Strategic Importance Of Anticipated Hr Requirements Commerce Essay

HRP is the process by which an organization ensures that it has the right number and kinds of people, at the right places, at the right time and that these people are capable of performing their tasks effectively and efficiently.

This helps the organization to achieve its overall objectives. Two major ways in which societal trends affect employment is through consumer markets, which affect the demand for goods and services, and labour markets, which affect the supply of people needed to produce goods and services.

Maintaining a flexible workforce is the major challenge of the HR department

and HRP helps it handle this challenge. HRP is done at different levels –

corporate, intermediate, and operations levels and for short-term activities.

A proper human resource planning exercise should utilize the inputs of all the

departments in the organization and enjoy the support of the top management. A human resource professional would be better equipped for human resource planning if he has a good understanding of the market dynamics, changes in the economy,organizational processes and technological developments.

The process of HRP involves three key steps – assessing and making an inventory of the current human resources, forecasting the organization’s human resource needs and matching the demand and supply of human resources.

Forecasting the overall human resource requirements involves studying the factors affecting the supply and estimating the increase or decrease in the external and internal supply of human resources.

New hires, transfers-in, individuals returning from leave etc. increase the internal supply of human resources, while retirements, dismissals, transfers-out of the unit, lay-off, voluntary quits, sabbaticals, prolonged illness, and deaths reduce the supply.

Part 1 Strategic importance or current, future & anticipated HR Requirement

Strategies concerns for hiring people at time of requirement and laying them off when they are not required. This strategy argument distinguish between personnel and the human resources.

Human Resource Requirement is to control labour costs, looking for the talented labours or employee’s, making informed business decisions and assessing the future market risks. The important work of the HR people is too place right people for the right job at a right time and with the right price which an organization can afford because the employees are the main assets of the organization.

H.R people plans that what the organization will need with his employee’s and those employee’s can meet the needs or the target of an organization’s.

The major problem now is faced by the H.R people is that this may create the gap between the organization’s demand and the availability of the workforce supply, the organization is going to develop new strategies or approaches to close these gaps.

Strategies as per the H.R Requirements

Environment Scan

Environment Scanning is a form of business intelligence. If the environment of the organization is in good, then it is easy for the new worker to mix up with the environment of the work, and it is going to help the organization that the employee or worker is giving his/her fullest working skills.

Current Workforce Profile

Current State is a profile of the demand and supply factors both internally and externally of the workforce the organization has ‘today’.

Future Workforce View

H.R people look towards the future organization that what all the requirements they need for the organization, what all the demand of the market, what sought of trend is going to be there, what will be the requirement of the employees at what price or the requirement of some other resources which may help to improve in the workforce in future and creates much better Working Environment of an organization. As well thinking about the Quantitative and Qualitative of the product and as well as for the employees.(It may be Internal or External demand and supply)

Closing the Gaps

The major work of the H.R people is to close gaps between the management and the employees, so that the easy flow of working can be there which will help to the organization for achieving its goals. H.R people work is to motivate the workers and employees at time of they needed, it can be in terms of money or as per the requirement of the employee or worker which an organization can easily provide while looking to the past performance of the employee. There are other things which an organization required to close those gaps, those are

– Resourcing,

– Learning and Development,

– Remuneration,

– Industrial Relations,

– Recruitment,

– Retention,

– Knowledge Management,

– Job design.

HR Planning impacts on the Strategic Plan

“Integrating human resource management strategies and systems to achieve the overall mission, strategies, and success of the firm while meeting the needs of employees and stakeholders.”

(Source: Herman Schwind, Hari Das and Terry Wagar, Human Resource Management: A Strategic Approach)

As per the HR plan for the Strategic Plans it may Positive or Negative too for an organization’s, but we are going to discussed on the positive side of the impacts on the strategic plan.

Strategy Development

Develop strategies for workforce transition.

-List specific goals to address workforce competency gaps or surpluses.

