Small businesses urged to use mediation in workplace disputes

The employment relations service, Acas, has urged small companies to consider mediation earlier when solving workplace disputes, avoiding the risk of facing employment tribunals.

A poll of 500 decision makers found that just 7% of businesses had used mediation. A further 52% believed that mediation was only suitable for larger companies. The research revealed that most managers would only use mediation as a last resort.

Despite this, it was clear that respondents recognise the value of mediation, with nearly three-quarters (72%) of decision makers saying mediation sounds like a good tool for resolving workplace disputes, and almost two-thirds (63%) saying that a more widespread use of mediation would reduce the number of employment tribunal claims. Of the businesses that had used mediation, 82% said it had resolved the issues completely or partly.

Ed Sweeney, Chair of Acas said: "Resolving an issue at an early stage instead of clearing up its eventual consequences saves money, time and grief. Mediation and dispute resolution are often associated with bigger businesses, but without in-house Human Resources and legal functions, some small businesses can be vulnerable to minor disputes escalating into something more serious and damaging."

Mediation was often used to address several issues at once. Of the organisations that had used mediation, 43% had used it for discipline issues, whilst 36% had used it for relationship breakdowns and 31% had used it for bullying and harassment.

For further information, you can read the dedicated Mediation pages on the Acas website.