Workplace Mediation has long been gathering momentum, becoming increasingly popular amongst UK companies who now use it as an effective way to resolve disputes at work. Mediation can provide solutions which meet the needs of all parties; its cost effective, fast, avoids disruption, removes the debilitating effects of unresolved conflict and can pave the way for restored workplace relationships.
The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) published their latest Mediation Audit in May 2023. This 2 yearly survey of UK commercial lawyers and mediators, assesses the case numbers take up of mediation and attitudes towards it. Here are some impressive figures from their survey:
- Roughly £20 billion worth of cases are mediated each year
- The overall settlement rate was 92%, with 72% of mediations settling on the mediation day, and 20% settling shortly after the mediation day. These success figures are sustained, being more or less at this level since 2020.
- Since 1990 around £195 billion worth of cases have gone to mediation
- Mediation has saved business around £5.9 billion in wasted management time, legal fees, lost productivity and damaged relationships per year.
So what is Workplace Mediation and how can it solve conflict at work?
What is workplace mediation?
In a workplace mediation the mediator, who is an impartial third party, helps 2 or more staff in dispute to attempt to reach an agreement. Any agreement comes from those in dispute, not from the mediator. The mediator is not there to judge the issue e.g. to say one member of staff is right and the other is wrong, or to tell those involved in the mediation what they should do. The mediator is in charge of the process of seeking to resolve the problem but not the outcome. It is for the staff members in dispute to agree the outcome to resolve the dispute. An agreement settling the dispute is then signed by the members of staff. Workplace mediation is often a voluntary process and all discussions are confidential.
Who can use workplace mediation?
Any employer can use workplace mediation. It is regularly used for resolving conflict involving:
- colleagues of a similar job or grade
- unresolved issues between a line manager and his/her staff
It’s difficult for an HR Director, any Senior Manager or indeed the business owner to be seen as neutral in a mediation. He or she will know the personalities involved and will not be seen as impartial. An external mediator will help show that HR is looking to resolve this dispute without taking sides. The HR Director or Manager also may be involved later in a grievance or disciplinary dispute.
Workplace mediation is not suitable for some situations , for example where a discrimination or whistle–blowing grievance has been raised and it must be investigated. Note that mediation may also not be appropriate for situations that involve sexual harassment which is a serious issue requiring particular handling. For more on this, see our article, https://www.thelegalpartners.com/new-employer-duty-to-prevent-sexual-harassment/.
When is workplace mediation used?
Common examples of situations where workplace mediation works are:
- personality clashes
- communication breakdowns
- relationship breakdown within a team
- bullying and harassment
- cultural misunderstandings due to different nationalities working in the same workplace
Workplace Mediation can be used before a formal grievance has been identified or after a formal dispute has been resolved to rebuild relationships
The Legal Partners has used workplace mediation for clients very successfully to resolve conflict in the Care, IT, hospitality and Professional Services sectors in particular. It is very suitable to workplaces where there can be communication difficulties within the business and within teams.
What are the benefits of workplace mediation within the business?
Taking a dispute to an Employment Tribunal is now very costly for both employers and employees, and rarely actually resolves the underlying issues that may have caused the initial problem to occur. The Employment Tribunal will give judgement on the employment dispute at the time but will not resolve any underlying workplace situation problems.
Cost savings of using Workplace Mediation
Workplace Mediation can save many organisational costs.
- it avoids formal grievance and appeal proceedings which can consume a lot of HR Directors’ and Senior Management time and resources. It’s important to note that workplace mediation could form part of the Step 1 Informal Action to resolve a grievance. For further details on resolving grievances, see our related article Handling and employee grievance, five key actions
- workers take sickness absence while there is a conflict situation at work which leads to expensive temporary workers needing to be hired
- it can avoid staff turnover and re-recruitment and retraining costs
- it can avoid low staff morale and lower productivity
- it can repair working relationships within teams so they focus on the team and corporate goals
- What are the benefits of workplace mediation undertaken outside of the business?
- Any unnecessary conflict can be bad for PR outside of the business and bad for the morale of the workers who are no longer ambassadors for the business but instead can spread negative PR.
Online Mediation is here to stay
To quote CEDR’s 2023 Audit, during Covid necessity led to the growth of online mediation, when 89% of cases were conducted online. Following a 35% market activity dip during the COVID period, in the year end 30 September 2022, cases bounced back to reach 17,000 per annum. A 3% increase from the pandemic.
Online mediation is clearly here to stay. Out of 17,000 reported cases, 64% were conducted online. Mediators reported that they are increasingly using the online platform for pre-mediation contact and follow-up, which was usually done over the phone.
If you need to talk through a grievance issue you are facing, and the potential of mediation, please do get in touch.