-Changes in organizational structure

-Succession planning

-Retention programs

-Recruitment plans

-Career development programs

-Leadership development

-Organizational training and employee development.

These are the developments which are going to impact on the organization with the help of HR planning in the strategic plan, these plans may be for the future or the current plans as per the requirements of the organization.

Part 2

Human resources are the participants as also the beneficiaries of economic development process. In that, human resources figure on the demand as well as the supply side of production of goods and services in the economy. On the demand side, goods and services produced are used by the human beings to alleviate poverty, improve health, generate better living conditions, enhance general educational levels and provide better facilities for training. Utilisation of goods and services thus leads to an improvement of quality of human resources. On the supply side, human resources and capital form essential ingredients of production systems which transform natural and physical resources into goods and services.

Complementarity between human resources and capital is so close that optimal increases in output and hence optimal economic growth is not possible through increases in one of them – either human resources or capital – at the cost of the other.”Some growth of course can be had from the increase in more conventional capital even though the labour that is available is lacking both in skill and knowledge. But the rate of growth will be seriously limited. It simply is not possible to have the fruits of modern agriculture and the abundance of modern industry without making large investments in human beings “. There is an optimal ratio of human resources to capital which has to be maintained to reach the attainable rate of economic growth.

In this Unit we will take into account the two dimensions of human resources: Quantity and Quality in context of HRP in general and also in tourism.

Quantitative and Qualitative on the basis of legal requirement of Human Resource Planning

Human being is looked as productive power which is one of the part of the population of an economy and another one the human being those are without any productive power.

Population

Population of a country, in a generic sense, is taken as constituting the totality of all human beings of the country. The concept of population, viewed in this manner, appears to be very simple. However, in reality, the definitions used vary not only from country to country but even within a country depending on the purpose of enquiry. Broadly, the definitions of population used may be categorised into de facto and de ju re.

Human resources being an integral part of population, the growth of human resources is depend on the growth of population. Population growth is measure by three factors: population structure, migration and population policies.

Age Composition

Age composition means dividing the population by age groups, usually five year age groups. At some point of time it shows the results of the past trends in mortality and in fertility.

In the computation rate of growth of population, future births are usually computed by applying five year age specific fertility rates to the women of child bearing age (10 to 49 years) at the midpoint of each five-years time interval.

It is useful in analysing and in computing of the labour supply. Normally the active age-group is being considered to be 15 to 65 years.

Migration

Another factor which causes changes in population is the net migration. If the net migration is positive, the population rise at a rate faster than the indicated by natural growth. If the net migration is negative then it causes decline in the rate of growth indicated by the natural growth.

If population changes then it doesn’t cause changes as such in the human resources. Rather than change in the economical active component of population which affects the growth in the human resources. In terms of economic activity classification, population may be divided into workers and non-workers.

Workers are defined as a person who actively participate in the productive work by mentally or physically presence. It includes not only the actual work but also includes effective direction and supervision. The non workers is being categorised as :

beggars, retired person, full-time students, infants and dependent doing no work, persons engaged in household duties, renters living on rent on an agricultural or non-agricultural royalty, vagrants and others with unspecified sources of income, inmates of penal, charitable and metal institutions, unemployed but available for work, and others.

Labour force is that segment of population whose work is to produce goods and services demanded by the whole population they are known as economically active population also, Usually they are aged between 15-64 years. However, not everyone in the productive age-group is effectively in the labour force.

“According to the accepted definition, labour force comprises all persons of either sex who furnish the supply of labour available for the production of economic goods and services including:employers, employees, self-employed persons, and those engaged in family enterprises without pay.”

Education and Training

Education and training is the most affective quality of the human resources in the terms of skills and knowledge. Educational labour demand is more than the uneducated labour in the market. Education and training serve both social and individual’s ends. Education and Training affects on the culture and social for the up gradation of an individual. In other words training and education for the society means to take advantage of the technology which helps in the furthering technological progress.

