Customer complaint tracking has improved a lot over the past few years, but what about employee complaint tracking? Many companies are still using spreadsheets to track employee complaints, which is inefficient and time-consuming. Human brains weren’t created to store reminders, hence why these spreadsheets don’t get updated. Employee complaint tracking is crucial in ensuring that all issues are resolved in a timely matter and everyone within the workplace is happy. Failing to track an employee complaint could also mean failing to follow up and ultimately not taking care of a problem.
Looking for more effective methods is beneficial for all parties, especially if your company is growing and expanding. Effective methods will increase employee trust in the company and the complaint tracking process. In 2021, 47% of employees surveyed said they didn’t trust the company’s HR team with conflict resolution. This can discourage complaint submissions in the future, which wouldn’t be ideal for any organisation.
Disadvantages of using spreadsheets for complaint tracking
Spreadsheets may feel familiar, more comfortable, but they have many drawbacks that are holding companies back. They are:
- Easy to lose: Employees will be dealing with tens of spreadsheets at once which can make it more difficult to keep up with all of them. When many employee complaints come in, employees may need multiple files and managing all of them can be a headache.
- Hard to update: Once an employee makes a complaint, information needs to be recorded in chronological order. However, once data has been inserted into a spreadsheet, it can be complicated to constantly add new information to it which can lead to inaccurate results.
- Easily accessible for the wrong reason: Once a spreadsheet has been shared with others, it’s hard to lock them out of it. The person may have downloaded the spreadsheet on their personal device or taken screenshots of the details. If a manager changes who is responsible for a case, it’s almost impossible to lock out other parties.
- Dependent on employee’s memory: Spreadsheets can’t be updated automatically. They rely on an employee to come in and record any necessary information. This increases the possibility of human error and adds an extra workload for employees to manage.
- Time-consuming: Updating a timesheet, adding files to it and sending people case updates takes a lot of time which slows down the overall process. Many times, documents won’t be directly uploaded into a spreadsheet but in a cloud storage, which makes the case and potential report writing more difficult.
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Complaint tracking using a case management system
People see case management systems as a big change and commitment. But is that really true? Case management systems can save employers a lot of time as they provide many benefits. They focus on:
- Improving workflows
- Automating manual tasks
- Secure storage space
- Quick report writing
- Safe and easy accessibility
- Organisation
- Confidence and responsiveness
- Productivity and consistency
- Better transparency
Improving workflows
Case management systems like Polonious make the whole process a breeze. Managers can worry about resolving the issues and now whether the paperwork is completed. By using Polonious companies can handle complex cases with a few clicks and can integrate our system with different software to enable better complaint tracking.
Automating manual tasks
Case management systems provide the parties involved with automatic reminders about the next course of action and notify them about people they need to follow up with. Through Polonious, users can set up automatic progress updates, so when information is updated, managers can choose to alert everyone else with a click of a button.
Secure storage space
While spreadsheets and network drives are hard to keep track of, saving files on a case management system makes the whole experience easier. Videos, documents, copies, interview and complaint notes can all be saved in the system and stay confidential for as long as it’s needed. The company won’t have to worry about the data falling into the wrong hands and can upload as much evidence as they need.
Quick report writing
Polonious records every piece of data that was input into our system and presents it to the HR manager once the complaint has been resolved. Keeping track of every update makes the report-writing process simple as they only need to modify minor details rather than worry about coming up with all the necessary information. This frees up a lot of time and allows them to focus on core tasks while we take care of the rest.
Safe and easy accessibility
The difference between a case management system and a spreadsheet is that Polonious can be accessed anywhere, anytime, even offline, but only by those who have access to the case. Everyone else can be easily blocked and all case updates stop when permission is retracted. This makes our system safe but also easy to navigate.
Organisation
With case management systems, you can have all essential details in one place. You won’t need a separate cloud storage for files, a different software for report writing or app reminders. Everything can be managed efficiently, and with dynamic dashboards, managers can categorise cases as they see fit. Polonious removes the messiness of spreadsheets and provides a flexible system that can be configured to your needs.
Confidence and responsiveness
Case management systems give you the confidence that everything has been taken care of as you can easily view complaint tracking and feel in control of every step. Staff don’t have to worry about the little things, which improves the overall company response when complaints are lodged. Faster response time = better work environment.
Productivity and consistency
Case management systems improve the productivity of staff involved in complaint tracking as they lay out a clear process for them to follow. They can check how they responded to previous complaints which helps ensure a consistent process. Checking their response time also allows them to track their performance and spot areas that could be improved. Complaint tracking through a case management system also allows the company to check whether complaints are consistently lodged from a certain department.
Polonious alerts managers when red flags like these pop up to grab the attention of the team and assist them in deciding whether a deeper investigation is needed.
Better transparency
In a case management system, all details are recorded digitally. Investigators and managers can both track complaints and cases simultaneously. Activity trails make it easier to understand what the business has done so far and the metrics provided through Polonious allow the business to decide whether a risk assessment is needed.
Interfaces are way easier than to use than multiple folders of paperwork, which makes the overall complaint tracking faster and simpler.
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Eleftheria Papadopoulou
Eleftheria has completed a Bachelor's of Business with a major in Marketing at the University of Technology Sydney. As part of her undergraduate studies she also obtained a Diploma in Languages with a major in Japanese. Following her graduation she has been working as a Marketing Coordinator and Content and Social Media Specialist.
Eleftheria is currently finishing her Master in Digital Marketing.