Employee Grievances Rise In Top Firms

Data collated for 47 BSE50 companies (as of H1FY25) shows employees and workers filed 8,468 complaints in FY24.

Employee grievances at India's top companies are on the rise, data collated for BSE50 firms suggests.

There was a 29 per cent rise in such complaints during FY24 compared to a year ago.

Company executives attribute the growth to greater awareness of policies, new methods of accounting for it and improvement in mechanisms to register them.

The data collated for 47 BSE50 companies (as of H1FY25) shows employees and workers filed 8,468 such complaints in FY24.

These are mandatory disclosures made by companies for complaints/grievances on any of the principles (Principles 1 to 9) under the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGRBC) and related to employees and workers as stakeholders.

In FY23, the same set of 47 companies reported 6,584 such complaints.

The remaining three companies were excluded from the BSE50 data for lack of clear, comparative or continuous data.

In the context of employees, the NGRBC principles concern well-being and inclusivity as well as ethics, among others.

Not all companies in the data collated have disclosed whether these grievances include or exclude sexual harassment cases.

A spokesperson for Larsen & Toubro (L&T) said that the 510 grievances mentioned in the company's FY24 annual report indicate employee queries related to people policies, company systems and processes.

The engineering conglomerate saw such grievances double from 211 a year ago.

Auto maker Maruti Suzuki, paints company Asian Paints and private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank are others in the 47 companies' list, which saw grievances more than double.

On the 205 grievances reported by the bank in FY24, a spokesperson said, "The rise in grievance cases is mainly due to minor misconduct under the indiscipline category, such as tardiness or minor policy breaches. Employees involved are warned and appropriate actions are taken, if necessary."

Employee grievances in FY23 at the bank were at 71.

For L&T, the rise was mainly linked to bringing in a new artificial intelligence (AI) system to report such concerns.

"We have an AI-powered internal chatbot that is used for raising queries by employees, which is integrated with our internal platforms. With increased employee strength and awareness of the internal chatbot, the number of queries has seen a jump this year," a spokesperson of the company said.

Asian Paints saw an increase in complaints to 36 in FY24, from five in FY23.

This is due to a rise in awareness of reporting mechanisms, a company spokesperson said.

"The code of conduct for employees and the whistle blower policy allow all our employees to report any kind of suspected or actual misconduct in the organisation in an anonymous manner, including grievances."

"To ensure that all our employees fully comprehend the above, we have stepped up our awareness efforts throughout the organisation," the spokesperson added.

"As a result of these training and discussions, we have seen an increased awareness and comfort among our employees in discussing these issues, and hence, a rise in reporting of these grievances."

Of the 47 firms, Maruti Suzuki India reported the highest number at 1,345 such cases, a manifold rise from a modest 20 reported in FY23.

<p=>Rahul Bharti, executive director, corporate affairs, at Maruti Suzuki said FY23 and FY24 frameworks of capturing feedback are totally different, and hence, not comparable.

"Starting FY24, we have thoroughly changed the framework and drastically enhanced and broadened the scope, methodology and platforms of capturing feedback," he added.

Bharti said the firm last year introduced digital platforms like MS Xpress and chief listening officer.

This has allowed employees to report minor issues as well.

Others such as Kotak Mahindra Bank have established a comprehensive framework, which include counselling for employees, a robust awareness campaign through mailers on the code of conduct, and learning modules such as 'Beyond Biases' to enhance awareness and sensitivity about unconscious biases.

"This ensures every employee feels valued and can bring their authentic self to work," the bank's spokesperson said.

State Bank of India and Axis Bank are two of the three companies excluded for lack of clear data.

For FY24, SBI reported 11,159 such complaints, but a clear comparison for FY23 was not available. E-mail queries sent to the bank remained unanswered.

Axis Bank, in its FY24 annual report, said the bank saw 137,000 such complaints, against 140,000 reported a year ago.

However, in the footnote, the company said under employee complaints, the bank has included general employee queries.

These are on compensation, location, attendance, admin, talent programmes and catalyst.

In an e-mail response, Axis Bank said it is focused on employees leveraging the self-service option to clarify on policy matters, "as our employee journeys have become more digital."

The bank clarified that the endeavour is to resolve issues before they become grievances.

"In line with the principles under the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct, the bank has disclosed all such clarifications and not just grievances," it said.

Disclosure: Entities controlled by the Kotak family have a significant holding in Business Standard Pvt Ltd.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com