In any organization, you may encounter an employee or two who have complaints. In larger organizations and companies, you may have to deal with a lot of complaints each day.
In order to handle such issues better, you may need to issue an employee complaint form. Usually, an organization’s structure consists of different layers and departments.
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Often, problems may arise between groups or the individuals within them. Sometimes the reasons are work-related while sometimes they’re personal. Give your employees a form or a complaint letter template to fill out.
Then you’ll have concrete proof of the complaint. There are no “standard” formats for such templates so you can create one for your employees.
Such templates are versatile too. You can use them for common complaints or even as an employee harassment complaint form. Keep a basic template on your computer and change the details if you need to.
If you want, you may include different categories for the complainant to fill up in the form.
Whatever complaint your employees may have, you need to deal with it. It may be because of verbal abuse, insubordination, theft, sexual harassment, and more.
Complaint Letter Templates
When to use an employee complaint form
No matter how great your workplace is, you may have to deal with complaints from time to time. These happen in small and large workplaces, though the frequency may vary. To be able to deal with complaints better, you need to come up with procedures for complaints.
Such procedures should involve the use of an employee complaint form. You may even want to create an employee complaint investigation form. The person who is investigating the issue may use this form.
This way, the whole process gets documented better. Usually, you can use the form if:
- You’re an employee and you want to complain about an issue at work.
- You own the company and you want to give your employees a “formal” method of presenting the complaint.
- You work in the HR department and you want to have your documents ready when the employees need them.
Each day, the HR department of companies deals with complaints from employees. This is because companies usually have a lot of employees. Some of them may work well with their office mates while others may not. Because of this, issues arise between the employees.
In order for the right people to know about issues in the workplace, you can give out forms for them to fill out. It may be a standard form or an employee harassment complaint form for more sensitive cases. Such forms may also serve as a feedback.
You can use them to evaluate how well the HR department handled the situation. If you have complaint procedures in your workplace, make sure to apply them. No matter what kind of complaint an employee has, they have to file it.
This is important to ensure that the right people may help them put right their grievances. The form serves as an official document which you can review and use for the investigation.
Usually, the complainant would have to fill out the form himself. After that, he would have to submit it according to his company’s policies. Such a form is vital.
It serves as the basis of the communication between the employee and the one who deals with issues. An employee must fill out the form when:
- He/she has an issue with a co-worker.
- He/she hasn’t received full salary.
- He/she sees a lack of discipline done by anyone in the company.
- He/she sees someone breaking the rules or breach the security of the company.
- He/she sees anyone in the company carrying out fraudulent activities.
Whoever deals with the complaint should keep all the details about it on a need-to-know basis. Usually, only the manager or owner needs to know about complaints. This is aside from the HR department.
So, they shouldn’t share the details with any other employee. An effective form or complaint letter template may help you address problems at work. No matter what the issue is, you need to fix it before it becomes bigger.
You may be the one tasked with filling the employee complaint investigation form. As such, you have to include all the important information. You also have to include what you’ve done to fix the issue.
When an organization has a formal process for complaints, it’s beneficial to everyone. It ensures that the workplace is safe and fair. Employees submit these forms to the HR department, to their supervisor or to the manager.
Employee Complaint Form
Parts of an employee complaint form
When you’re creating a template for your form, do research first. You should know what it should look like and what it should contain. You may want to search for complaint letter samples online just to have a good idea on how to create the form.
But no matter what kind of complaint form you’re making, it should contain 3 major parts. These are:
- The name of the employee giving the complaint.
- The employee’s job title.
- The reasons for the complaint.
These are the most important parts of the form. However, you may include other details as you see fit. For instance, an employee harassment complaint form may contain more parts to fill-in.
This is because such an issue is more serious and so it would require more details. All your employees should know that they have the right to submit a complaint. This is especially true if they see or experience any violations in the workplace.
Employees should write their complaints briefly and precisely though. This ensures that all the relevant information is on the form. Employees must also write their complaints in a convincing but objective way.
Don’t write all your rants on the form as it might give the reader a wrong impression. Choose your words carefully when writing on the form. Do this to convey your message and describe the whole situation clearly.
Types of employee complaint forms
No matter how well a company works, there’s bound to be some issues and complaints. Because of this, you may need to make forms available for your employees to fill out if they need to.
