performance, attendance or timekeeping; misuse and/or abuse of the internet or email; theft and others. How can mediation in this context help to reduce workplace conflict and the resulting organisational costs? Mediation, when successful, restores the relationship between the employer and employee and is a much better and economical method for salvaging a relationship than hiring a new employee, which can potentially lead to a spend of thousands of pounds in finding a replacement and can involve agency fees and loss of other employees’ time in training them. The alternative is to retain the existing employee who possesses a valuable skill set of benefit to the employer, thus saving the employer’s time and money. When successful, it makes for a stress-free working environment not only for those facing the problem but for the organisation as a whole, including potentially fewer sick days, less loss of work time, reduced stress for the parties and the avoidance of formal grievance proceedings. 50 LAWYERMONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2022 Workplace mediation is not suitable for resolving disputes where a crime has been committed.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk3Mzkz