87% of Employers See More AI-Assisted Staff Grievances

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Nearly nine in 10 organisations (87%) have seen a rise in grievances written with the help of AI, according to new research from HR and data insights provider Brightmine. The findings point to a broader shift in how workplace concerns are written, managed and escalated.

Brightmine found that AI is leading employers to receive overly complex or exaggerated submissions (92%), longer complaints (83%) and unrealistic expectations about outcomes (82%).

Longer, more legal, slower

Organisations also report more formal or legal language in grievances (88%) and more detail (82%). Eighty-one per cent said more issues are now being raised within a single grievance. Seventy-one per cent said grievances are taking longer to resolve.

Brightmine said the extra detail and legalese was creating confusion. A third of HR professionals (33%) said the clarity of grievances has decreased. Only 11% said recent technological changes have had a positive overall impact on the grievance process.

The most common AI-assisted grievances concern relationships with managers (67%), bullying or harassment (52%) and relationships with colleagues (49%).

What Brightmine says employers should do

Sheila Attwood, senior content manager at Brightmine, said the desire to use AI to draft grievances is “completely understandable”. In her words, it gives employees an opportunity to consolidate their experiences and concerns, reference legal frameworks they believe have been breached, and present their complaint more formally, “often in the belief that this adds authority and credibility”.

“The challenge for employers is that AI can also introduce unnecessary legal complexity and create unrealistic expectations about outcomes and timeframes,” Attwood said.

She added that the research shows “how quickly the gap between employee adoption and workplace policy has developed”. Employers should not look to ban AI from the process, Attwood said. They do need to provide clearer guidance on its appropriate use, “while keeping the underlying workplace concern at the centre of grievance conversations”.

Source: Personnel Today