If you have any problems in the office which affects your performance, you need to file a complaint about it. The best things to do are talk to your supervisor or the HR department and fill out the form to make it official.
Of course, you need to voice out your concerns in a professional and respectful manner. This is where complaint forms come into play. There are many different types of forms so ask your HR department which one you should use.
Here are some of the most common types of forms:
- Classified employee complaint form
- Civil service employee complaint form
- Covered employee complaint form
- Employee behavior complaint form
- Employee complaint concern form
- Employee complaint investigation form
- Employee contract complaint form
- Employee internal complaint form
- Harassment complaint form
- Public employee complaint form
Before making a complaint, it’s also a great idea to go through your company’s handbook. It should contain all the information you need about the process of filing a complaint.
If your company doesn’t have a handbook, you may speak to someone in your HR department. They would know all about complaints, how to file them, and how to deal with them.
Before you file the complaint, know everything you need to do before you fill up the form. In some companies, you may have to speak to your supervisor first before filing a complaint. No matter what the policies and procedures are, make sure to follow them all.
Complaint Letter Samples
Dealing with employee complaints
Employers try to make sure that their employees are always satisfied and happy. This applies to their working conditions as well as their work. But no matter what they do, employee complaints are always a possibility. When such issues arise, the employees must communicate openly and productively.
Have you ever thought about what justifies a complaint? It may seem easy to determine, but there’s actually no standard definition. A complaint may actually be a genuine or imagined feeling of discontent. It’s usually experienced by an employee.
It’s important to communicate these complaints to your supervisor. You may even communicate them with the management of your organization. In this way, they will be able to help you handle the issue.
If you’re in the HR department, you need to know how to deal with employee complaints. When you do this, you’ll be able to keep your employees happy and content. Here are some great ways to deal with complaints and grievances in the workplace:
Set up a system for complaints
First off, you need to set up a system for your employees to follow. You need to include the system and its policies in your company handbook. Once you’ve established the system, you can start using it as a reference.
Then, assign a person or a department in your company to receive all the complaints. This is usually the responsibility of the HR department. Remember that you need to practice discretion when it comes to complaints. Make sure that whoever you assign knows this.
There should also be a central location where employees can file their complaints. You may require the employees to submit the complaints straight to the people in charge. Either that or provide a receptacle where they can place the forms they filled up.
Orient your employees on your complaint procedures. Also, make tell them that whatever complaints they make will remain confidential. Otherwise, employees may feel hesitant to speak their minds in fear of retaliation.
Aside from filling up the form, you can encourage your employees to talk to their supervisor. In doing this, you’ll be able to get a clearer picture of the complaint and the situation surrounding it.
Finally, you should also establish a schedule for addressing the complaints. You have to deal with them quickly and efficiently. Set a timeframe for dealing with complaints so the employee knows what comes next.
You don’t want to allow employees to make complaints only for them to realize that you won’t solve them.
Complaint Investigation Forms
Categorize the complaints
When you’ve established your system, you also need to start categorizing the complaints. You need to be able to determine the priorities of these complaints. Here are the 3 main categories you may consider:
Safety and work environment
Complaints in this category may include various issues. These deal with the work environment of your employees. These may include anything from uninterested managers to unsafe work conditions.
Unreasonable policies of the management
Some employees may feel that management policies aren’t reasonable. In cases like these, an employee may want to file a complaint about it. Such complaints may include lack of production standards, overtime regulation compliance, and others.
Violations of policies and rules
If you have complaints related to policy or rule violations, you can place them in this category. These complaints may be regarding any employee working in the organization.
Address the complaints
The next step is to start addressing the complaints. Do this according to the priorities you’ve set. Here are some steps to guide you when addressing complaints:
Acknowledge the complaint
Let your employee know that you received the complaint and you will address it in a timely manner. You don’t have to give an immediate fix but you do need to follow the timeframe you’ve set.
Investigate the situation of the complaint
Collect all the information you need about the complaint. You need to know the situation where the complaint happened. If anything is unclear on the form filled up by the employee, clarify it.
Decide on what to do
When you have all the information you need, think about your decision about the complaint. Share your idea with the management and see if they agree on what you’ve decided.
Act on your decision
Finally, act on your decision and do so swiftly. When you do this, your employees will know that you value their complaints and them too.
