A happy workplace is a fun and productive place to be, keep staff motivated, nurture them, provide them with ample opportunity to grow and achieve their potential, and what could possibly go wrong?
Actually quite a lot is the answer, worker grievances have this nasty habit of cropping up without warning. Mistakenly, you think everyone within the business is content, yet before you know it, you have a major problem to deal with, and you might need advice about employment law.
Understanding the metrics of workplace gripes can help to address minor conflicts before they become major issues and here we explore some of the most common cases of staff grumbles.
Co-worker conflicts
Internal grievances amongst colleagues are a common factor experienced within most working environments. No matter where you work you will get along with some people and find other team members try your patience at times. It’s rare you get the opportunity to choose who you work with when you are offered a job, there can be clashes of personalities, power struggles, office gossip, and inter-departmental battles taking place, this can cause gripes amongst fellow workers without management realising it.
Management Issues
Sometimes there are personal issues between management and the personnel they are in charge of. Different management styles can affect people in unusual ways, you might like working with one manager, they leave and their replacement has a totally different way of working, or you simply experience a clash of personalities and can’t seem to get along.
Change of Working Conditions
People get used to set routines at work. Unfortunately these routines are disrupted from time to time. The business might have to change direction, implement new working conditions, and move with the times to stay afloat. Not everyone accepts change as readily as others though. Changes of working conditions can really annoy certain workers, who fail to see the bigger picture.
Overlooked for Promotion
This is one of the biggest causes of workplace grievances. Things become awkward amongst team members if they think they have been overlooked for promotion, especially if they were under the assumption a step up the career ladder was more or less guaranteed. Feeling stagnant at work is one of the major factors which causes worker disharmony.
Disputes amongst employers and employees are more common than you think. Stella Yeoman has a wealth of experience in employment law and dispute resolution, clients regularly contact her for impartial, practical advice.