Employee Feedback and Grievance System (OI3601)

This metric is intended to capture whether organizations have a grievance mechanism and a system to receive and resolve grievances in place. Organizations may also choose to track whether investees have a further feedback system to capture positive feedback, questions, and complaints. Organizations can refer to the glossary for more information on feedback systems.

Examples of relevant details to footnote may include: frequency with which employee feedback is solicited or received, whether the system enables anonymity or confidentiality, whether there are established procedures to handle feedback, whether a regular employee satisfaction survey is conducted, and other relevant aspects of the feedback system.

Negative employee feedback, such as an employee complaint, is also known as a grievance if it is a claim by an employee who is being adversely affected by a misinterpretation or misapplication of a written organizational policy or collectively bargained agreement. Employee grievances typically relate to issues such as pay and benefit, workload, work conditions, union and management relations, etc. For example, a grievance may include an incident of sexual harassment, wage inequity for comparable work, increased workload without increased pay, unsafe work conditions, and many others.

Organizations can refer to the SPI4, specifically the Essential Practices 5a3 and 5c1, for additional indicators related to employee feedback systems. SPI4 is a social audit tool developed for financial service providers but applicable to any organization that has both social and financial objectives.