Hi
Apologies for this being quite long but I am looking for more guidance on handling grievances, certainly getting my fair share of them at the moment. We had an issue a week or so ago where two employees had a run in and nobody was there to witness it. Without going into too much detail we have a mother and daughter that had fallen out at home, the mum had got upset at her desk and her colleague went and had a quiet word. Following this the daughter said she wanted an apology as she felt threatened. To try and deal with this informally the Manager of the other girl spoke to her and as she is under a lot of pressure, work and home wise she lost it and got extremely upset and has only been back in the building once since. As the daughter didn't get an apology she has raised it formally and I have sat down and discussed it with her and advised her I will speak to the other party involved. I might add in this meeting she had highlighted parts of the handbook on raising grievances and bullying etc. I tried talking to the other girl when she came into the office last week as I am worried about her and she said I can't talk about it and she instantly got upset, so I left it. she is out the country this week so can't talk to her but the other one is pushing for update. I have been keeping her informed and I asked what she was looking to get out of it and she said
"I would expect what anyone else would expect – an apology (an admission of wrong-doing), and any disciplinary action that would be taken for bullying – as is outlined vaguely in the hand-book." I advised her that as a company have to look at this objectively so disciplinary action in any form is not a guaranteed outcome. She then came back with
"OK, So this raises a further question. If I do get the apology / admission of wrong doing, this suggests that bullying has been proven.As per the handbook – section 2.5, under bullying, it says “Where bullying is proven, disciplinary action will be taken on every occasion” However, now this does not seem the case. Please explain?" I again went back to her and said I wanted to make her aware that by raising a grievance we are looking to resolve the situation as amicably as possible without causing an unnecessary negative atmosphere. There is no guaranteed disciplinary outcome and until we have both sides of the situation as a company we are unable to decide on the resolution.
I have had no response but it has come to light that the mum was aware her colleague was going to talk to her daughter and didn't stop her, so do I bring her into the investigation and ask her views as well.
Also the other colleague involved would probably say sorry for doing it in work but not for what she said. I am also worried that talking to her about this she might hand her notice in which neither myself or her Manager want but at the same time we want to get this resolved quickly.
Really am struggling with this so any advice would be great.
Thanks
Rachel
Replies
Hi Rachel, wow you really are having a time of it!
It seems very emotive on thier part at the moment so I would advise that you step back from this and if you can find an impartial manager who has not been involved to look at the formal grievance. There is a duty on the organisation if this has been raised formally as a grievance for it to be investigated. I would, in the absence of any company process or procedure refer to ACAS guidlelines.
Someone needs to establish the facts and a detailed note of what has been said and why it is percieved to be bullying by the person raising the greivance. Everyone involved needs to be spoken to ensure that there are no missing pieces, this includes the mother.
Following the outcome of such an exercise the manager investigating needs to reach a conclusion based on the facts - i.e what has happened, has there been any bullying that can be substantiated and what is it, if there has been bulliying, what are the recommendations, i.e informal action, formal action etc....
Then if formal action is recommended disciplinary action can be taken against the employee.
If no further action is required then some mediation clearly needs to take place in the work place. I would also advising the manager that a conversation needs to happen between mother and daughter about professionalism in the workplace and leaving their personal issues at home and if they cannot do that then further action may be taken.
Sorry if my spelling is all over the place as I am writing this quickly! Hope this helps!
Hi Rachel,
The key point here is the definition of bullying. I had a similar-ish case recently where bullying accusations were made - on several occasions. Sitting down with the individual concerned, she came to her own conclusion that it wasn't actually 'bullying' but she used the term as it was an easy option to use, and she knew it would up the ante.
Interestingly, the other person then raised a grievance against the original accuser as she felt that she had been falsely accused. This was formally investigated and proven to be so.
It was a very difficult situation, as we wanted to ensure that all staff felt happy with our whistle blower policy and felt able to come forward if they do feel they are being bullied - but we also needed to ensure that staff are not accused of bullying when they are simply managing their staff.
Happy to chat further when we meet up at Bristol if it helps?
Steve