Employment Personal Grievances - Avoidance Tips

By Danny Gelb

Did you hear those employment ads on the radio recently? A claim of about 70% of failed job appointments are due to internal staff conflicts as opposed to not being able to do their job properly.

And who pays the price for this conflict? Of course it’s you the employer, or it comes out of your department’s budget. People state that the true cost of replacing a person is over 60% of their salary plus your lawyer’s cost and the go away money paid in order to settle the Personal Grievance (PG), no matter how unjust it may be.

This can be nipped in the bud in a very cost effective manner. How many PG’s have you heard about where the employer had no idea it was coming? The signs in the work place are normally glaringly obvious to the people they report to. Normally the actual issues involved start off quite minor, but like a speck of rust, unless it is fixed quickly it can spread out of control.

The sooner an issue like this nature is addressed the sooner you can have peace restored to the workplace and then there is one less burden for you to carry. So, do I call mediate.co.nz at the first sign of trouble within my staff? In a word, no. If you address the issue early enough then it should be easy to resolve internally. However if you do not find it easy to resolve then do give us a call. We are happy to talk you through the first steps prior to any formal engagement.

It is important that you follow the correct protocol when dealing with staff issues of this nature. Call the EMA if you are a member or talk to your HR or legal people first. Many an employer has been correct on the substantive matter but has fallen down due to correct procedures not being followed.