Workplace mediation How employers do it - CIPD

Managing mediationBuilding mediation into workplace proceduresTable 11: Is the use of mediation written intoemployment contracts or procedures?%Grievance procedures 58Procedures on diversity,harassment or bullying46Disciplinary procedures 36Employee handbook 31Stand-alone mediation policy 13Statement of employmentparticulars/employment contract8Collective agreement 4The Gibbons Review recommended that employerorganisations should consider encouraging the use ofmediation as a standard provision in contracts ofemployment. Respondents were asked if the use ofmediation is written into employment contracts orworkplace procedures.Fewer than one in ten organisations currentlyincorporate mediation in the employment contract.Grievance and disciplinary procedures are the maininstruments by which organisations communicate theirpolicy towards mediation. Stand-alone mediation policiesare relatively unusual (13%). This suggests that mostemployers still see mediation primarily as a response toconflict, rather than as an integral part of themanagement culture.It is, however, encouraging that mediation is seen to bea natural component of policies on diversity, harassmentor bullying in nearly half (46%) of organisations. This isparticularly the case in the public sector, where 62% ofrespondents say mediation is written into suchprocedures. These positive findings reinforce the prioritygiven to the same issues in response to the questionabout which issues are most suitable to be dealt with bymediation (see Table 7).Recent experience of mediationRespondents were asked about their most recentexperience of mediation. Mediation was used inresponse to the threat of an ET claim in only 8% ofcases, and after an ET claim has been lodged with theemployer in another 8% of cases. In the remaining 83%of cases, mediation was not related to an ET claim at all.Table 12: Did the most recent experience of mediation take place…? %In response to the threat of anemployment tribunal8After an ET claim had been lodged by the employee8It was not related to an ET claim 83In three out of four cases, use of mediation is initiatedby the HR department, with line managers responsiblefor initiating its use in 12% of cases. In just over half ofall cases, the mediation is between one or moreemployees and their manager.The amount of time spent on the process of mediationis fairly evenly distributed between cases wheremediation took less than a day (22%), one day (28%),two days (22%) and longer than two days (28%).Mediation tends to take more time in largerorganisations, in the public sector, and where anexternal mediator is used.Table 13: How much time is spent on the processof mediation itself?%Less than a day 221 day 282 days 22More than 2 days 28Workplace mediation 9