As the owner of a small company, when a disgruntled employee comes to me with a complaint involving another employee, or employees, I find the best way to deal with it is to hear from everyone involved, individually and then together. I’m sure we’ve all heard the cliché, there are two sides to every story, as well as nothing is black or white, it’s all grey. I find that LISTENING to the employees is of utmost importance. Usually, they calm themselves after airing their views, knowing someone cares enough to hear them after which we can work on resolving their anger/frustration. Taking the time to show that you care and want to help is a great attribute both to you and the employee. Keeping this in mind I have always had 100% positive results.
If the disgruntled employee’s complaint does not involve another person, but rather a situation, i.e. they would like to sit in an area away from a window; they have expressed concerns about getting a new chair, keyboard, art supplies, to their Supervisor to no avail, I assure them that I will personally take the time to look into the situation, and reach a satisfactory solution, one that is agreeable to all concerned. It works every time.
This business owners way of dealing with personnel issues is great. Unfortunately, a vast majority of employers aren’t as accomodating. I recently scheduled a meeting with administration to discuss an issue that was bothering me. While they were very sympathetic to my problem, nothing was done. I felt like they were just humoring me and not taking me seriously.
Sometimes if you ask the disgruntled employee how they would like the situation handled their demands are not as high as they would be if you didn’t actually take the time to talk. Sometimes just being heard makes the difference. Thinking that their concerns won’t be addressed makes the employee more disgruntled.
In this day and age, employers better take their employees complaints and issues seriously. With all the laws that have been initiated to protect workers rights, not paying attention is just asking for a legal battle. Hopefully, a workers request to be moved because of a ‘draft’ is just that, but if you have an honest discussion with them, you may find that there is an underlying reason for the request. Being open to discussion with your employees is vital.
I totally agree, being open for discussion is vital. Hopefully a resolution can come from these talks.