STAFF affected by the merger of Scotland's eight police forces has caused a rise in the number of grievances against the service.
The new national Police Scotland force is forging ahead with voluntary redundancy and early retirement schemes that have seen hundreds of civilian jobs go as officer numbers are protected.
Now its head of human resources has admitted this process has sparked formal statutory complaints from civilians who find themselves displaced or competing for posts in new structures.
John Gillies - himself a civilian - linked what he acknowledged was a "spike" in figures to "organisational change processes".
In an official report to the force's watchdog, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), he said the proportion of grievances was higher from civilians than officers.
Of the 38 official grievances lodged in 2014-15, 24 came from staff and 14 from officers, who outnumber staff by three to one. Previous figures are not comparable but officials are frank that his represents a rise.
Mr Gillies said: "It is impossible to firmly state why staff grievance is higher - however it is worth noting that the majority of all grievances in these categories have been raised by staff in areas
where organisational change has progressed.
"Organisational change may or may not be a factor that is affecting workplace relationships, however, processes such as ring-fenced recruitment, where colleagues compete for roles, have been cited as being unpopular."
Mr Gillies, questioned by members of the SPA, said the increase did not necessarily mean that such policies were wrong. He said: "It is worth noting that all comparator assessment methods used to compare colleagues are likely to be equally disliked - it seems to be the act of competing against colleagues that has been cited as putting a strain on relations."
Unions have already warned that pitting worker against worker for jobs can cause huge stress. Mr Gillies stressed that he would not dismiss any grievance without investigating it but said there were more complaints in areas that have undergone change - such as 999 control centres - than in those that have not.
Mr Gillies added: "There isn't anything that stands out that policies are not appropriate for what we are doing.
"Specialist functions are the spike because that is the area of business that is going through change just now."
Some 2000 civilians have left policing since 2009. Cuts continues and Sir Stephen House, the chief constable, has warned of "extreme measures" this financial year as he tries to plug a financial black hole of £11m in his budget.
Gerry Crawley, unison organiser for Police Scotland, said he expected more complaints as mergers of civilian departments continued in areas like custody and criminal justice.
Mr Crawley said: "Grievances are rising because of the stress and strain that support staff are under as they continue to cut jobs.
"Grievances were up last year and they will be up again this year."
Police Scotland will begin its first wholesale survey of staff and officers this month since it was created more than two years ago.
The aim is to tease out the kind of issues that are causing discontent. The force's other main watchdog, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, has already flagged up officer morale as an issue given the huge volume of reorganisation in Scottish policing.
Mr Crawley said: "We will be encouraging all of unison members to participate in that survey to give honest answers."
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