How can a company accept blame for an employee grievance?

Greed

They won't pay you money for hurt feelings, if that's what you're thinking. If you can show that the decision that aggreives you has had consequences that cost you money — you were denied a promotion, for example — you might have a case for compensation for the measurable loss. But in general what you are likely to get — and what you should most want — is some combination of acknowledgement, apology, and steps taken to provide reassurance that the error will not be repeated.

The best approach in seeking to resolve work-related disputes is to do so as informally as possible, ideally by just talking and having it out.

Submitting a grievance under a company’s related policy is a formal mechanism and should only really be pursued where more informal attempts have failed.

A grievance assumes that there is preferred outcome that you want to achieve. Otherwise, why bother? You need to be clear therefore as to what this outcome should look like. It’s not a matter of compensation.

If you go the grievance route and your grievance is upheld, it is incumbent on the employer to implement the findings. If not, then you could consider applying complaint to the WRC.

Equally, if the grievance is rejected, there should be a right of appeal within the company. Ultimately, you can still submit a complaint to the WRC if you still feel motivated.

As has been alluded to above, it can be difficult to continue to work in an organisation about which you’ve complained to the WRC so that’s another aspect you’d need to consider.

Well that certainly escalated.

This, but unironically