To prevent grief, handle employee grievances right

The Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) has just released its advisory on how to handle employee grievances.

The five-page document was sent by SNEF and the Singapore Business Federation to 20,000 employers. This equates to 1.9 million workers here, or 63% of the workforce.

"It is unfortunate that SNEF has to make use of this incident to highlight to employers the importance of having proper employee grievance handling procedures and processes," said SNEF president Stephen Lee, in a report by The Straits Times.

In its advisory, SNEF "strongly urges employers to put in place employee grievance handling procedures to resolve grievances fairly, responsibly and expeditiously".

According to the statement, there should be timelines for resolution, avenues for appeals, and alternative third party channels for advice, conciliation, mediation or arbitration.

It added that employers must ensure that all involved, especially HR supervisors and line managers, are trained adequately to deal with employee grievances.

Lee also spoke about companies looking at business continuity plans in the wake of work stoppages.

"In view of this incident, some companies especially those who use large number of foreign workers may have to reassess the situation and put in place proper procedures of business continuity plans in the event of an industrial strike," he said.