Classic form

Workplace grievance form

A grievance form that only asks "describe your complaint" produces a page of frustration nobody can act on. This one asks for the account and then a dated table of incidents beside it, keeps witnesses separate, and finishes with the question that decides what happens next: what would a good outcome look like. It is a classic form, because somebody writing something difficult needs to see the whole shape of it before they start.

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Welcome screen of the workplace grievance form example — The welcome screen respondents see first. The image was generated for this example.

The form itself

A static copy of the finished form, exactly as it renders. Nothing here can be filled in or submitted, so read it as a reference and build your own from the button above.

Raise a formal grievance

This starts a formal process. It is read by the people team, not by your manager, and the person it concerns is told what has been raised because they have to be able to answer it. If you want to talk something through before deciding, ring the people team instead and nothing is recorded.

Raising a grievance in good faith is protected. Nobody may be demoted, moved, rostered differently or treated worse because they used this process, and doing so is a separate and more serious matter than whatever was complained about. If something here is about immediate danger, bullying that is still happening today, or anything criminal, ring the people team now rather than filling in a form.

You

Your name *

First

Last

Employee number *

Your role and shift *

An email we can reply to *

How should we contact you? *

Phone, on the number in my file

In person, away from my area

Through my union delegate

Will you bring a support person? *

Yes, a union representative

Yes, a colleague

Not yet, but I want the option

What happened

Write it the way you would tell it, in order. What was said or done, by whom, where, and who else was there. Try to separate the things you saw or heard yourself from the things somebody told you afterwards, because those two are weighed differently and a reader who cannot tell them apart discounts both.

Your account, in your own words *

The incidents, in order

#	Date	Where	What happened	Who was present
1
2
3
4

When did this start? *

Is it still happening? *

Yes, in the last week

Yes, but less often

No, it stopped

I have been avoiding the situation

Who is this about? *

How would you describe it? *

Witnesses and anything you have kept

A witness is somebody who saw or heard part of it themselves. Naming them does not oblige them to take part, and they are approached carefully rather than pulled into a meeting. Do not record anybody without their knowledge to build a case; it rarely helps and in some places it is unlawful.

People who saw or heard some of it

#	Name	Role	Which part they saw
1
2
3

Anything that supports your account

Click to upload

Max: 10MB

Up to eight files, PDF or photo, 10 MB each. Emails, messages, rosters, photographs, a note you wrote on the day. Screenshots are more useful with the date and the sender visible in the frame, and a photograph of a screen is fine if that is what you have.

What you have already tried

Has any of this been raised before? *

No, this is the first time

I raised it with the person directly

I raised it with my supervisor

I raised it with someone in the people team

I have raised it more than once and nothing changed

I did not feel safe raising it

What happened when you did?

What you are asking for

This is the question that shapes what happens next, and it is the one most grievance forms never ask. An investigation is not automatically the right answer, and plenty of complaints are resolved by a change to a roster or a conversation somebody else runs.

What would a good outcome look like? *

The behaviour stops

An apology

A formal investigation

A change to my roster, area or reporting line

A decision about me reviewed

A conversation facilitated by somebody neutral

Training or a reminder given to a team

I want it recorded, and nothing else for now

In your own words, what do you want to happen?

Everything here is kept to the people who need it to deal with the matter, and the person it concerns is told the substance of what has been raised so they can respond. A grievance cannot be investigated properly in secret from the person it is about, and pretending otherwise is the promise most complaints processes break first.

Every field, and what it collects

The complete field list, in the order respondents meet it.

Your nameNameRequired
Employee numberShort textRequired
Your role and shiftShort textRequired
An email we can reply toShort textRequired
How should we contact you?Single choiceRequired: Options: Email · Phone, on the number in my file · In person, away from my area · Through my union delegate
Will you bring a support person?Single choiceRequired: Options: Yes, a union representative · Yes, a colleague · Not yet, but I want the option · No
Your account, in your own wordsLong textRequired
The incidents, in orderTable: Columns: Date · Where · What happened · Who was present
When did this start?DateRequired
Is it still happening?Single choiceRequired: Options: Yes, in the last week · Yes, but less often · No, it stopped · I have been avoiding the situation
Who is this about?Short textRequired
How would you describe it?DropdownRequired: Options: Bullying or repeated unreasonable behaviour · Discrimination or harassment · Sexual harassment · A safety issue that has not been fixed · How a decision about me was made · Pay, hours or roster · Something else, described in my account
People who saw or heard some of itTable: Columns: Name · Role · Which part they saw
Anything that supports your accountFile upload: Up to eight files, PDF or photo, 10 MB each. Emails, messages, rosters, photographs, a note you wrote on the day. Screenshots are more useful with the date and the sender visible in the frame, and a photograph of a screen is fine if that is what you have.
Has any of this been raised before?Single choiceRequired: Options: No, this is the first time · I raised it with the person directly · I raised it with my supervisor · I raised it with someone in the people team · I have raised it more than once and nothing changed · I did not feel safe raising it
What happened when you did?Long text
What would a good outcome look like?Multiple choiceRequired: Options: The behaviour stops · An apology · A formal investigation · A change to my roster, area or reporting line · A decision about me reviewed · A conversation facilitated by somebody neutral · Training or a reminder given to a team · I want it recorded, and nothing else for now
In your own words, what do you want to happen?Long text

What makes this form work

The protection is stated before anything is asked

The first paragraph says that nobody may be demoted, moved or rostered differently for using the process, and that doing so is more serious than the original complaint. The fear of consequences is why grievances go unraised, so the answer to it belongs at the top of the page rather than in a policy appendix.

It separates what somebody saw from what they were told

The instruction above the account asks for that split explicitly, because a reader who cannot tell first hand from second hand discounts the whole document. It costs one sentence and it materially changes how usable the account is two months later.

It asks what a good outcome would look like

Eight options, from the behaviour stopping to an investigation to simply having it recorded. Plenty of complaints do not want a formal process and are resolved by a roster change, and a form that never asks pushes every one of them down the same expensive path.

Questions people ask

Should a grievance form allow anonymous complaints?

This one does not, and it says why. A complaint that cannot be put to the person it concerns cannot be investigated fairly, and a process that accepts anonymous reports and then does nothing with them damages trust more than not accepting them. What the form does instead is state the protection against being treated badly for raising something, which is the real fear behind the request to be anonymous.

Why put the incidents in a table as well as a written account?

They do different jobs. The account carries the meaning and the sequence; the table carries the dates, places and who was present in a form somebody can check against a roster. Asking for both takes a few extra minutes at lodgement and saves the two follow up meetings that otherwise exist only to establish when things happened.

Who should be able to see the responses?

As few people as possible. Responses are visible to the account that owns the form, so a grievance form should live in the people team's account and not in a shared operational one. Turn on the email alert only if the address it points at is a restricted inbox, because the alert contains every answer in the body of the message.

What if somebody needs help right now?

The form says at the top to ring instead. A form is the wrong tool for immediate danger, for bullying happening today, or for anything criminal, and putting that line first is the difference between a considered process and a delay. Everything after it assumes the situation can wait three working days for a reply.

Build your own in about a minute

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