What is the meaning of grievance in HR?

In HR, a grievance is a formal complaint by an employee about their work, employment terms or treatment by colleagues or managers. It starts the employer's grievance procedure, which normally includes a written complaint, a meeting, an investigation, a written decision and a right of appeal.

What is the difference between a complaint and a grievance?

A complaint can be informal and settled in a conversation. A grievance is a complaint the employee chooses to raise formally, usually in writing, so the employer follows its grievance procedure: it investigates, holds a meeting, gives a written decision and offers a right of appeal.

How long does a grievance process take?

There is no single legal timetable. The UK Acas Code expects meetings and decisions without unreasonable delay, and India's Industrial Relations Code says a Grievance Redressal Committee may complete proceedings within 30 days. Most employers set target times for each stage in their own policy.

What Is Grievance? Meaning & Examples

Definition

A grievance is a formal complaint an employee raises with their employer about a problem at work, such as unfair treatment, bullying, pay, working conditions or a breach of contract or policy. Employers handle grievances through a written procedure that ends in a decision and a right of appeal.

Grievance meaning at work

In everyday English a grievance is any sense of being wronged. In employment, it means a concern that an employee formally raises with the employer and expects to be investigated and answered. Typical grounds include how a manager treats someone, workload, pay or benefits, working hours, health and safety, discrimination, harassment and changes to terms and conditions.

A grievance is different from a disciplinary matter, where the employer raises a concern about the employee's conduct, and from a whistleblowing disclosure, which reports wrongdoing in the public interest rather than a personal complaint.

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How a grievance procedure works

Most procedures begin with an informal conversation, because many issues can be settled quickly. If that fails, the employee puts the grievance in writing to a manager who is not the subject of it. The employer holds a meeting without unreasonable delay, investigates, decides what action to take and confirms the outcome in writing. If the employee is not satisfied, they can appeal to a manager who was not involved.

In the UK, the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures sets out these steps, and workers have a statutory right to be accompanied at a grievance meeting. Employment tribunals can adjust awards by up to 25 per cent where either side unreasonably fails to follow the Code.

Grievance redressal in India

In India, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 requires every industrial establishment employing 20 or more workers to have one or more Grievance Redressal Committees for disputes arising from individual grievances. Each committee has equal numbers of employer and worker representatives, no more than ten members in total, and women's representation at least in proportion to the share of women in the workforce. A worker can apply within one year of the cause of the dispute, and the committee may complete its proceedings within 30 days.

How to handle a grievance well

Log the date each grievance arrives, acknowledge it promptly, and keep the investigation away from anyone named in it. Speak to witnesses, keep notes, and give reasons for the decision, not just the outcome. The most damaging mistakes are delay, treating the employee differently after they complain, and closing a grievance without telling them what was found.

Treating someone worse because they raised a grievance can amount to retaliation, called victimisation in UK law, which is a separate claim on top of the original complaint.