Employee Complaint to Supervisor or Manager Is a Gift

While recently doing an in-house training program for managers and supervisors, I brought up the subject of employees making complaints to supervisors and managers. We discussed what a supervisor should do when an employee complains. We discussed the different kinds of complaints. We discussed the involvement of human resources professionals in investigating and resolving the complaints. We discussed how critical a supervisor’s reaction to the complaint can be in terms of good management practices and in terms of preventing the complaint from becoming a discrimination charge or employment lawsuit.

The HR Director who was present throughout the training then said something profound: “A supervisor or manager should consider any complaint made to him or her as a gift.” Her point was that this means the employee believes in the supervisor. The employee believes the supervisor cares enough to look into the matter or have someone look into it. The employee has a meaningful relationship with his or her supervisor.

As much as supervisors and managers usually dread employee complaints, they shouldn’t. They should, in most cases, welcome them. They should see them as a breakthrough in employer-employee relations. They should realize that they have reached a point of trust with their employee. The employee complaint to a supervisor or manager is a gift indeed.