Our blog this month looks at what the difference is between grievances, complaints and whistleblowing claims and how employers should be handling them all.
Different ways to raise a complaint in the workplace
There are so many ways in businesses where people can raise concerns about how things are being handled and managed. As an employer, you need to understand all of these different routes and how to handle them.
In the UK, the terms “grievance,” “complaint,” and “whistleblowing” each refer to different types of workplace issues, and they are governed by distinct legal frameworks. It’s crucial for both employees and employers to understand the differences between these terms, as they impact the rights of workers and the obligations of employers.
So let’s take a look at each of these things in more detail:
Grievances
An employee raises a grievance when they are unhappy, concerned or feel disadvantaged by something in the workplace that affects their work or wellbeing. This can include concerns about pay, working conditions, harassment, or unfair treatment by a colleague or manager. Employees have the legal right to raise a grievance, and employers must have a formal procedure in place to deal with such complaints.
Your company grievance procedure should be outlined in the employee’s contract and must be easily available to employees at all times, through a staff handbook, or an internal intranet, or another central repository . Many HR information systems provide a secure place for holding such documents, which give easy access for employees.
I would always advise you to have an informal stage to your Grievance Procedure. You should first try to manage issues and concerns informally with your employee, but if a concern cannot be resolved informally, the employee must follow the formal process, which involves submitting a written complaint, attending a meeting with the employer, and potentially appealing the decision. The grievance process allows your employees to resolve issues internally.
You may sometimes get a complaint or grievance from an ex-employee after they have left your employment. My advice is to deal with such complaints formally through your grievance procedure (which should include a modified process for dealing with grievances after someone has left employment with you), as these can escalate to a claim through Employment Tribunal if they are not handled properly.
Complaints
If an employee (or an ex-employee) wants to raise a complaint, then they can and should use the Grievance Procedure and you need to make sure that employees understand this route for resolving an issue, particularly the informal stage if the concern is something minor.
Complaints can also come from external sources such as clients, suppliers or members of the public. It might be sensible to have a Complaints Policy which you can send out to everyone, particularly when a complaint is raised. You also need to ensure that relevant employees are trained on how to handle and respond to complaints. It is a good idea to have a process to log these complaints and track them and how they are resolved (to help you to avoid similar situations in future).
How you handle complaints can have an impact on your public relations, of course, but it can also have a knock-on effect on your staff and how they feel about the company, so it is an important aspect of your employee relations.
Whistleblowing
Whistleblowing occurs when a worker (not just an employee, but also directors, contractors, freelancers, apprentices, volunteers and other workers) reports a concern about wrongdoing in the workplace that they believe could be harmful to others or to the public interest. This is governed by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.
Activities which might come under this legislation include:
- a criminal offence, for example fraud;
- someone’s health and safety is in danger;
- risk or actual damage to the environment;
- a miscarriage of justice;
- the company is breaking the law, for example does not have the right insurance;
- the worker believes someone is covering up wrongdoing.
For a disclosure to be considered whistleblowing, it must be made in the public interest (i.e., not just for personal gain) and typically involves reporting serious matters to external authorities such as the police, regulators, or the media. Whistleblowing laws protect employees from dismissal, victimisation, or detriment as a result of making a protected disclosure, provided the information is disclosed in good faith and follows the proper channels.
The legislation also protects ex-employees who bring a claim in good faith and through the right process.
There is no legal requirement to have a whistleblowing policy, but we would advise you to have one if you employ any kind of workers (such as employees, apprentices, contractors, freelancers, agency workers, volunteers). This will help to ensure that such complaints are directed to the right person who can resolve them and can prevent the situation blowing up into an external public relations problem.
What are the key differences?
The first difference is the nature of the issue. Grievances are to deal with internal workplace issues affecting employees (or ex-employees) personally, whilst complaints are raised by other people who are not employees Whistleblowing is about exposing wrongdoing or dangers that could impact others or the public.
There are also procedural differences. Grievances follow a formal procedure laid out by the employer (which should include an informal route as well). Complaints from external people or companies can be dealt with informally or formally through an internal company process, and whistleblowing involves either internal whistleblowing procedures or reporting to external authorities (or sometimes both).
Depending on the issue, there are different legal protections for the person who has raised the issue. Whistleblowers are specifically protected by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, while employees raising grievances are entitled to a fair process under employment law, which would include an internal grievance process (and appeal) and could end in an Employment Tribunal claim. Complaints are not covered in employment law, but it is in a company’s best interests to have a robust and effective process for resolving complaints from external parties.
Why is it important to use different procedures?
For most day to day issues and concerns in the workplace, the grievance procedure is the correct way to find a mutually acceptable resolution. If there is an informal stage in the procedure, this is often the best way to achieve a suitable outcome. The formal process can be used successfully to manage and resolve concerns raised by employees.
For other complaints, they can be managed by the company through whatever process is deemed appropriate. Our advice is to have a Complaints Policy and process to ensure that any complaints can be resolved quickly and effectively.
If someone feels the need to raise a whistle blowing complaint, it is important that this is managed fairly, promptly and without any disadvantage to the person who has raised the complaint (as long as it is genuine and meets the relevant criteria). An internal whistle blowing policy can give a company a route to manage such complaints internally without recourse to external bodies and the resulting reputational damage. If a whistle blowing complaint is managed fairly and properly, it can even turn into a positive employee relations exercise. This, of course, depends on the nature of the complaint and what resource and appetite the company has to resolve it. But if it goes to an external body, then it may be very bad news for your business.
Extra tips on how to manage these issues
Some of the difficulties in dealing with these things as that there can be blurred edges between grievances and whistleblowing complaints. A staff member might use a grievance procedure, in the believe that they have “blown the whistle”. If an issue is raised through a grievance or complaint which could potentially be a whistleblowing issue, then it must be managed properly to avoid it being taken further.
To avoid this, it is sensible to have clear policies on both grievances and whistleblowing and making sure that your staff read and understand these. You may even want to run a training session to ensure understanding and to reiterate your desire to deal with any concerns raised appropriately, promptly and fairly, with no disadvantage to the person who raised the concern.
As already mentioned, an informal stage to your grievance procedure can iron out many issues before they ever need to become formal. It can also alert you to any potential problems which you may not be aware of.
When someone has had the courage to raise a concern, it is important that the concern is heard and the person is given a response on action taken (or why no action is necessary). A concern may seem trivial to you or your line managers, but if the employee has raised it, then it is not trivial for them and they deserve to have their concerns laid to rest.
A process for dealing with external complaints makes good business sense as it is an important tool to protect your business in the event that someone is unhappy with a product or service they have received.
One final tip is that you should be thoroughly investigating any concerns about wrongdoing and providing sanctions or punishment to those responsible. This can prevent potential whistleblowing claims in future.