Depending on the methods of imparting knowledge and skills, education and training may be classified into two types: Formal and Informal. Formal education and training, which is imparted through schools and colleges, emphasises transfer of knowledge. Informal education and training such as on-the-job training and hereditary training lays stress on transfer of skills, i.e., practical application of knowledge.

As far as development of education and training is concerned there are five choice areas which are critical:

– Choice between science and technology on the one hand, and on the other hand liberal and humanities.

– Choice between quality and quantity in education and training.

– Choice between level of education such as higher, secondary and primary education.

– Choice between market forces and incentives to attract people into some occupations.

– Choice between the aspirations of individuals and needs of the society.

Health and Nutrition

Health and nutrition status is one of the most important status for an human resource as significantly they contribute in building and maintaining a productive human ability as well as improving in the average expectation of life and a quality of life.

There are three determinants of health status:

Public sanitation, climate and availability of medical facilities.

People’s knowledge and understanding of health hygiene and nutrition.

Education, health and nutrition are inter-linked and they complement each other in the process of human resources development.

Equality of Opportunity

Investments in human resources development do not always ensure proportionate development of all sections of population. In the absence of deliberate policy intervention, there are bound to be discriminations. We can say that there are three distinct forms of discriminations which are relevant to developing nations:

Social discrimination may take either the form of sex discrimination or discrimination among different social groups or both. For example, a few years back the air hostesses of a particular airlines petitioned in the court because their retirement age was earlier than of their male counterparts. The court upheld their petition and now the retirement age of both male and female air hostesses is same.

Economic discrimination takes place largely among groups of population belonging to different economic strata classified in terms of either income generating assets.

Regional discrimination can be in the form of either discrimination between rural and urban population or discrimination among population belonging to different regions.

These three forms of discriminations individually and/or jointly lead to inequality of opportunities of varying degree among different sections of population.

Discrimination of any form causes differential access to education and training, and health and nutrition. This in turn leads to differences in quality and productivity of human resources belonging to different segments of the population – with the privileged benefiting the most and under privileged being deprived of their due share in the development process.

Opportunity costs of discrimination are very high, as it leads to many social and economic evils apart from retarding the pace of economic development. It has been demonstrated that the national output can be further expanded by improving the average level of productivity of each individual through appropriate social and economic policies directed towards equality to opportunity in the fields of education and health.

Tourism has long been recognised as a tool for economic growth and development. However, it can be beneficial to the host economies when it creates jobs for the locals. Here qualitative dimensions of HRD become an important factor for education and training of local population as per the requirements of responsible tourism development.

The dimensions, attributes and distribution of population the product of whose labour adds to national wealth constitute human resources. They are thus, the participants and beneficiaries of economic development. The demographic profile, migration and mobility and participation patterns in economic activity determine the quantitative aspects of actual and potential human resources. Investments in education and training, health and nutrition, and social welfare and quality promote quality of human resources through enhanced labour productivity.

While quantitative and qualitative dimensions only regulate supply of human resources, the other aspect of human resources planning namely the demand for human resources crucially depends on the functioning and flexibility of labour markets. Labour market analysis is a principal instrument of human resources planning, as it helps identify skill shortages and also enables a diagnosis of market failure to match labour supply with demand. To facilitate labour market analysis, there is a need for a comprehensive and regularly updated labour market information system.

– The variables for determining the quantitative and qualitative dimension of human resource planning are:

Quantitative

Population policy,

Population structure,

Migration, and

Labour force participation.

Qualitative

Education and training,

Health and nutrition, and

Equality of opportunity.

These all are the points which directly or indirectly relates to the current legal requirements of the HR persons, which they had to consider while recruiting the people that what is going on in the market (in terms of population in there country, in terms of education and skills, health of the employee, age factors)

Process for recruiting and selection of new staff

The recruiting and selection of new staff is very sensitive because if HR people recruits any wrong person that can affect great loss to an organization and on the other hand if the recruitment is being done properly and HR people recruits right person for the right job then he/she will be useful or profitable for an organisation as well as the person who can achieve the targets of an organisation.

