Grievance Form

Grievance Forms: What Are They?

Grievance refers to the standard procedure taken in addressing issues, complaints, and related concerns of an employee in the workplace. And to start processing for grievance the formal way, the employee concerned should file using a grievance form first and send it to the supervisor. Hence, grievance forms are the official documents used to open up about a complaint, injustice, and any other issue. And the forms are also used as a basis for investigating, tracking issues, and coming up with resolutions.

According to the Communications Workers of America, it is known that there are three main types of grievances—individual, group, and policy grievances.

Meanwhile, a report confirmed that since 2010, one million complaints involving employment discrimination were filed with the government.

What Are the Types of Grievances?

Indeed, a grievance form is like the complaint letter you use to speak out about any form of discrimination, harassment, bullying, etc. But you shouldn’t be confused with what your concern for grievance is because there are different types of grievances. And the three major types of grievances according to the Communications Workers of America are:

Individual Grievance: An individual grievance refers to one person who speaks out about action from the management that violated his or her rights. Complaints here include denial of overtime, harassment, disciplinary probation, and demotion.Group Grievance: Group grievance refers to a management action that affected more than two people in the same approach. One example is when employees were not paid for many months already and no proper action was given. Group grievance displays solidarity until everyone’s similar concerns will be heard.Policy or Union Grievance: On another note, the union or policy grievance already refers to an action from that management that violated the contract or agreement. Common instances are those agreements that were misconstrued and must be addressed pronto.

How to Make a Proper Grievance Form

It takes courage to speak out about an issue. Doubts, fear, and anger might affect one’s decisions. So to make it easier for people to file for grievance, make sure you come up with an easy-to-use form. And how do you create a proper grievance form? Just follow these four steps:

Step 1: Base on a Template

Thinking that you need to start from the very beginning before you can make a grievance form? No way. Premade templates can do the initial work for you, as seen from the sample grievance forms above. Just use a template to customize until you formulate such documents shortly.

Step 2: Label the Form Appropriately

Check the labels in the grievance form. It should have the title right on top. Next, add space for employees to write their personal information. That part confirms who is filing a complaint. Next, let them identify the type of grievance involved and extra space to describe what the issue is specifically. And complete the form with a signature line in the end.

Step 3: Improve the Design and Format

After labeling, work on the form’s design and format next. Maybe the document needs to have a bigger font for its labels, more space to write, or additional instructions so as not to confuse who will soon write there. You can incorporate charts, tables, and other factors to organize the form too. Go for the best format that makes your grievance form easy to follow.

Step 4: Incorporate Other Platforms for Submission

Set things straight on how anyone who files for grievance can submit the form. Should it be sent to the supervisor’s office personally? Or send it through email? You can add more options for what platforms employees could use. So instead of using printed forms, you may accept soft copies as well. Be sure to introduce the policies or rules regarding grievance forms so that everyone in your organization knows what to do next.

FAQs

Why is a grievance form important?

A grievance form is essential to make it fair for everyone in the workplace to voice out their concerns. No one deserves to feel mistreated in any way that can give them a toxic working experience. More so, the document is important to prove how a company can fix issues. Also, grievance forms matter to all sorts of businesses. The one who files grievance may be a resident in a rental, a patient in a hospital, a client in a boutique, or even a medical student in an internship.

What are other elements to find in a grievance form?

A standard grievance form may consist of the following elements:

  • Scope of policy
  • Coverage description
  • Grievance deadlines and response times
  • Acceptable and prohibited issues that count as a grievance
  • Grievant responsibilities or rights
  • Rights of anyone accused due to misconduct
  • HR department’s responsibilities

What is a grievance form also called?

There are many names associated with a grievance form. Examples include complaint forms, action forms, employee grievance handling forms, grievance report forms, and grievance resolution forms.

Organizations that fail to acknowledge employee complaints won’t last. Employees might slowly back out if there is no room to air out their complaints. Keep your employees by giving them room to share their concerns. And creating apex versions of grievance forms is just the right recipe to help empower people to speak out and make the process easier for them to manage. Download our sample grievance forms now!