Anticipate the objections that complaint and grievance handling will attract internally and answer them in advance.
Managing Workplace Complaints and Grievances Effectively
Move complaint and grievance handling from general awareness to a repeatable, reviewable practice.
📍 Abu Dhabi🗓️ 5 training days📚 4 modules🎓 Accredited certificate
5intensive training days
4scientific modules
8training sessions
32detailed points
Course Overview
People decide what complaint and grievance handling really means by watching who gets promoted. The organisation's reputation as an employer is built or lost through grievance handling. Work is grounded in real cases drawn from the people management and development discipline, which each participant adapts to conditions in their own organisation. The difficulty is not agreeing that complaint and grievance handling matters — it is deciding what to stop doing to make room for it. The material serves both public bodies and commercial organisations dealing with this aspect of people management and development. Participants leave with a method for grievance handling, not a set of opinions about it. Field experience suggests that the barrier to better complaint and grievance handling is rarely technical. They acquire practical criteria for judging when grievance handling is working and when it is only appearing to. Participants leave with a first-ninety-days plan for the practice within people management and development rather than a set of notes.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Assess the current state of grievance handling against a structured set of criteria rather than impressions.
Set the minimum documentation for complaint and grievance handling that is genuinely necessary, and stop there.
Build the evidence base on grievance handling from data the organisation already collects.
Handle exceptions to complaint and grievance handling consistently and document the reasoning.
Address the equity and inclusion implications of grievance handling deliberately.
Design a policy on complaint and grievance handling that is fair, lawful and actually usable by line managers.
Who Should Attend
Managers in small and medium organisations who own complaint and grievance handling alongside other duties.
Recruitment and resourcing staff affected by grievance handling.
Talent and organisational development specialists working on complaint and grievance handling.
Reward and compensation staff whose frameworks interact with grievance handling.
Employee relations specialists handling cases arising from complaint and grievance handling.
Risk managers assessing the exposure created by grievance handling.
Course Modules
Complaint and grievance handling: review, learning and adjustment
2 sessions · 8 pointsSession 1Piloting a change to complaint and grievance handling before committing
- Pilot changes to complaint and grievance handling in one area before wider rollout.
- Review grievance handling for unintended equity effects across groups.
- Identify the data the organisation already holds that bears on complaint and grievance handling.
- Test the procedure for grievance handling against a realistic scenario.
Session 2The decisions in grievance handling that cannot be delegated
- Plan the sequence in which improvements to complaint and grievance handling will be introduced.
- Set the consistency check that catches uneven application of grievance handling.
- Build the appeals route for complaint and grievance handling and publish it.
- Check that records of grievance handling answer the questions likely to be asked.
Grievance handling: cost, benefit and workforce planning
2 sessions · 8 pointsSession 1What your existing data already says about grievance handling
- Document the reasoning for every exception granted under complaint and grievance handling.
- Confirm records relating to grievance handling meet retention and privacy rules.
- Assign responsibility for keeping documentation of complaint and grievance handling current.
- Ask employees what grievance handling feels like from their side.
Session 2Building the method for grievance handling step by step
- Set the annual review point for complaint and grievance handling and who attends.
- Define acceptance criteria for grievance handling in advance.
- Distinguish symptoms from causes when complaint and grievance handling underperforms.
- Build the internal briefing that explains grievance handling to those affected.
Grievance handling: exceptions, appeals and difficult cases
2 sessions · 8 pointsSession 1The exception to grievance handling that sets the precedent
- Measure the effect of complaint and grievance handling on retention and performance, not activity.
- Rank the weaknesses in grievance handling by consequence rather than by ease of fixing.
- Write down the assumptions underpinning the approach to complaint and grievance handling.
- Train line managers on grievance handling rather than handling every case centrally.
Session 2Appeals and grievances arising from complaint and grievance handling
- Draft the minimum viable people policy for complaint and grievance handling.
- Estimate the cost of grievance handling and the cost of leaving it unchanged.
- Set out the decisions in complaint and grievance handling that require sign-off and by whom.
- Anticipate the objections grievance handling will raise and prepare the answers.
Grievance handling: the manager conversation that decides the outcome
2 sessions · 8 pointsSession 1Explaining grievance handling so people believe it
- Build the competence framework that supports complaint and grievance handling.
- Design the communication for grievance handling around the questions people will actually ask.
- Test the policy on complaint and grievance handling against three real cases from the past year.
- Define who decides on grievance handling and who may only recommend.
Session 2Who answers for grievance handling, and to whom
- Agree the indicators that will show whether complaint and grievance handling is improving.
- Establish the boundary of grievance handling and record what sits outside it.
- Plan succession for roles most exposed to complaint and grievance handling.
- Decide what will be stopped to create capacity for grievance handling.
Choose the package that suits you
Silver Package
At least 3 people
USD1,250
- Workshop or Program Participation
- Airport Transfers
- Customized Badge
- Expert Mentorship (Private Sessions)
- Supervision & Secretarial Services
- Accredited Certificate of Participation
- Complete Training Kit
- Coffee Break
- Closing Ceremony
Gold Package
At least 3 people
USD1,850
- 5-night stay in a 5-star hotel
- Workshop or Program Participation
- Airport Transfers
- Customized Badge
- Expert Mentorship (Private Sessions)
- Supervision & Secretarial Services
- Accredited Certificate of Participation
- Complete Training Kit
- Coffee Break
- Closing Ceremony
Complete your registration
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