Employee Grievance Policy

In almost every organisation, employees experience grievances during their employment. These grievances come in all sorts of forms. As organisations evolve and become bigger, such issue become more common and mechanisms are needed to address these issues.

In the Maldives, there is no legal provision or regulations that address the establishment of grievance mechanisms, some major organisations in the country already have mechanisms established. The Management of ADK Hospitals Pvt. Ltd. also believes that such a mechanism is required to address grievances of its employees as part of improving staff welfare.

The Executive Management Board of ADK Hospital has thus deliberated on this matter and formulated a Policy on Employment Grievance this October.

The purpose of this Policy is to provide a mechanism for individual employees to raise a grievance arising from their employment. The Policy will also ensure that such grievances are dealt with promptly, fairly and in accordance with other related Policies of the Organization. This includes concerns from an employee about an action that has been taken and or an in-action, or a contemplated action in relation to them by a supervisor, another employee or from the Management.

This policy should be read in conjunction with other related Policy Documents such as the Code of Conduct, Policy Against Harassment and the Respect for Colleagues Guideline. Any additional related Policies passed by the Organization in future will also automatically become conjunct to this Policy.

The Policy’s scope and guiding principles aim to initially settle any issue with open communication. An employee should first seek to resolve any complaint with his/her immediate supervisor through informal discussion.  If such discussion does not resolve the matter informally, and the employee believes that his/her complaint rises to the level of a grievance, then the employee may initiate a formal grievance as described in the policy in an effort to seek an equitable solution.

The Policy also aims to deal with any grievance fairly taking into account the following points.

• All employees should always try to resolve problems in the work place at the earliest possible opportunity and usually with the least possible formality.
• All efforts shall be put to address matters before they reach the stage of becoming a formal grievance issue.
• All employees should raise and deal with issues promptly and should not unreasonably delay meetings, decisions or confirmation of those decisions.
• All employees should act consistently.

Respect and maintaining privacy and confidentiality are other key aspects of the Policy.

An Employee Grievance Committee and subsequently, procedures for grievance handling will be developed in accordance with this Policy.

The Policy defines a ‘grievance’ as any type of problem, concern, or complaint related to work or the work environment. A grievance may be about and act, omission, situation, or decision that the Employee thinks to be unfair, discriminatory, or unjustified.

Full text of the Employee Grievance Policy is now published on the ADK Hospital website.