TOPIC: EMPLOYER’S GRIEVANCE

When an employee raises a workplace grievance, you must take them seriously.
Whether or not your employee's grievance is valid, it could be having a negative effect on
them.

Their morale might have dropped. And because of this, their productivity levels might
drop. And before long, your staff retention numbers fall as disgruntled staff leave the
business.

An employee grievance is a concern, problem, or complaint that an employee has about

their work, the workplace, or someone they work with—this includes management.
Something has made them feel dissatisfied, and they believe it is unfair and/or unjust on
them.

TYPES OF GRIEVANCES IN THE WORKPLACE

These are the most common examples of employee grievances.
 Pay and benefits.
 Bullying.
 Work conditions.
 Workload.

PAY AND BENEFITS GRIEVANCES

As an employer, you've probably had at least one member of your staff come to you to
express that they're unhappy with what you're paying them.
Your employee might mention:
- That they want a higher salary.
- They think they should be earning as much as somebody who does a similar job in
the organization.
- They might be trying to receive expenses—such as for their commute.
Make sure that you have a pay and benefits policy that outlines how often you will
conduct salary and benefits reviews with your staff, and ensure that any documents your
employees receive are in line with this policy.

BULLYING GRIEVANCES
It's inevitable that members of staff in your workplace just won't get on. But that doesn’t
mean you should allow bullying or harassment. You must have a zero tolerance policy.
Ensure that you give everyone your anti-bullying and anti-harassment policies, and
always email any updates or revisions. These policies should include the disciplinary
procedure you'll follow if somebody lodges a grievance for bullying or harassment.

A Bully Lives in Many Workplaces

60 million Americans are affected by workplace bullying
29% of employees who are targets of bullies remain silent about their experiences
40% of people targeted by a bully experience stress-related health problems
60% of the target’s coworker’s reactions are harmful to the targets of a bully
61% of Americans are aware of abusive conduct that takes place in the workplace
71% of employer reactions are harmful to the workplace targets of bully behavior

Take A Stand Against Workplace Bullying

COMMON SIGNS OF WORKPLACE BULLYING

- Abusive or offensive language
- Unwelcome behavior
- Unreasonable insults or criticism
- Teasing and spreading rumours
- Trivializing work achievements
 - Exclusion or isolation

TIPS FOR CREATING A POSITIVE WORKPLACE

- Know what bullying looks like
- Watch for workers that could be targeted
- Focus on job performance
- Promote a positive workplace culture
- Investigate complaints promptly
- Provide training on workplace policies
- Encourage a zero-tolerance environment
- Call bullying what it is

HOW TO IDENTIFY SMART-SHAMING

Smart-Shaming
Also referred to as anti-intellectualism, smart-shaming is the act of downplaying or
embarrassing an individual due to his or her intelligent remarks, deeds, or even by
appearance. For years, smart-shaming is on an upward trend in the Philippines. Its growing
popularity is apparent in the popular phrases or terminologies used on local TV, social media,
or everyday life.

HOW TO IDENTIFY SMART-SHAMING

In the Philippines, smart-shaming is usually instigated with verbal cues; though, at
times, physical hostility and attacks take the place of words. For those initiated by written or
spoken words, it is a matter of hearing the following phrases (or similar to terms) being used:
“Sige, matalino ka na!”
“Ang dami mong alam!”
“Ikaw na magaling!”
“Edi wow!”
“Nosebleed!”
“Bobo na ko, sige na!”
“Ang dami mong alam!”
“Ang lalim!”
“Ikaw na ang magaling!”
“Talaga lang ha…”
“Pa-English-English ka pa!”
“Mukha kang ewan.”
“Di kaw na lang tumakbong presidente!”

WORKING CONDITIONS GRIEVANCES

Nobody wants to lose a valuable employee because of problems with their workplace
conditions. It's up to you to prevent this.
Think about:
 Cleanliness on the office floors or in the kitchen.
 Desk etiquette.
 Bathroom conditions.
 Health and safety hazards.
 Temperatures in the workplace.
 Conduct workplace risk assessments regularly to identify any possible hazards,
such as a leak.
 Have a first aid officer, a first aid kit, and signs designating fire exits.
 Outfit your office with fire extinguishers. Other obvious essentials include refuse
bins around obvious areas, such as a kitchen or canteen and near desks, too. Don't
forget about toiletries: toilet paper and hand soap/sanitizer.
  As part of your assessment, you could assess whether you should invest in air
conditioning for the summer, or radiators if the office gets cold in the winter.

GIEVANCE SOURCE
Managerial Conditions
- Pay scale or wage rates
- Overtime
- Benefits-Promotions Incentives, Seniority and Discharges
- Lack of role clarity
- Autocratic Leadership style of supervisors
- Lack regards for collective agreement
Working Conditions
- Unrealistic
- Non-availability of proper tool . machines and equipment for doing the job
- Tight production standards
- Bad working conditions
- Poor relationship with the supervisor
- Negative approach to discipline
Personal Factors
- Narrow attitude
- Over ambition
- Egoistic personality
- Non-cooperative
- Personal problems outside factory

WORKLOAD GRIEVANCES
You can often find a link between grievances about their workload, and pay and benefits
issues that staff raise.
Typical situations that cause problems with employees are:
- Increasing your employee's workload when another employee leaves, rather than
finding a replacement.
- Increasing an employee's workload because you've made other staff redundant to
cut costs.

