Raising a Grievance: ‘The Lived Experience’

Raising a Grievance: ‘The Lived Experience’

“I want to make formal complaint”. Welcome to ‘The Lived Experience’ of making a complaint as an employee.

Language Matters

Firstly let’s get the terminology understood. In employment world, ‘a complaint’ is something usually made by someone external to the organisation, so not an employee. Your school will have a Complaints Policy.

If you are an employee, to make a complaint then the word is ‘Grievance’. You will have a Grievance Policy.

On the theme of terminology, by the very nature of the word, grievance sounds adversarial. It certainly doesn’t need to be; this is where the words matter. It is really common for people to want to ‘make a complaint against someone’. Various Authority, Trust or  School policies will frame this phrase differently.

You can raise a grievance when it is connected to people, processes, policy implementation or their interpretations. It doesn’t have to be ’against someone’. So here I much prefer the use of the words ‘raising a grievance relating to something/someone’. I’m sure you can see this can then apply across the range of situations and takes the confrontation element down a notch. The key is to work to resolution, not fuel a confrontation.

Read the policy

Policies have varying degrees of ‘insistence’ on showing you tried an informal approach first. Sometimes it is mandatory and a formal process cannot start until you have tried informal action. Edapt have had subscribers for whom this has been the case and has frustrated them as they view this as a ploy by the employer to avoid taking things seriously. In reality, it chimes with the general employment practice of resolving matters at the lowest possible level. 

Some policies have latitude to move to formal stages quicker where it is clearly appropriate to do so. 

You will almost certainly be asked to show how you have tried to resolve things.

The policy will dictate what happens at each stage. At Edapt, we find there are quite big differences in approach to handling a grievance. And, don’t assume your school or Head have done this before. One of Edapt’s roles here is to keep things on track for you, sometimes when the school misinterprets the policy process.

We have an article that gives an overview of grievance here

Stay Realistic

To be clear from the start: grievance is an imperfect process. How you structure it and how realistic you are about possible outcomes are key aspects here.

There are normally three outcomes of each element of a grievance: Upheld, partially upheld, not upheld.

Partially upheld is used regularly. This can feel a little…underwhelming.

So what do we see?

Subscribers nearly always think it will be a quick and efficient process. Typically, it tends not to be. Assume it will take months and that will be a good to set your expectations.

This is because most involve an investigation with multiple interviews, a report is written and a hearing is convened. All this takes considerable time. It isn’t you just saying ‘this is my issue can you sort it out please?’

If the policy tries to put a timeframe on it, it is common that it can’t be met. 

What are the roles here?

This is a really common misunderstanding and comes back to the terminology people use. It is common for people to think that in raising a grievance this will end up with a one on one meeting to fight it out… with the person it is ‘against’.

In reality, the investigator will present their findings to a hearing, you present your case within the context of the report they have written. The ‘person it is against’ isn’t there.

Their role in this is essentially on a par with being a ‘witness to it’. They will be interviewed and that is fed into the report; usually they are not at the hearing.

You are the centre of the process, not them.

The Lived Experience

Various take-aways from grievances recently at Edapt:

• It takes much longer than subscribers think. This can add to stress and worry along the way and can make day to day working awkward. Do be aware of that;
• It is an imperfect process and it is rare to end up fully satisfied. Know this from the start;
• Policies vary in implementation strategy and get used infrequently. A policy is only tested when it is used. Sometimes they make no logical pathway through and never been fully tested; talk to your Edapt caseworker. We have successfully amended the way schools run the process;
• The investigator may ask you to record your interview. This is fine with your permission and usually we ask it is deleted once the notes of the meeting have been agreed;
• Avoid recording anything covertly. This will be a problem for you the moment you try to use it;
• Sometimes subscribers find it helpful to have a ‘link person’ at school who is not connected to the process to ask questions. This is particularly helpful if absence from work also happens;
• The rules of investigating and the investigator’s remit can get conflated. Investigators sometimes try to make decisions on outcomes and actions. This is not their role and happens more frequently than it should;
• Really think about structure. We see long prose grievance documents that do not help an investigator understand the issues. Think:
  1. What happened and when?
  2. How did it make me feel and what was the impact on you?
  3. What redress or remedy do I seek?
• Break it down into individual components. Set out these three points for each one. Write a pithy and clear grievance with this kind of structure. Grievances submitted prior to Edapt giving guidance can sometimes be a brain dump of emotion. It’s cathartic, but not always helpful. This doesn’t help focus the investigator;
• There may be a form to fill out as an Appendix to the policy, don’t miss it;
• Subscribers don’t always appreciate that they will be asked to attend a hearing and present their case. Edapt can help with this and advise;
• Some policies mention that mediation will be the first step before anything else is done; some say it may be an outcome at the end of a hearing. Policies vary hugely in approach;
• Upheld grievances will then create action points. Some you may be part of or simply made aware of. Some will confidential and even disciplinary, you will not know what this is.

Is it worth it?

If you go into this with a good understanding of the process, your involvement, realistic expectations and lots of patience….then, yes, of course.

How else could you become more content with your working situation?

The ACAS guidance for employers is here.

And a final thought…

Before raising a grievance relating to someone or something…maybe try this approach first: 

Communicate to a manager that you understand there is a formal process you could use… but that you want to try to avoid doing that. Say that explaining you know about all the time it takes and the stress it induces. Use the phrase “In a desire to avoid raising a formal grievance, this is what I would like to happen…”. It’s amazing how often that phrase gets attention.

…oh…and I did I say it will take longer than you expect?