Policy 8.11 : Employee Grievances

Community Enterprise Inc. is a non-profit organisation established for the purpose of supporting people with disabilities and their families living in the Shire of Hidden Valley.

The services offered by Community Enterprise include group home accommodation, in-home respite, out-of-home respite, home help and community access.

Community Enterprise is a non-profit, community organisation which is governed by a management committee elected annually by the members. Community Enterprise receives all of its operating funds from the Western Australian Government in the form of an annual grant.

The following procedures are to be implemented to ensure that the agency meets its policy objective of ensuring that all staff are free to lodge and have resolved any complaints or grievances about the agency, its consumers, its staff or its operations.

The agency will:

1. Have appropriate policies and procedures on the lodgement and resolution of employee grievances.
2. Ensure that all agency employees and volunteers are aware of their right to lodge a grievance and to have that grievance heard.
3. Ensure that the hearing of any grievance will conform with principles of natural justice.
4. Reassure staff that lodging a grievance will not prejudice them with respect to ongoing employment or career development opportunities.
5. Ensure that the grievance and the agency's response to the grievance are fully documented.
6. Ensure that the Management Committee is informed of any grievances that are lodged, the actions taken by the agency in resolving those grievances and the final outcome.
7. Implement appropriate appeal mechanisms at both service management and management committee level.

The following performance standards must be met to ensure that the procedures specified in Section 4 are implemented effectively:

1. All new employees and volunteers have been provided with a copy of the agency's Policy on Staff Grievances and a staff copy of the policy is kept in each service outlet.
2. Employees and volunteers have been encouraged to first discuss the matter with the involved party prior to lodging a formal grievance.
3. If the matter is not resolved, staff members have had the opportunity to meet formally with their immediate supervisor within five working days and complete a Grievance Report.
4. If the matter has not been resolved at supervisor level, staff members have had the opportunity, within five further working days, to meet with the executive officer who has reviewed the Grievance Report and action taken to date prior to attempting to resolve the grievance.
5. If the matter has not been resolved at executive officer level, the Grievance Report has been tabled at the next meeting of the Management Committee and the executive officer has provided a full briefing on the source and nature of the grievance and actions taken by the agency to resolve the complaint.
6. Periodic staff surveys have been undertaken to ascertain whether there are any unreported concerns or grievances amongst the staff.
7. All formal grievances have been recorded on Grievance Reports, which have been collated and reported to the Management Committee on an annual basis.