WORKFORCE SATISFACTION – AT WHAT COST?

WORKFORCE SATISFACTION – A COST EFFECTIVE WAY OF CUTTING OVERHEADS? With money being a major concern for most people and businesses in the current economic climate, problems caused by money, or the lack of it, takes many guises. Within the family, money problems cause the parties so much stress and friction that it breaks up their relationship, and has a detrimental effect on their work performance. Within the workplace, cash flow issues have increased the number of redundancies and reduced work hours to an all-time low. This has in many cases increased friction and stress arising from increased workloads, and more responsibility being placed on employees retained. Whereas in the past HR Departments were responsible for conflict resolution, it has become increasingly apparent that they are in a very difficult position because they are perceived as not being impartial, being employees themselves. So what can HR Departments do? Although experienced they cannot be impartial when resolving internal disputes. What if businesses were to address these problems from a different perspective? What if businesses were to appoint an independent service which actually saved them valuable time and money? One way is for businesses to work in association with mediation services to ensure their HR Departments are aware of the potential savings. By engaging an independent Mediator at the point when the dispute arises, this saves the business time, money and energy involved in grievance procedures. Greater Manchester Mediation provides an independent service helping two or more parties in dispute to resolve the dispute themselves through discussion and negotiation in a safe environment. Appropriate questioning by the mediator helps to focus on the key issues and ensure practical and workable solutions to the problem. The employer and/or HR Department are there to ensure that the parties taking part in the mediation have the ability to make the necessary decisions and implement any agreement reached. The mediator helps the parties to deal with the emotional issues arising from the conflict, and to agree practical and workable ways of resolving the dispute. By working collaboratively, the whole process can be dealt with in a much shorter time scale, at a fraction of the costs and avoiding court or tribunal proceedings. The benefits are enormous to both the employer and employee. Valuable staff members are retained. The working relationship and the continuity of staff is preserved, and the business saves on the costs of advertising, recruiting and inducting a new employee following the departure of a disgruntled member of staff who may feel their complaint has not been given the attention they believe it deserves. How would potential mediation participants and HR Departments view this change in approach in the management of a complaint raised? In my experience, most people are surprised they were not been referred to mediation sooner, or at least informed about the option. Some people clearly do not want to mediate, and if told about it, may consider it inappropriate at that time, or some of the issues are such that a full debate in front of a tribunal is the only way to determine the way forward. Most HR Departments and their legal advisors will know that the percentage of such cases is low, with over 95% of cases settled before a hearing. What of the majority of cases which are ultimately settled by negotiation? What level of responsibility lies on the HR Department and their lawyers to inform the business’ ultimate decision makers that a faster, more cost effective process is readily available? HR Departments have historically been involved in all matters concerning personnel and in addition where fee targets are all important, it could be easy to suggest that lawyers have no interest in promoting alternative ways of resolution. In my view, especially where businesses and people are deeply affected by the recession, each will value the assistance and savings afforded by mediation, infinitely more than costly grievance and legal proceedings usually recommended by lawyers. Where businesses use independent mediators to deal with workplace disputes, the employees feel valued and appreciated, productivity increases and the overall morale of the company is much higher with fewer instances of absenteeism. At the very least it gives the employee the right to be heard. Where overheads are monitored carefully, you cannot overstate the marketing and advertising value of client satisfaction, having received the best advice regarding the benefits and affordable methods of alternative dispute resolutions. Bernadette Willems is a director of Greater Manchester Mediation Limited, a niche business, offering mediation in family, workplace and commercial disputes.