Recruitment process can be done internally or externally that is online, telephonic, face to face interviews, exams related to the job profile. There are many ways for recruiting are as follows:

“Internal or External recruitment is being done.

Successful Internal Recruitment.

Referral Recruitment.

Opening Job Position.

HRM role at job interview.

The attractive internal or external job poster.

External Recruitment.

~ External Recruitment Success factors.

~ External Recruitment Channels.

~ Corporate website as a external recruitment job positioning tool.

~ External Recruitment Process Key Issues.

~ External Recruitment: Recruitment Agencies.

~ Setting KPIs for recruiting agencies.

~ Direct Search: The premiere external recruitment service.

~ Job Market Analysis.

~ Basic External Recruitment Measures.

~ Job website based external recruitment.

~ External Recruitment Competitive Advantage.

General Recruitment

~ SWOT Analysis

~ Recruitment sources

~ Recruitment marketing

~ What is War for Talents?

~ Recruitment Strategy

~ Recruitment Strategy of differentiate

~ Recruitment Process Future

~ Recruitment Process Key Issues

~ Defining recruitment strategy

~ Best Performing Recruitment Source

~ Cost of the Recruitment

Internal Recruitment

~ Internal Recruitment Benefits

~ Internal Recruitment Process Weaknesses

~ Internal versus External Job Candidates

~ Right Internal Recruitment Job Posting

Job Resume

~ Quick selection of Job Resumes in Graduates Campaigns

~ Job Resume Components to Observe

The Job Interview

~ HYPERLINK “http://hrmadvice.com/hrmadvice/hr-processes/recruitment-and-selection/job-resume/job-resume-components-to-observe.html”Job Interview Role

~ Job Interview Preparation

~ HRM Job Interview Questions

Recruitment Process Design and Developments

~ What to find out before recruitment process design?

~ Designing Recruitment Process: Recruitment Measures

~ Simple Recruitment Process wins

~ Main Recruitment Process steps

~ Recruitment Analysis

~ Recruitment Process Outsourcing”

Main steps for the recruitment process are as follows:-

“HYPERLINK “http://hrmadvice.com/hrmadvice/hr-processes/recruitment-and-selection/job-resume/job-resume-components-to-observe.html”Job Design

Opening Job position.

Collecting job resumes.

Pre-selection of job resumes

Job Interviews

Job Offer”

Part 3 The effects of the organisation environment on staff

The organisation environment is being created by the organisation members itself therefore, the organisation environment effects on the staff and labour too, this includes in the internal environment of the organisation.

If any of the staff is not working properly in any of the department then, it creates bad environment in the organisation, if that particular person is been not checked by his/her seniors, then while looking that particular person others also became lazy which is not good for an organisation, it may lead to the failure to achieve the goals and targets of an organisation. “As some one had rightly said that, in bunch of apple if any of the apple is spoiled and it has been not throne then it spoils the whole bunch.”

The organisation environment effects the staff to do not achieve the organisation goals when the organisation is not providing the affective raw material to work out like the machinery, the area where the employees are going to work out, raw material are not available at the time of requirement, these all are the hindrance while achieving any goal of an organisation. There are many ways which effects the organisation environment are as follows:

Person and Knowledge

People those are working in an organization they should be correct skilled or knowledge people for the correct work, the age of the people affects the outcome of the work and in an department the mix people should be included as the experience people with the new people.

Materials and Tools

The quality and quantity of the input materials must be provided to an employees to easily work without wasting time on the collecting of materials e.g. pencil, scale, providing of the internet. The tools can be used for the labour people that the tools must working under the good condition if any requirement is there that should be told earlier to labour supervisor.

Equipments

The equipments must be up to the date and fit for the purpose. e.g. Assignment is being given the faculty and in the college no books are available for an particular assignment if it is available then the books are not in good condition to read out and understand it, therefore it is difficult to prepare a good and effective assignment, which leads to fail to achieve a goal.

