Handling Employee Complaints

What is the best way to handle an employee complaint??

We like to ask one simple question that almost always saves time and energy: "What are you hoping the outcome of this conversation will be?"

You might be asking, "That's it??That's the big tip?"?Yes, that's it.?At Potere, we frequently meet with frustrated managers who say they have done everything trying to please an employee, but the employee is still upset about a situation, and in almost all cases, the manager never asked what the employee wanted.

Asking what an employee wants causes her/him to pause. It helps them see beyond their anger to consider a better future and it saves time because what the employee wants is almost always less complicated than a full-blown HR investigation. It allows a manager to put their full effort into getting to a specific resolution that the employee values, and from a legal perspective, should it come to that, it's really helpful to say, "I provided the employee with what they asked for."

So, the next time an employee comes to your office complaining, ask them what they want out of the conversation. It will save you some time and will lead to a resolution that the employee is satisfied with.