Big Brothers Big Sisters of Estrie (BBBSE) is committed to operating in a professional and courteous manner. The organization has a complaints management policy in place to create a transparent, fair and timely way to respond to public complaints. In accordance with these principles, the organization has established this complaints policy to provide individuals and external partners with a clear procedure to follow when making a complaint about the organization. Similarly, the policy provides for a clear complaints process for board members, branch and staff.
POLICY OBJECTIVES
Through this policy, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Estrie objectives are that:
Complaints are dealt with promptly and resolved as quickly as possible for the benefit of all parties;
- Review of complaints is fair, impartial and respectful of all parties;
- Complainants are advised of their option to refer their complaint to a more experienced staff member if they are dissatisfied with the treatment or the initial outcome;
- Complainants receive clear and understandable reasons for complaints decisions;
- Complainants are informed of updates during the review process;
- Complaints are used to help improve services, policies and procedures.
SCOPE
All complaints received by the organization about our activities, programs, services, staff or volunteers.
STANDARDS
Definition of complaints: A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction with the service, actions or lack of actions by all stakeholders in the organization, namely the members of the board of directors, general management, staff or volunteers acting on behalf of the organization.
Examples of complaints could be:
- Perceived failure on something agreed;
- Failure to comply with policies or procedures;
- Error by one or more of the organization’s stakeholders;
- Lack of access to information or services;
- Unfair or discourteous actions and/or statements by all stakeholders of the organization;
- Fraud such as the use of computer resources for purposes independent of the organization’s activities; theft of money or material; a conflict of interest; misleading information to the public and misrepresentations and submissions by program recipients.
Any person who feels personally affected may complain and such complaint will be dealt with in accordance with this procedure.
RESPONSABILITY
The branch is responsible for receiving complaints. If the complaint concerns the general management, the chair of the board will receive the complaint.
PROCEDURES
1. Receiving complaints
A complaint may be received verbally (by phone or in person) or in writing (by mail, fax, email). A complaint received verbally must be recorded in writing, in the form of a statement, by the person receiving it. An anonymous complaint is inadmissible.
The board member, branch or staff member who receives a complaint must first determine who will be responsible for dealing with it. It will usually be the person who has the primary relationship with the complainant or who has the specific knowledge necessary to solve the problem. It is the responsibility of the person receiving the complaint either to resolve it or to transfer it to another person who can resolve it. If the complaint is transferred, the recipient must inform the complainant that they have received the complaint and will act accordingly.
The person who initially receives the complaint should inform the complainant that the complaint has been received and that it will be dealt with by him or another employee. If an action period can be determined, it should be included in the confirmation. Basic contact information including name, phone number and email address must be recorded immediately.
2. Resolution of complaints
Every effort should be made to resolve complaints received in a timely manner. When receiving a verbal complaint, staff must listen and seek to understand the complaint and may attempt to resolve it immediately. Complaints received in writing should be acknowledged within two business days and staff should attempt to resolve the matter within 10 business days.
When a complaint cannot be easily resolved, it should be addressed to the Branch. If the Branch cannot resolve the complaint, it will be referred to the Executive Council. Every effort should be made to resolve redirected complaints within 10 business days so that all complaints are resolved within one month of receipt. However, this period may be extended where special circumstances warrant.
3. Complaint management
The person conducting the review of the complaint must gather all relevant facts and documents, gather comments and observations from any person concerned by the subject matter of the complaint or whose testimony is considered relevant, including the person complained of. It also contains the complainant’s signature and date of signature. A verbal complaint must be signed and dated by the person who received the complaint. The complainant must also sign the complaint and receive a copy.
The review and decision of the complaint will include the following steps:
- Define whether the complaint is founded;
- Provide the complainant with the documented conclusions of the examination in writing;
- Inform the complainant of any action relating to the case, where deemed appropriate;
- Unless new, the decision to consider the complaint is final and without appeal.
4. Resolution
To the extent that the complaint is substantiated, following a review of the file, examples of types of resolution could include, but are not limited to:
- Full apologies and/or actions that should have been taken;
- Explanations of measures taken to improve systems, procedures or practice;
- The acceleration of delayed action;
- Explanations and corrections of staff error or staff behavior;
- Explanations of actions to be taken to improve access to information or services.
5. Documentation of complaints
It is necessary to keep a record of any complaint that involves a money dispute as well as any complaint that cannot be resolved immediately (the same day it is received). Information on these complaints should be recorded on the complaint tracking sheet. The information recorded on this sheet includes a description of the complaint, who dealt with it, what was done to resolve the complaint, the timeline and a description of the resolution.
The documentation of complaints is compiled and updated by the General Management or by the Chair of the Board, as the case may be. A summary of the complaints received including their number and type will be presented to the Board of Directors of the organization each year.