Employees motivation is also affects to an organisation, if the employees were not motivated properly at time of the motivation then it may lead to the failure of an organisation to achieve goals which affects to the environment of an organisation which affects to the other departments and at the end the environment affects on the productivity of an organisation which fails the whole process of an organisation.

The Work life balance issue and the changing pattern of work practices

1) Meet needs of expansion / downsizing programmes.

2) Nature of present workforce in relation with Changing Environment – helps to cope with changes in competitive forces, markets, technology, products and government regulations.

3) Cater to Future Personnel Needs.

4) Each Organisation needs personnel with necessary qualifications, skills, knowledge, experience & aptitude.

5) Meet manpower shortages due to labour turnover.

6) Need for Replacement of Personnel -Replacing old, retired or disabled personnel.

Shift in demand from ERP to internet programming has increased internet programmers

– assess staffing levels to avoid unnecessary costs.

– reduce delays in procuring staff.

– prevent shortage / excess of staff

– quantify job for producing product / service.

– comply with legal requirements

– determine future staff-mix

– quantify people & positions required

In organisational development, succession planning is the process of identifying and preparing suitable employees, through mentor, training and job rotation, to replace key personnel within an organisation if they leave.

All employers need to consider the issue of succession planning to ensure that no part of the business is at risk should a particular member of staff leave the organisation.

With good succession planning, employees are ready for new leadership roles as the need arises. Moreover, when someone leaves, a current employee is ready to step up to the plate. In addition, succession planning can help develop a diverse workforce, allowing decision makers to look at the future make-up of the organisation as a whole.

Develop a succession plan for internal replacements, and if you will need to hire, think about the type of person or skills you will need so that if the situation arises you have already done some of the groundwork.

In your succession plan you may wish to consider:

staff interchange – where employees swap jobs within the organisation in order to have experience in multiple positions;

formal or informal mentor arrangements;

coaching of staff;

identification of suitable professional development activities for high-performing staff;

making agreements to introduce flexible working arrangements;

creating forward-thinking internal promotion policies;

supporting staff to take increased responsibility;

the allocation of higher-grade duties or assignments.

Part 4 Process Steps

There are four main grievance process steps: discovery, conciliation, internal review and arbitration.

Discovery

It means the date when the member raised any grievance against the any member or his/her senior, or it may be reasonably discovered, that particular circumstance leads to the grievance.

Conciliation

In this the grievance between faculty member and the board sitting in the lowest administrative is being tried to resolved as soon as possible, this is the informal effort before filing for the formal grievance. This is being assisted by a FA-appointed campus conciliator.

Internal Review Hearing

A informal meeting is being called by president, or the president’s designee. The president listens to the grievance, the responding administrator and their representatives as they address the allegations contained in a timely Notice of Grievance that has been filed with the District. The president writes an Internal Review Hearing decision regarding the Notice of Grievance allegations.

Arbitration Hearing

Before the formal hearing the arbitrator choose seven candidates from the list those are supplied by the State Conciliation Service. Both parties and all testimony as witnesses is under oath by Legal counsel. After reviewing evidence, testimony and argument briefs from both parties, the arbitrator renders a written decision that is binding on both parties.

Discipline issues that result in dismissals

Disciplinary and grievance procedures provide a clear and transparent framework to deal with difficulties which may arise as part of their working relationship from either the employer’s or employee’s perspective.

Informal oral warning is given to the minor and not part of the formal disciplinary procedure.

Formal oral warning

Written warning or sometimes second time written warning.

