What employers think of Personal Grievances
This is the caveat for all articles we publish. These are opinions freely given, and they aren’t going to be right in all situations (see here for our terms and conditions) so use at your own risk. For tailored advice, book an appointment to discuss.
So you’ve raised a PG or you are thinking about it. Understanding how your employer will see this is helpful for making sense of what happens next. Remember this is just an opinion, and what’s discussed below is not always going to be the case.
They: are not one person, but a group consensus
This takes some explaining, so let me try my best. As discussed here a PG starts conversations between managers, between CEOs and/or heads of departments with HR or with lawyers. To quote Reg, “this calls for immediate discussion”. From that discussion a consensus will emerge, along the lines discussed below. But remember this is not one opinion but those of a loosely associated group of individuals.
They will be offended and feel betrayed
They expect you to be loyal, regardless of the situation. There is a lot to discuss and unpack in both law and psychology about how the ‘master and servant relationship’ plays out in the modern workplace, but it is there, and we can’t avoid it. Your employer expects some form of loyalty from you, and feel betrays when you take action directly against them. Taking a legal action creates a sense of betrayal.
If your employer is particularly focused on building: high employee engagement, a great team culture, a real ‘one big family’ feel, this sense of betrayal will be even greater. You may be expecting them to feel regret when you lay down your challenge to their view for the future (see here for more) but they will feel you have let them down by not buying what they are selling. They might feel bad, but it’s unlikely.
Most likely they will get together and galvanise each other against you, from an unconscious starting position of ‘how dare she/he?”
They will excuse their errors
Managing staff is hard. It’s a tricky job of balancing people’s interests, preferences and needs, against those of the business. Your manager will have made some mistakes- no one is perfect, and employers know this. Most often (although not always) their instinct will be to back your boss against you (see here for what your boss will go through), and while learnings will be identified, the default position by the employer will be that the errors aren’t significant, or they are justified by what the manager was trying to achieve.
They see employment law as a minefield and they’ve just stood on a mine
This varies from country to country (see here) but in most legal environments, the legalities of dealing with staff are complex, and most companies (big and small) know this. They look at dealing with staff as a complicated minefield where any misstep, no matter how well intentioned, will trigger an expensive explosion. It’s why people like us exist- to help people navigate these minefields.
This means no matter their feelings, their anger, their justifications, they will see the situation as unfairly stacked against them. That not matter how good their reasons, their best intentions, they are likely to lose. This means most of the time, a pragmatic mindset amongst the group will prevail.
