Since the introduction of employment tribunal fees the claims have declined significantly. Thus employers feel that the power balance between the employee and the employees have shifted in their favour.
Employers also started to introduce new methods for fair dispute resolutions and developing better employee relations. CIPD research shows, that one of the third of employers prefers to use an early settlement agreement or other compromise if they think a claim could damage their reputation. We also observe the willingness of employers to have more creative discussions about discrimination, team-based issues and reputation.
Although disciplinary and grievance procedures remain the most frequently used methods of handling conflict, employers do have other choices. For example training line managers and troubleshooting by HR. In some cases, such as mediation, the difference is substantial.
Grievance procedures
Grievance procedures become difficult to resolve as they are known to "kill the employment relationships" and they are hard for the employees. It can be emotionally wearing for both employee and the employer.
These grievance procedures are generally included in the ACAS Code. But success in these procedures lies in the identification of the issues at early stages. Some do it through HR and trusted welfare agents within the company. But grievance procedures provide a clear methods of dealing with disputes.
Mediation
Mediation has become a significant part of workplace dispute resolution. It is generally used at the early stage to prevent issues from entering formal procedures.
Many employers in both public and private sectors are also interested in the use of formal mediation processes. Businesses want to train their staff on mediation processes and consider it an useful toolbox.
Employers want to identify issues at the early stage, so that they can prevent and not respond to issues. A shift in training of managers has been seen to have better conversations with their teams as well as HR representative to have mediation training organised. Much of the conflict management and handling of difficult conversations courses is being developed and introduced.
Training line managers
Generally, line managers are under pressure and do not know how to deal with conflicts. Many businesses now increased the frequency of training managers in handling 'difficult conversations' and managing conflict. This allows the company to sort their problems in house and avoid reputation risks. Generally it will lie with the HR as a duty to organise training and up-skill the managers. This is to encourage managers to identify and resolve issues at early stages to deal with them before they become a serious problem. It is known that tribunal cases or even settlement agreements consume much more energy and money.
Summary
In general there is a shift towards getting things done better in the workplace. Businesses want to sort disputes through negotiation and consultation. We are seeing more focus in the problem solving in-house. We know that when things escalate, some organisations suffer badly. Therefore businesses want to enhance employee engagement and trust.
Process-driven and reactive approach is seen to be more beneficial for both the employee and the employer. Therefore it has implications on the development of skills and competencies of the HR professionals.
we can assume that if we get an Employment tribunal claim we have failed, but when we have face-to-face conversation, things generally work well.
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