Managing AI grievances
It shouldn’t be surprising, really, that some employees who have a grievance to air in 2025 will turn to AI to help them articulate it.
Anecdotally, the ease with which an employee can now compose a polished complaint may be one small reason behind a rise in grievances – open tribunal cases in 2024-25 were up 32%. This on its own puts additional pressure on SME businesses; but the nature of these grievances also poses problems.
The usual criticisms of AI are at play. These grievances may cite out of date, fabricated or irrelevant laws (from the US, for example); they may set unrealistic expectations in the minds of the complainants; and they may breach data protection should confidential company information be entered into an unringfenced AI platform.
What should you do? Not just because this is a growing issue, we would advise businesses to have an AI policy (we can write it for you). This should outline how AI can be used within the company, but make sure it specifically refers to internal communications as well as other uses. There are lots of issues the policy should address, including data protection. If you take a liberal approach, you may permit AI to be used for grievances but ask that its use is disclosed.
Knowing how to spot AI’s involvement in a grievance will be useful, but what are the tells? An unusually articulate document is one, American spellings another – like Z’s instead of S’s. Look out for detailed grasps of employment law (which may be inaccurate), and an absence of personal detail and the human touch.
With all that said, a grievance is still a grievance and should be responded to appropriately, and in line with the Acas code of practice. Don’t take for granted that what they claim in regard to the law is true; AIs can be wrong no matter how convincing they sound.
A face-to-face discussion to be certain the employee understands and means what they (the AI) wrote down is important. Ensure you document this, and every stage of the grievance.
A grievance, whether AI-assisted or not, is a key time to consider using outsourced HR like us. Not only will we save you time and stress by us taking a lead on it, but we will know exactly if, or where, to challenge it on legal matters, as well as keep you procedurally compliant. Tribunal courts are littered with judgements where employers were justified in taking an action, but were still penalised for not doing it in the correct way.
Top “Fair Work” enforcer named
As we’ve previously covered, one of the many big changes packaged up in the Employment Rights Bill is the creation of the Fair Work Agency – a body that will regulate several aspects of employment law, including the national minimum wage.
It has extensive powers to investigate and punish wrongdoing and will launch in April 2026. In anticipation of the launch the chair of the agency has been announced – Matthew Taylor (pictured at The HR Dept 2017 National Conference), famous in the employment law sphere for authoring the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices in 2016.
It is right that employees should be treated fairly. As part of the Fair Work Agency’s announcement, they cited statistics such as 900,000 people having holiday pay withheld each year, and 20% of minimum wage workers being underpaid. These show that the new agency will have plenty to get busy with.
However, running an SME business is difficult and employers can make legitimate mistakes whilst meaning to do the right thing. With the extra resource now being put into rooting out bad practice, services like ours at The HR Dept have never been more valuable to SME businesses.
We can advise on legislative compliance and best practices for staying on the right side of the law, whilst treating your staff fairly and running a tight ship. Our retained Advice Line offers great value ongoing advice, or if you want a one-off review, we can do that too. Ask us today if you want help keeping out of the Fair Work Agency’s crosshairs.
Up, up and away… and don’t come back!
Imagine firing an employee because a customer had complained of wanton misogynistic behaviour, only for them to take you to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal.
That happened recently at a well-known budget airline. The judge dismissed the claim.
When assessing the case, the judge scrutinised warnings given to the employee, training provided and the investigation which was carried out. They found that, following these steps taken, dismissal for gross misconduct was a reasonable response.
These incidents happened before the implementation of the Workers Protection Act in October 2024. This puts an additional obligation on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment and harassment. A 25% uplift to fines can be applied if reasonable preventative steps were not taken.
Although hypothetical in relation to the Workers Protection Act, one would infer that the airline’s processes, particularly regarding training, were sufficiently robust in this case. But it serves as a warning that these things are looked at in detail. And that it is not just employees who may report sexual harassment – customers can too!
When should you start talking about the C-word?
That’s “Christmas” for clarity. We are well into October now, so it will be natural for many to be starting to make plans.
Even if you are the biggest Grinch, Scrooge or other anti-Christmas cliché, as a business owner with staff it is probably time to acknowledge the imminent approach of the festive season.
Calculating working hours – this may mean arranging additional staffing or a Christmas shut-down, depending on your industry – approving annual leave, and of course the much-needed levity of the Christmas party and any other staff engagement, are all important.
Getting started with planning for this important time of year early will give you and your staff peace of mind as we progress through autumn and into winter, and often raise spirits as the dark nights close in.
How to avoid a resignation ripple
Have you heard of a resignation ripple? It is not an HR-themed ice cream; it is when one employee handing in their notice with you sparks others to do the same. In fact, research by a software platform found that just over 30% of employees had followed a colleague out of the door in this manner.
Losing one good employee is bad news, but two, three or more could be catastrophic. So what could you do to prevent this?
Start by understanding why the initial person is leaving during an exit interview. Is there something structurally wrong with your organisation like below market rate pay, toxic culture or a stressful environment? Understanding their motivations gives you a chance to address underlying issues before others follow suit.
Manage the communications around their departure. Get the information out there so that rumours and gossip do not develop. Do what you can for their leaving to be on good terms, setting out a positive vision for those left behind.
Be proactive in recruiting a successor, and while you are doing this organise a smooth handover of knowledge and process, so that remainers have confidence in filling the gap.
And if possible, try not to dump too much extra workload on them, giving them one more reason to leave.
Are dodgy desks undermiming performance?
Dodgy desks, intermittent internet, lousy lighting, ailing aircon…
Could it be that a poorly maintained workplace costs you money in productivity? According to a new survey of 1,000 UK-based office workers the answer is a resounding “yes!”.
About half say that slow maintenance makes them both less productive and less happy at work, and one in five say they actively spend less time at work when there are ongoing maintenance issues.
Most things that go wrong have to be fixed eventually anyway. These statistics show that you may receive a productivity dividend for acting early. After all, how many people does it really take to change a lightbulb?
