Marks & Spencer Case Study

M&S were keen to extend their mediation scheme and TCM was chosen as their professional partner

by Panos Papakostis | 24th Jan 2012

Background

This household name employs over 75,000 people in the UK and abroad, it operates 600 UK stores, plus an expanding international

business. Prior to approaching TCM, M&S had already been using mediation to resolve workplace disputes. However, they were keen to extend their mediation scheme and they wanted a professional partner to support the development of mediation for all M&S employees. TCM were chosen and to date, we have trained accredited mediators and provided dispute resolution support to help embed mediation within the company’s culture.

The reasons M&S chose mediation

Although M&S had used mediation in the past, the limited number of individuals previously trained resulted in a limit to the number of mediations that the organisation could provide. M&S therefore decided to invest in their mediation scheme in order to roll it out further throughout the organisation. One of the most important reasons for the expansion was the amazing success rate that the organisation has had in the cases handled through mediation and wanted to build on this success.

Choosing TCM

Marks & Spencer initially contacted TCM thanks to a recommendation from another retailer that was very satisfied with TCM's services. Lastly what made Marks and Spencer ‘tick’ was the fact that the team was very knowledgeable with lots of mediation experience and a can do attitude. There was an expectation for flexibility in the course structure and mediation process, which the course delivered. A bespoke workshop was designed and delivered by The TCM Group in order to meet M&S’ specific business needs. TCM was also able to give the new mediators the training and confidence to be able to deliver successful mediation and hit the ground running.

“We view TCM as the UK mediation specialists responsible for training our people in mediation. We welcome their commitment to quality and will endeavour to maintain good working practices with them. We are also looking into attending the `Professional Mediators Association`, where we feel the sessions on offer would provide even more added value.”

Philip Edwards, Employee Relations Manager
Marks & Spencer Plc

Delivery and Outline of the solution

Marks & Spencer were very happy with the services TCM provided. The tools provided
(such as the TCM handbook, training leaflets etc)

were marked as excellent. The delegates found TCM's trainer to be very good, engaging and supportive. Through training mediators with The TCM Group, M&S are now able to roll out mediation to more than 650 stores throughout the UK, as they have a larger number of trained mediators enabling them to promote their mediation service.

By training all of M&S' new mediators at once The TCM Group has enabled M&S to deliver cost efficiencies and to re-launch their newly invigorated internal mediation scheme.

Please click here to read the full case study.

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