Final written warning

Dismissal

While given the previous warning there is effect and misconduct continues then we should move on to the next stages of the procedure. If misconduct is serious but falls short of the misconduct, then other options are

transfer the worker to another job

non payment of bonuses

demotion

Dismissal

When the severest problem occurs then the dismissal is required. While giving warning it should be clear that the repetition of misconduct will be the dismissal. The dismissal can be done without giving any notice at time of the gross misconduct by the any person or pay in lieu of notice but we must try to follow the procedure. We can suspend a worker on a full pay but the investigation is being carried out. In employment contract the allowing provision of suspension is an good idea. The suspension should be made on the proper and reasonable cause and it should be used at the time of extreme and it shows that before we had consider the alternative procedure of transfer.(http://www.is4profit.com/business-advice/employment/handling-grievance-and-discipline-procedures/types-of-disciplinary-action.html , is4profit, copyrightÂ©2000-2010 is4profit)

The role of the Acas Code of Practice

The Acas Code of Practice Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures was revised to reflect the removal of the statutory procedures and a new version came into force on 6 April 2009. CIPD endorses the Code. Following it is crucially important for employers: an employment tribunal will consider whether the employer has followed the Code and, if they have not, then the tribunal may adjust any awards made by up to 25% for unreasonable failure to comply.

In situations where the trigger event occurs on or after 6 April 2009, an employment tribunal will consider whether the employer has followed the Acas Code and, if they have not, then the tribunal may adjust any awards made by up to 25% for unreasonable failure to comply.

CIPD members can find out more on the content of the Code, the legal aspects of this topic and likely future developments from our FAQ on Discipline and grievances procedures in the Employment Law at Work area of our website.

Disciplinary policy and practice

Using the disciplinary process

There are two main areas where a disciplinary system may be used: capability/performance and conduct.

Capability/performance

It happens that the performance of the employee is not up to the mark in the work place, at that time also the employer faces many difficulties and at that time employer can take some harsh steps against the employee. Many employers will have a specific capability procedure to deal with such matters and it is good that the employers deals with this issue without addressing formally, and when it arise, and the informal options are being exhausted and there is no alternative of it then the managers enter to the formal disciplinary or capability procedure.

Situations where an individual is unable to do their job because of ill-health may also fall into this category. In these instances an employee should be dealt with sympathetically and offered support. However, unacceptable levels of absence could still result in the employer making use of warnings.

Conduct

If an employee behavior is continuously misconducting in sought of failure to follow reasonable instructions of the management, bullying behavior, fighting and committing criminal offenses, continued lateness, abuse to the organization computer system or internet access, creating a hostile environment, in all these cases, an employer can attempt to follow the recommendations in the Acas Code.

Stages of the process

If disciplinary action is being taken then there are three main stages to follow that is

appeal

meeting

letter

The investigation should be fair and full to determine the facts of the case and to decide if further action is required. The Acas Code recommends that at least these three steps in the majority of cases should be used and however, in some cases a second meeting stage may be appropriate.

Record-keeping

All records should be kept extremely careful and price sly (meticulously), as this will be vital should a case be taken to an employment tribunal. The type of records that should be kept by employers are minutes of meetings, notes of telephone calls, emails, copies of correspondence, attendance notes, etc.

Handing disciplinary interviews

To carry out disciplinary meeting with their respective teams the line managers must be supported and trained. The HR should department look after them by providing advice about the disciplinary so that they prepare themselves and relevant legislation and conducting the interviews.

The key points to consider are:

Make sure the individual has reasonable notice, ideally more than 72 hours, and that they have a chance to arrange an appropriate representative if they wish.

Never pre-judge the outcome of the interview before hearing the employee’s perspective.

Ensure all the facts are investigated in advance (including consulting the individual’s personal file for relevant information) and plan how the meeting is to be approached.

Make use of adjournments: always take a break to consider and obtain any extra information you need before reaching your decision. You can also take breaks if things become heated or people are upset during the interview.

It is important that everyone involved in disciplinary action understand the importance of following the correct procedure, as even if the case against an employee seems proven, they can still be deemed to have been treated unfairly if the correct procedures are not followed.

Make sure the employee knows from the letter inviting them to the meeting why they have been asked to attend and that they have a right to have a companion present.