If you're going to increase an employee's workload, you should be ready for them to
ask, "What's in it for me?"
And if you're hoping that your employee will just do more work for no extra pay or
benefits, and not even a recognized promotion, you're likely to frustrate your employee.
And as we said earlier, their morale will drop. They will begin to resent you and feel like
you're taking advantage of them. They'll end up doing less work. And they might begin their
search for a new job. In this situation, they could even have a case for constructive dismissal
—if they feel like they have no choice but to resign.

EMPLOYEE MORALE AND MOTIVATION

Low employee morale can adversely affect your ability to attract and retain the best
employees and have a detrimental effect on productivity. Maybe you suspect that you may
have a problem with low morale because employees are exhibiting signs of low morale or
because a survey that you've done of your employees indicates it. If this is the case, you
need to determine which aspects of your workplace are creating dissatisfaction with the job
and find ways to remedy them.
So whether your employees are disgruntled or not, you should check out these
strategies to see how you can make their work lives more satisfying and productive:
- building employees' involvement in the business
- building employees' self-esteem
- recognizing and rewarding employees
BUILDING EMPLOYEES' INVOLVEMENT
1. Identify any problems that might stand in the way. Again, the types of problems that
lead to absenteeism, turnover, and generally low morale will be barriers to developing
the type of commitment to the business that you're seeking.
2. Share your vision and the mission of the business. As the leader, you need to have
some goals for the business. If your goal is to have the best reputation for customer
service, for example, employees know what to strive for and have a goal. Getting them
involved creates ownership of the business's vision. If employees understand why the
goal is important, they will feel personally responsible for making it a success.
3. Give some power to employees. If you want employees to care, you have to give them
some responsibility and some decision-making latitude. Employees have to believe
that the decisions they make and the work they perform has a direct impact on the
product or service you provide. This may be easier to achieve and demonstrate in a
small business than it would be in a larger one.
4. Encourage risk-taking. Let employees experiment and try to find new ways to help the
business reach its goals. Don't create a culture where employees are afraid to try
anything new because if they fail they will be punished. Allow a certain amount of
failure, and reward people for trying.
5. Use reward systems. When your employees do well, reward them. Tailor your reward
systems to specific accomplishments. If you have one employee who sells 25 percent
more than everyone else, but everyone gets the same bonus, your star sales rep. isn't
going to be particularly motivated to excel in the future.
6. Plan social and athletic activities. These types of activities allow people to interact with
each other on a level that can build stronger professional bonds. If your business is
small, perhaps just an annual dinner or picnic somewhere is enough. If you have
several employees with a similar hobby or athletic interest, maybe your business can
sponsor a team in a local league.
7. Warning: Be sure to protect yourself from workers' compensation liability by making
the event completely voluntary. Also, arrange for the event to take place during non-
work hours. If you have questions about whether a particular event will expose your
business to liability, consult an attorney.

BUILDING EMPLOYEES' SELF-ESTEEM

Many people believe that work performance is a reflection of how employees feel about
themselves and their work. If an employee is proud of the job that he or she does, the work
quality will reflect that. Employees who have bad self-images are more likely to exhibit those
negative feelings in their work.
So, how can you boost employees' self-esteem? There is an infinite number of ways,
depending on the employee and the means at your disposal. Some ways are as simple as
recognition; a simple thank you or a reward for a job well done. This can be particularly
gratifying for an employee with a behind-the-scenes job.
 Sponsor employees in weight control or fitness programs.
 Pay for employees to attend public speaking or other professional development
classes.
 Pay for employees to learn about personal financial planning, either through
classes or literature.
 Ask employees to teach you and other employees a skill or procedure that they
do well (this has the added bonus of doubling as cross-training of the staff).
 Recognize successes, both personal and professional, such as an employee
completing her graduate degree or an employee earning his black belt in martial
arts.
RECOGNIZING AND REWARDING EMPLOYEES
Some of the more common reasons for recognition and reward are:
1. length of service (usually landmark anniversaries; for example, five years of
service)
2. retirement
3. safety (usually more common in manufacturing businesses, this includes
recognition for achieving a certain number of days without an on-the-job injury)
4. attendance (six months or a year without an absence is the typically rewarded
goal)
5. productivity
6. customer service
7. superior performance awards (usually for outstanding effort and achievement on a
specific project)
8. employee-of-the-month programs

WHAT REWARDS CAN YOU GIVE?

Typical rewards given in conjunction with employee recognition are:
1. certificates
2. plaques
3. trophies or ribbons
4. jewelry (pins, pendants)
5. pens or desk accessories
6. watches and clocks
7. cash bonuses
8. tickets to sporting or cultural events
9. vacation trips