Mediation

Employment mediation is used to resolve grievances and disputes at work. However, we have adapted the use of our mediation to issues and concerns relating also to attendance, performance, capability, redundancy & reorgs and trust and confidence matters.

Mediation is a voluntary exercise where a neutral third party helps those who are directly involved in an issue or dispute to reach an agreed outcome between them.

Mediation is confidential. Generally, nothing said or written to the mediator during a mediation may be disclosed either to those involved or anyone else without the participants' consent.

All discussions during a mediation are 'without prejudice' and off-the-record.

Our mediations may be in one or more of the following formats -

in-person meetings
meetings on Teams or Zoom
phone (subject to adequate security safeguards)
email (subject to adequate security safeguards)

The benefits of our mediation include -

participants can safely explain how they really feel
subject to availability, they can start soon and the process is very quick
the discussions are friendly and respectful
there is no need for evidence and other law-style formalities because the mediator cannot make findings or any kind of judgment
our mediations are designed to be almost stress-free

The few downsides include -

unlikely to assist where one or more of the participants need an imposed decision or judgment
not suitable for instances where compromise is not possible
not appropriate for instances which might involve criminal law proceedings

Most of our mediations are successful. The usual outcomes involve -

'heads of agreement'
an agreement set out in an exchange of emails
a formal agreement including, where requested, a settlement agreement

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