What is your process for handling employee complaints? Do your supervisors know to take all complaints seriously? Whatever an employee complains about, it’s important to take it seriously. This applies to all complaints, no matter how trivial they might seem at the time. Here is some advice to give to your supervisors on the importance of taking complaints seriously:
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- Remember that even if you don’t consider a complaint important, the employee who complains thinks it is. Otherwise, he or she wouldn’t have come to you. Your employees need to know that if they do come to you with a problem, you’ll listen to their concerns.
- Furthermore, some complaints could have serious implications. For example, complaints about discrimination and harassment or complaints about safety conditions are very serious. These complaints must be promptly addressed even if you think they lack merit.
- Even complaints based on rumors and misinformation must be dealt with promptly, or they could cause a lot of upset, additional complaints, and serious problems down the road.
Ignoring complaints is dangerous. It could have unexpected and undesirable consequences for you and for the organization. Some of the possible issues include:
- Even a minor complaint could escalate into a major problem if ignored.
- You could also miss a hidden problem if you ignore a complaint. The complaint might be just the tip of the iceberg. It may give you a clue to a more widespread problem that you have not previously recognized.
- Ignoring complaints can also affect the productivity and morale of the employee who complains. It can affect that employee’s commitment to you, the department, and the organization. Even worse, ignored employees can spread their discontent to co-workers.
- Ignoring a complaint might also put a worker in harm’s way. If a complaint about safety conditions is ignored, one of your employees could be injured. If complaints about harassment or threats of violence are ignored, someone could be in danger.
- If some complaints are not promptly resolved internally, they can turn into expensive lawsuits against the workplace, or even against you personally.
The above information comes from BLR’s presentation "Handling Employee Complaints." For more information on all the training courses BLR has to offer, go to our Employee and Manager Training page.