How to bring up a complaint to your manager
From minor grumbles to more serious concerns, we all have complaints in the workplace every now and again.
Some of the time, these are very small and easily resolved but there may come a time when you decide that you need to talk to your manager about what’s going on.
In this case, it’s important to be sensible and consider how best to approach the situation. Sharing your complaint in a professional manner can be the difference between having your concerns heard and acted on or damaging your reputation with your manager and your team.
So, how do you effectively bring up a complaint to your manager?
Here are some tips!
Is your complaint serious?
Depending on the severity of your complaint, you may want to consider whether it’s necessary at all, or even if it is serious enough to involve a third-party agency such as the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Your colleagues and managers don’t have a responsibility to keep you happy all the time but they do have legal obligations to ensure you are treated fairly and appropriately in the workplace.
A reasonable basis for a formal complaint could include issues around:
- Bias or discrimination
- Bullying or harassment
- Health and safety issues
- Work environment or culture
- Contractual changes
For smaller matters in the office such as concerns around new processes, difficulties managing your workload or unreasonable deadlines and expectations, the best course of action would be to raise this with your manager directly.
Have you considered the bigger picture?
For smaller complaints, such as gripes about new processes or policies, try to look beyond how these issues are affecting you to see if there might be a good reason for these changes. For example, a new policy around claiming expenses might be more time-consuming but it might have been put in place to help the finance team with their reporting.
If you can understand why something is being done a certain way but you believe there is a more efficient option, you should still consider raising this with your manager in a calm and productive way.
However, if you can understand why the reason for your complaint is happening and you don’t have any useful suggestions to resolve it, you should consider whether it’s helpful to bring it up with your manager at all.
Regularly complaining about minor problems without any positive suggestions can impact your relationship with your colleagues and managers and lead to any legitimate issues you raise being overlooked.
How should you raise your complaint?
Your organisation should have clear written policies about how to formally raise an issue.
If your complaint is related to your workload or concerns related to the execution of your job, a good course of action would be to request a one-to-one meeting with your line manager to discuss this.
It’s important to raise issues when your manager has the time and space to acknowledge and process what you’re bringing to them, it’s also a good idea to adopt a non-accusatory tone when doing so.
Let them know that there is something that has been bothering you and you would appreciate it if they would take some time to sit down and talk about it with you.
Approaching your issue in a non-threatening and professional manner such as this helps to set boundaries while also creating a more positive environment in which to have a constructive conversation.
However, if your complaint is related to your manager or a serious incident which has taken place in the workplace, your HR department is a better place to look for support.
Your contract, or the employee handbook you were given at your induction, should have details about how to formally raise a complaint within your organisation. In most cases this will look like reaching out to the appropriate team member with information about your complaint. They will guide you through the process of either resolving the matter internally or involving a third-party agent such as the Fair Work Ombudsman, Fair Work Commission, your union or a lawyer.
When to get an external agent involved.
If you feel uncomfortable lodging a complaint with your HR manager or if your complaint is about your employer, you may want to consider reaching out to a third-party agency to help you manage the process.
If your complaint is about something related to the Fair Work Act such as redundancy or pay disputes then the Fair Work Ombudsman can help.
If it’s related to workplace bullying or harassment, the Fair Work Commission can help and the Australian Tax Office can support any disputes about taxes.
If you’re unsure who to contact regarding your particular complaint, you can find further information about government and legal organisations here and to find out if you’re eligible to join a workers union that can support you with questions like this, check here.
Time to walk away?
We would hope that any employer would take a complaint from their employee seriously and give the necessary time, attention and care to resolving the issue at hand, but this is not always the case and you may ulitmately decide to walk away from the organisation.
For more career advice, or if you’re looking for a supportive hand to help you find the role that’s right for you, speak to a member of the Conquest team today.
