A 10 Minute Briefing

www.catalystmediation.co.ukRegistered in Scotland No. SC 273815

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People who are good with conflict

A 10 Minute Briefing

Early Dispute Resolution Initiatives

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Summary

Background

Scale of the Problem

Legal Implications

Employment Act 2008

Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development

Early Dispute Resolution

Risk Management Approach

Contents


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Summary

Conflict in any workplace is a costly fact of life.

Which will affect your organisation –

the risks of employment tribunal or civil court claims,

the costs of formal complaints and grievance procedures, or

to the loss of a day’s work, orpossibly a more prolonged absence, and possibly

It can start for any number of real or imagined causes and will affect staff personally and in their capacity to work.

and if they leave, you will have the costs of recruitment, temporary staff, retraining, under strength teams ………….

from the lowering of efficiency or accuracy,


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With support from senior management, a sensible review of existing policies and the right training and support, organisations can and do shift their cultures to one of early, informal, low cost problem solving.

As we will demonstrate later, in times of financial restraint, investment in skills which will improve efficiency and reduce costs, has to be worthwhile.

The evidence suggests the most cost effective way to manage conflict is to train …..

managers in “people management” skills to nip conflict in the bud, plus …

a small team in dispute resolution skills, to manage the more difficult cases.

Summary


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Conflict at work is growing and increasing in cost

Roughly half the causes of conflict between colleagues are attributable to “systemic” elements – those caused by factors within the organisation’s structure and control policies.

But whatever the cause, real or imagined, conflict causes stress and if not resolved early, creates the costs of absence or the management of formal grievance or disciplinary procedures.

The other half is caused by misunderstandings, assumptions and poor communication.

So how big is the problem………………………………………….

Background


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“Under current trends, days lost through stress-related illness in 2009 could have reached 13.6m days – more than in 2007 during the 3 day week.”

Health & Safety

Executive“About 5 million workers in the UK report feeling “extremely stressed at work”.

Scottish Mediation Network

“We all experience pressure regularly – it can motivate us to perform at our best. It is when we experience too much pressure and feel unable to cope that stress can result.”

“£300 million was the estimated cost of stress related absences from work to Scottish Employers last year”

“£58,302,969 was the cost of litigation to Scotland’s local authorities and the health service”

The Scale of the Problem


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Legislation has also increased, from three main sources ……………

Chartered Institute

of Personnel & Development

(CIPD)

CIPD employer surveys suggest that:

“Annual cost of stress and stress-related illnesses: estimates range from £5 billion to £12 billion”

CIPD & CBI

• 44% of UK employees feel under excessive pressure at work at least once a week, often leading to stress and time off work. (2008)

• Stress is the second biggest cause of short-term absence for non-manual workers. (2009)

• businesses spend almost ten days on average dealing with an individual tribunal claim (including 7.7 days senior managers’ time ). (2007)

The Scale of the Problem


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Unfair or Constructive DismissalEqualities Act 2010Discrimination (sex, race, disability, age)

Personal Injury Breach of contractProtection from Harassment Act 1997

Enforcement Action: prohibition notices, criminal prosecution HSE

Civil Court

Employment Tribunal2008/2009 Maximum award Average award

Unfair Dismissal £76,536 £8,058

Race Discrimination £68,991 £14,566

Sex Discrimination £131,466 £11,263

Disability Discrimination £227,208 £19,523

Age Discrimination £12,124 £3,334

But employment legislation is not all bad news …………………….

The Legal Implications


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The ACAS Code of Practice

“Employers and employees should do all that they can to resolve disciplinary and grievance issues in the workplace. “

“An employment tribunal should only be a last resort .”

“Where this is not possible employers and employees should consider using a third party to help resolve the problem.”

“The third party need not come from outside the organisation but could be an internal mediator.”

The Gibbons review of the 2004 Act concluded it was making formal procedures overly complex and costly. So the 2008 Act opened the way for informal, lower cost options, through...……

Employment Act 2008


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“In some cases early use of an internal or external mediator may be a helpful alternative to the use of formal procedures, particularly when dealing with grievances.”

“It is good practice to consider dealing separately with issues involving bullying harassment or whistle-blowing. Mediation may be particularly useful in these types of cases.”(Add discrimination to the list from CIPD findings).

So what is internal mediation ………….

Employment Act 2008


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“A form of dispute resolution in which a third party from inside or outside the workplace helps people reach a mutually acceptable agreement”

OR

“A sudden outbreak of commonsense”

In their Guide, published with ACAS to coincide with the new Act, CIPD described mediation as:

CIPD Guide to Mediation


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90% said informal discussions were the best way to resolve conflicts.

43% had used mediation before 2008, of which 50% use external mediators exclusively 35% train either managers, employees, or

employee representatives to act as mediators

Internal mediators were used more in large organisations and those with 50-250 staff.

