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The employee complaints department...

Written by: Michiel Jonker

Article Overview: Your employees need clear direction, policies and reporting channels from you as business owner to tell you the truth about your business... and maybe they just tell you where the black hole in your business is, sucking up your profits!

The employee complaints department...

Although your customers need clear direction from your company to ask questions, provide feedback or lodge a complaint, it is also true that your employees need clear direction. For example clear:

1) Reporting channels; and

2) Grievance procedures

I know a business owner who didn’t establish and enforce, and still refuses to do so, clear reporting channels and grievance procedures in her business.

While she loves to identify people to "supervise" and be "responsible" for certain employees, she does NOT empower these employees to supervise in an effective way.

She literally throws a tantrum when her “supervisors” try to solve work-related problems or employee grievances. Further, no one in her company is 100% sure who are the supervisors; making it extremely difficult for them to function and to perform their duties. On Monday John is Craig’s supervisor… BUT on Tuesday it is Mary’s turn to report to John and not Craig (and Craig has to be careful not to ask John anything...).

As a result these employees are awfully stressed out; they don’t know who their supervisors are, they don’t know how to lodge a complaint and are ready to pack their bags in a moment’s notice and to give another employer a chance… even at lower salaries.

Stressed out employees do NOT add any value to our businesses. And definitely they do not help us to be profitable!

It is heartbreaking; these employees are aware of many areas in this lady’s business where things really go bad... BUT are too afraid to tell her and, as a result, stay silent. This results in, for this specific lady’s company, unsatisfied customers, eventually a loss of customers, and finally a decline in sales and profits.

This could have been prevented if she hasn’t refused to acknowledge this problem, to listen to her employees and to employ adequate solutions like appropriate reporting channels and grievance procedures.

Though small businesses are typically “entrepreneurial companies” (i.e. flat companies with not so many management levels, supervisors etc.), we still need to implement effective business systems – including the necessary policies, procedures, standards and structures.

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Article Tags: Business Policies



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