Workplace mediation How employers do it - CIPD

Promoting mediationTable 17: What is the single most important thingthat could be done to promote the wider use ofworkplace mediation?%Communicate aims/benefits toall staff25Train managers to use mediation 15Raise awareness of how to accessmediation11Emphasise benefits of early intervention in solving grievances8Improve quality of/access to trainingfor mediators8Training (unspecified) 7Role-play/case studies on positiveaspects7Clear explanation of mediationwritten into policy7Ensure access to mediation is easy/cheap6Endorsement from seniormanagement6Respondents were asked, ‘What is the single mostimportant thing that could be done to promote thewider use of workplace mediation?’ These responses aregrouped together into common themes. A full 25%opted for communicating the aims and benefits ofmediation to all staff. Several people commented on theneed for employers to raise awareness andunderstanding of mediation, and actively promote it asa means of resolving issues. This underlines the need foremployers to get the message across to their workforce– starting with managers – at all levels if they want toimprove take-up.The next most important factor identified byrespondents is training managers in the use ofmediation (15%), with a further 7% opting for(unspecified) training. One respondent suggests theneed to ‘improve the access to training of HR and/orline managers in mediation techniques. If a professionalbody like the CIPD ran mediation courses that were of arecognised and respected standard, then sellingmediation within an organisation would be easier andemployees would have more confidence in the process.’Eleven per cent of respondents focus on the need toraise awareness of how to access mediation, with afurther 8% emphasising the importance of easy accessto mediation. This suggests that a reinforced Acashelpline, drawing attention to the role of mediation andgiving information about providers, will be an effectiveway of helping many employers and increasing the useof mediation.A number of respondents suggest that the single mosteffective method of promoting mediation is to buildmediation into existing procedures for dealing withgrievances and disputes, or bullying and harassment.However, there are also concerns that mediationshould not simply be seen as part of a formal process,but part of the company culture and ‘the frameworkof people management, not an isolated process’.One person suggested that the important thing is to‘ensure that mediation is part of the language used inconditions of employment [and] insist it is a stagebefore formal grievance’. A number of respondentsdraw attention to the value of informal approaches toresolving conflict, and the need to create a willingnessto work outside set formulae.Several responses point to the need for mediation to beused at an early stage and not be seen primarily as ameans of discouraging recourse to an employmenttribunal. One believes that mediation ‘is still consideredas something of a black art…and is commonly believedto relate to tribunals only’, while another stresses that ‘itis a stand-alone process [and] not a stepping stone onthe way to a tribunal’. Only a handful of respondentssuggest that mediation should be made compulsory bychanging existing legislation.Workplace mediation 13