Deliver the decision (and give reasons, taking into account any mitigating circumstances), confirm review periods and ensure you give details of how to appeal.

Give the employee ample opportunity to put forward their side of the story and call any supporting witnesses.

Employers can also call witnesses, but they can only be in the room for the relevant part of the interview – not the duration.

Provide appropriate statements from people involved in advance of the meeting, together with any key information you intend to rely on.

Start the interview by stating the complaint to the employee and referring to appropriate statements from people involved.

Confirm the decision in writing.

Make sure another member of management can be there to take detailed notes and help conduct the interview.

An individual is entitled to be accompanied by a work colleague or trade union official at formal disciplinary and grievance interviews. It would be good practice for an employer also to offer this at any purely investigatory meeting. Employers do not have to allow other companions (for example family members or lawyers) but may do so if they wish.

Potential outcomes

No action

After the meeting, the employer may decide that no action is necessary. For example, if an employee was not clear about what was expected from him and they agree to try to resolve the issue through additional counseling or support.

Warnings

Alternatively, the employer may decide to give the employee a warning and the organization should be clear about the policy of warning which is going to be given, but some are the examples which are the warnings an organization may use:

verbal/ oral warning (Acas no longer recommends this stage as part of a formal procedure, but for cases of minor misconduct this will often be a reasonable method to prevent a problem escalating.)

first written warning/improvement notice

final written warning.

Employers should specific a ‘life’ for formal disciplinary warnings after which they are disregarded for disciplinary purposes. Typical timescales suggested in the Acas non statutory guidance for the types of warning are:

first written warning – 6 months

final written warning – 1 year.

It may be appropriate for a warning to continue to be regarded for a longer period, provided the timescale was specified in the organization’s disciplinary policy from the outset. The time period employers select for warnings to remain current, and the penalties imposed, must be reasonable in all the circumstances. For example, they must take into account the nature of the misconduct, the employee’s disciplinary record and be consistent with penalties imposed in similar cases. .

Dismissal

There are six fair reasons for the dismissal of an employee. The employer should be clear or sure about the decision to dismiss an employee should be proper reason and this will be checked by the employment tribunal. The Employer should be fair overall and should follow the Acas code before making any decision about the dismissals, for example complying with internal procedures, carrying out a proper investigation and treating employees consistently.

Grievance policy and practice

The senior managers should be familiar with the grievance procedure so that the grievances from the employees should be treated in the fair manner.

There are a number of additional factors to bear in mind when dealing with grievances concerning harassment.

Handling grievances informally

Individuals should be encouraged to discuss ordinary, day-to-day issues informally with their line manager. This helps concerns to be heard and responded to as soon as possible.

Where this has been unsuccessful, or circumstances make this route inappropriate, employers should consider using mediation

If matters remain unresolved, they should be raised formally through the grievance procedure.

Handling grievances formally

Employees should also be aware of the formal route open to them, including:

details of the stages of the grievance procedure, for example, how a complaint may be raised with the next level of management if a satisfactory resolution is not reached.

time-scales within which the organisation will seek to deal with the complaint.

the three stages of the statutory procedure and any further elements of the organisation’s additional procedures

with whom to raise the complaint and appropriate sources of support

An employee must be given the right to be accompanied to grievance hearings by a colleague or trade union representative as explained above.

As in disciplinary matters, record keeping is important and the Acas Code should be followed.

As in the productive environment, the managers should ensure that the employees must be treated fairly and not allow them to work in a non-hostile environment. Disciplinary and grievance procedures are used when the informal disciplinary and grievance failed to sought out the problems or inappropriate given nature of issue arising. These procedures can also help prevent unnecessary absenteeism and staff turnover, as well as avoiding time-consuming and costly tribunal cases.

It is essential that those implementing these procedures have the necessary training and guidance to do so, in line not just with minimum legal obligations but also with the principles of fairness and natural justice reflected in the Acas Code.

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