Their 2008 national survey of 800 organisations suggested that:

So the use of internal mediation is reasonably high and growing

CIPD 2008 Survey


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repairs relationships in the workplace (83%)prevents cost of defending tribunal claims (50%) reduces the stress of formal procedures (73%)

Mediation was most suitable for:

Reasons for using mediation :

relationship breakdown (86%)bullying, harassment (74%)discrimination (48%)performance issues (26%)

So how does EDR work ………….

The survey also suggested that:

CIPD 2008 Survey


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Cup of CoffeeCup of Coffee

Manager as Mediator

Manager as Mediator

Internal MediatorInternal

MediatorExternal

MediatorExternal

MediatorFormal

Grievance etcFormal

Grievance etcLawyer

NegotiationsLawyer

NegotiationsTribunal

JudgementTribunal

Judgement

CostCost

TimeTime

Absence

Absence

StressStress

So as with many risk management procedures, the earlier you employ “mediative skills”, the better.

Hence early dispute resolution must be the logical goal.

From a chat over a cup of tea to a full tribunal hearing, as each stage is employed, so all sorts of implications arise.

Early Dispute Resolution


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“Among all employees, 76% have seen conflict lead to a positive outcome, such as better understanding of others (41%) or a better solution to a workplace problem (29%). Global research report

by OPP® in association with the CIPD July 2008This figure rises to 84% and 81% in Brazil and the US – where

training (in conflict management) is most common.

Belgium and France, where employees experience the least training, also have the lowest incidence of positive outcomes.”

“Our research shows a clear link between training in conflict management and conflict’s impact as a catalyst for positive change.

“Celebrating the effective management of conflict at work”

The Effect of Training


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Responsibility for resolution is passed back down to managers – who now manage their people more effectively.

Formal Processes

Informal Mediation

Early Informal

Resolution

Formal Mediation

Trained Line Managers

Trusted Individuals

Structured Networks

The effect of any EDR program should be that over time the vast bulk of conflict is resolved early, through informal networks.

The HR and Legal departments, neither of whom should be “conflict managers”, can return to their main tasks.

The organisation becomes a more efficient, creative place to work, as pressure is managed before it becomes stress .

Creating Culture Shift


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CIPD’s 2008 research showed larger organisations spend up to 350 “man days” a year on disciplinary and grievance cases and tribunal applications. If this equated to 1.25 people, then some of the costs would look like this:

A basic salary of say £40,000Add NI, pension etc £20,000Legal advice (say£2,500 x 4 cases a year) £10,000Legal costs for one tribunal £ 5,000

Cost per year £75,000

An outline budget to set up an internal team could be like this:Strategic support £ 2,0002 day “Communication Skills” Course for 20 managers £ 6,0006 day Accredited Mediator training for 6 people £12,000CPD 15 hours for 6 mediators £ 3,000

Year 1 cost £23,000

Cost Efficiencies


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Ministry of Justice 2008/9 – Time Saved Trial use of mediation in civil court Reduction in Court staff / management time

Traditional case - 35 days Mediated case – 3 days Speed of resolution Traditional case – 84 days Mediated case – 28 days

UK Government Departments - Lower CostsUse of mediation vs civil litigation

2007/8 disputes mediated – 374 ; 75% success rate 2008/9 disputes mediated – 314 ; 82% success rate 2008/9 estimated savings – £90.2m

Cost Efficiencies


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1. This model works best if the incidence of grievances (G) is LOW.

2. reduces the number of future conflicts.

3. starts by training -

as many managers and union reps as possible;

from a cross section of the organisation;

over a two day “man management” skills course.4. uses a fixed priced external mediator to resolve occasional serious

cases.

5. raises staff awareness of aims and methods.

6. trains in-house mediators in year two – if needed.

Spread People

Management Skills

Manage Occasional High ConflictWith External

Mediators

Mediation Model – Low G


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1. This model works best if the incidence of grievances is HIGH.

2. manages serious cases to demonstrate cost effectiveness.

3. starts by training no more than 8 in-house mediators; from employees and trades unions at all levels ; over a six day accredited skills course;

4. has a fixed price contract with an external mediator to work with the in-house team to resolve very difficult cases.

5. raises staff awareness via the intranet and other internal communication methods (e.g. newsletter) and by talking to existing networks (OH, mentoring, union groupings etc).

6. Develops management training in year two.

ManageSerious

ConflictsFirst

Develop “Man Management”

TrainingAmongst Wide

Base of Managers

Mediation Model – High G


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These are some of the organisations with either well established, new or “in train” internal EDR initiatives in Scotland …………………….

Western Isles Council

..and there are more on the way – will you be one of them?

Who’s Doing It Already


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Thank You

Thank you for taking the time to view this briefing.

If you have any questions about the detail of this type of initiative, please let us know through the contact details at the bottom of this page.

A 10 Minute Briefing

Documents

conflict conflict

causes of conflict

days work

dispute resolution skills

costs of absence

management of formal

people management skills

senior management