How often do Organizational Leaders, Human Resources, and direct supervisors get accused of ignoring problems, taking sides, or playing favorites? It’s common for an employee to feel that unless a person is fired, or publicly flogged, not enough has been done to remedy a problematic situation.  Complicating matters further, Human Resources (and other authority figures in the workplace) are bound by confidentiality and often cannot reveal how they are handling an issue.

This conundrum often leaves leaders deciding to stay mum rather than risk impropriety. However, the result often leaves employees believing management does nothing to help. Worse still, if they are the ones who brought the issue to a leader’s attention, it leaves them feeling nervous and exposed. Naturally, these employees will stop telling you about their concerns even when they continue to be impacted by them. Morale will drop, workplace relations suffer, and unplanned turnover will increase.  In some cases, an employee will feel violated and, if they happen to be of a protected class, may file a grievance or a lawsuit claiming discrimination or a hostile work environment.

What can you do? While the law may leave you feeling your hands are tied, here are five things you can, and should, do when hearing a complaint.

1. Coach and guide the employee(s) to resolve it themselves.

Many complaints leaders, HR, and managers hear arise due to workplace relational issues. In other words, the problem is not about the work, but about how two (or more) people are working together. Attempting to resolve these issues for others can quickly appear as side-taking and favoritism. Instead, learn about the issue then coach and guide the person with a complaint with strategies to handle it themself.  Your way of supporting them is to provide mentoring, engage in role-play or practice activities, and, when the comfort level is too compromised, offer to be present when the concerned party approaches the source of their complaint. You can find detailed guidance on this in the book Find Fix Fill Your Leadership Gap (see Chapter 11).

2. Listen to both sides.

If the concerns cannot be addressed by guiding one party, you must make the time to hear both sides individually. Treat it less like an investigation and more like a general concern about the current situation between these individuals. Beyond the balance this demonstrates, what you learn from hearing both persons’ perspectives may be essential to getting issues resolved.

3. Take notes.

Strangely, this can seem more off-putting to the person taking the notes than the one sharing their story. While copious notes are not necessary (and yes, eye contact matters more), take sufficient notes to show you’re truly listening, concerned, and trying to keep track of the situation.  Remember, if it matters to them, they need to know it matters to you, too. It’s often good to be upfront with this. State that you will take notes because the concerns they’re sharing matter.

4. Keep them informed of next steps.

This step is more directed at the person who made a complaint, but often can include both sides. Communicate what you’re going to do (generally), and why. Perhaps it’s not appropriate to act on a first-time concern. Still, you can share that you are taking notes and plan to keep an eye on the situation. Should the issue require further intervention, you can disclose that you will be taking action but, due to confidentiality, you cannot provide any other details. In either situation, be honest and transparent about your decision-making.

5. Ask them to keep you informed.

This may be the most important step as it assures the concerned party (and perhaps both sides) that you do want to help and are not ignoring their concerns.  Urge them to come to you if the situation continues or worsens.  Remind them that you cannot be of help if you are unaware of the problem. Even better, especially if they have not come to you, go to your employee(s) to check in on how they are doing, and how the situation has progressed.

As you respond to complaints in this manner, you demonstrate care and concern to your employees, keep command over the health and well-being of the work environment (regardless if it is remote or on-site) and you will maintain better control over morale, turnover, engagement, and issues of conflict in the workplace.