.
I want to draft the policy can you please help me with the basic structure and the must haves for this policy which is legally compiled as well.
Please correct if I have stated any wrong information.
From India, New Delhi
Dear sir,
Sorry for the typo.
Requesting you to please view the attachment and let me know is it correct.
Can we have a grievance policy without the constitution of the committee...with set steps like written complain to HR Department, then to Plant head then CHRO ..with defined timelines.
Please explain the steps and with timelines if any.
Actually we have a very strong SH policy at our plant and we have shared the direct contact details of our CHRO in case of any complain if required. Along with the details of the committee members just for sake if one doesn’t trust in the members. Also we have CHRO connect session with our staff employees monthly for suggestions and everything as they don’t get the opportunity to interact with the management so.
We have a HR team at our plant and corporate level, I have not handled policy framing before so i have put in my research from the web but still some questions and confusions are there I want to understand the whole procedure of handling the policy framing and what are the steps involved and I want to clear my basic knowledge.
Thanks a ton in advance already :)
From India, New Delhi
Sorry for the typo.
Requesting you to please view the attachment and let me know is it correct.
Can we have a grievance policy without the constitution of the committee...with set steps like written complain to HR Department, then to Plant head then CHRO ..with defined timelines.
Please explain the steps and with timelines if any.
Actually we have a very strong SH policy at our plant and we have shared the direct contact details of our CHRO in case of any complain if required. Along with the details of the committee members just for sake if one doesn’t trust in the members. Also we have CHRO connect session with our staff employees monthly for suggestions and everything as they don’t get the opportunity to interact with the management so.
We have a HR team at our plant and corporate level, I have not handled policy framing before so i have put in my research from the web but still some questions and confusions are there I want to understand the whole procedure of handling the policy framing and what are the steps involved and I want to clear my basic knowledge.
Thanks a ton in advance already :)
From India, New Delhi
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Employee Grievance Redressal.ppt
Grievance Redressal Flow Chart.pdf