Acas warning highlights role of mediators in UK workplaces

As workplace conflict reaches record levels, new research by Acas shows many organisations may lack the capability needed to resolve disputes effectively before they escalate. The study found that 33% of workers felt their organisation didn’t have people with the necessary mediation skills to resolve workplace conflict. One option is for HR to involve an independent mediator to help resolve the conflict before positions become entrenched. We’ll hear from Shabana Ishaq who specialises in mediating workplace conflict.

The problem is more common than you might think. Separate Acas research found that 44% of workers in Great Britain experienced some form of dispute, disagreement, or difficult workplace relationship during the previous 12 months – the highest level of individual workplace conflict ever reported in a survey of this type. With employment tribunal backlogs continuing to grow, Acas says mediation can help employers resolve conflict earlier by bringing in an impartial third party who does not take sides and helping the people involved agree their own way forward. 

So when communication has broken down, and trust has been lost, what role can a mediator play in helping the business find a way forward? Earlier, I spoke to independent mediator Shabana Ishaq and I began by asking what she typically finds has gone wrong by the time she is called in to help: 

Shabana Ishaq: “It’s quite interesting because they will arrive at mediation citing this as the issue but when you start looking deeper into it, and working with the parties, it’s typically around communication and trust issues. So it might be to do with an appraisal, but actually it’s what’s behind that appraisal and the bigger issues bubbling underneath the surface. So people have stopped talking openly and usually started making assumptions about each other’s intentions. In terms of mediations that I’m involved with it’s usually individuals who don’t feel they’ve been heard, or they’ve been misunderstood or disrespected, so it’s very much a case of two individuals coming together. They’re very much focused on their own version of events and what I try to do is help them to understand the other perspective. With mediation, it’s not something which happens overnight in terms of the conflict, it’s very much a case of months, or even years. I have worked on a mediation where two parties hadn’t spoken to each other within the same team for about two years and that was down to misunderstandings which led to trust and then communication issues.”

Joe Glavina: “How important is it that a mediator is seen as an independent and neutral third party? I guess that neutrality is key?”

Shabana Ishaq: “Yes, absolutely, neutrality is very important. It depends on who is involved in the mediation but if, for example, it’s a manager and an employee, so you have that different level of hierarchy there, somebody may not feel able to have that open and frank discussion so I’m there creating that neutral, safe space, and it’s very much a structured conversation. I set out ground rules, typically, and what I try to do is help people move away from their positions into looking at their needs and their interests and encourage parties to listen to each other, ask difficult questions, explore difficult issues, with a way of moving forward and considering next steps because mediation is very much a forward-facing process where parties acknowledge what’s happened, what’s gone wrong, but then we discuss how to rebuild that communication, or that trust, or practical ways of working together. So, yes, it’s very much about creating that environment where I’m impartial and it is voluntary. Mediation is not something we can force individuals to be part of; it’s more about encouraging parties to speak up for themselves.”

Joe Glavina: “When a mediation is successful, what does that look like in practice. What benefit does the business see?”

Shabana Ishaq: “It’s quite interesting in terms of what a successful mediation looks like because it’s very rare that parties leave a mediation feeling elated, for example, because unlike an employment tribunal claim, for example, where there is a winner or a loser, what we’re trying to do in mediation is, I suppose, create two winners and as part of that, they will have had to have made some concessions. I was recently involved in a very emotional mediation involving a manager and an employee. The employee had raised a grievance in the past and a number of issues about the manager and the manager was struggling to deal with this individual and they agreed to mediate. We did manage to draw up an agreement and it was interesting for the employee to hear from the manager’s perspective because she hadn’t given that much consideration. So, in terms of moving forward, an agreement was drawn up where they would greet each other – it can be something quite as basic as that, because I think they had started to ignore each other in terms of how they use their tone of voice, their language in emails, they can be quite basic results which are very meaningful to the parties and,  again, it’s about what’s important to the two individuals involved and how they wish their working relationship to move forward. That was a successful outcome but it’s not something which happens overnight, Joe. So, it’s not as though we have the mediation on Monday and by Tuesday everything’s fine. It’s very much work in progress. So, typically I tend to check in around four to six weeks again to see whether the agreement that was reached in terms of communication, behaviours, expectations, are being met in accordance with the terms of that agreement and the key success for me is that that conflict no longer dominates that working relationship and individuals can start rebuilding that communication, that trust, and work together again gradually. So it’s not overnight success.”

So, the key takeaway for employers is that workplace mediation is often about much more than resolving a particular dispute. So, by creating a neutral and structured environment, mediators can help individuals rebuild trust, improve communication, and agree practical ways of working together in the future. While outcomes may not be immediate, early intervention can help prevent positions becoming further entrenched and help preserve valuable working relationships.

If you would like to learn more about workplace mediation or discuss how it could support your approach to workplace conflict, in the first instance please contact Kate Dodd, Head of Employment Plus – her details are on the screen for you.