Hi all,
Never had to do this before and plan on handing it in tomorrow. Any tips about what I should put in a letter to initiate a grievance against my employer would be helpful please.
I have been on ACAS and Citizens Advice websites and got what I could from them. I have a draft and plan to include details.
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Comments
1. What is your grievance about? Make sure you are clear, succinct, accurate (use dates, times, people's names (spelled right, in full)). Do not - however tempting - add anything else about the people or company unless it's completely relevant to the facts on which you have a grievance. (As a guide, if you think to yourself the words "... and another thing...", you should probably leave that out).
2. What are you asking for? Sometimes it's enough to have a good old moan. But usually it's better to have a good old moan AND explain what the company or person needs to do to fix things. What has to change, be put in place, be agreed, be stopped..? Be very clear on the thing that needs to be done so that everything goes back to how it should be.
3. Put in a timescale. Make sure you are clear and have a reasonable expectation about *when* the thing has to change. It's no good saying "we have to make sure there is an agreed policy to prevent this happening again" if you tell them it has to be done by nine o'clock Monday morning. So put in a timeframe that makes sense.
Also, think to yourself two things:
1. "Can I cope if everything is agreed?" It may be that the company agrees to everything you state and makes the changes you demand in the timescale you give them. But think to yourself what position does that leave you in? Do your relationships with your colleagues change? And if so, is that ok?
2. "What happens if they don't agree?" Think through what will happen if you do not win this particular argument. (And I call it an argument simply because it might be that you have one view and the business has an opposite view: that's an argument. Doesn't mean it's insurmountable, but it's still an argument).
Finally, here's a bit of general advice. Write your letter. Complete it. Read it. Correct all the mistakes. Check everyone's names are right. Finish it. Then sleep on it. For at least one night. Read it again and make all the changes that you then see it still needs.
(There's one other bit of advice that's critical, but you have already done that: take advice).
Good luck!
One would imagine you are a child of the English(US) computer world.
e.g. This is in contravention of company procedure as outlined in the Employees Handbook, Page 2 Section 3. Good luck.
I made a contribution to the thread. You simply came on to try and be clever and made a fool of yourself. So who is the troll?
You attempted to correct someone's English usage - which backfired somewhat, considering your correction itself contained an error. Maybe is an adverb, and therefore incorrect in the context which you used it. 'May be' would have been correct, as it's a modal verb.
No matter what you post here from this point on, your opinion is invalid - as you attempted to act the smartarse, as usual - and failed. Carry on.
To those on here that think they are the grammar police; this is an Internet forum, not an official document, we all have the right to be casual with our grammar/spelling and use colloquial terms without being criticised!
Jumping straight to a letter could be missing out stages.
What sort and size of company is it.
1. Think very carefully before going down the grievance route. In my experience even if you're in the right going formal will damage you more than the individual/ company against whom the grievance has been taken. In many sectors the damage to your reputation will follow you into your new job, even if this is unfair
2. Exhaust all informal processes first, so that it is clear that you had no other reasonable option
3. Show the draft letter to a sensible friend before sending
4. Avoid generalised attacks on HR and the company
Good luck unless you work for me!
As said above, try to resolve this informally first. A grievance should be a last resort.