Integrating mediation into your organisation

Here at TCM, we believe that a healthy and productive organisation is one that offers its employees an alternative to the  typical adversarial and expensive forms of dispute resolution in time of conflict. We believe that mediation, when offered as a real option to all employees, can not only help to repair and rebuild individual relationships between parties in dispute, but also help to transform the culture of an organisation to one that views conflict as an opportunity for consensus, growth and development.

When an organisation has an integrated mediation scheme, it means that the organisation is equipped with a team of fully trained and internal workplace mediators who understand the unique nature of their organisation, its values, its culture and its structures. It involves the complete embedding of mediation into a company's systems, processes and culture and is designed to be self-sufficient services set within quality frameworks and whose mediators are equipped with the skills to mediate complex workplace disputes.

Very small organisations or those with an outsourced HR departments might benefit most from out-sourced mediation schemes. Rather than having a team of internal mediators, out-sourced schemes have access to highly trained, fully independent mediators whenever they need them. TCM can work with you to help educate employees about mediation, its benefits and when it is appropriate.

Why should my organisation invest in establishing a mediation scheme?

Mediation is well regarded around the world as a reliable and effective alternative to formal dispute resolution processes because it offers faster, cheaper and more complete solutions to conflict. When these benefits are applied to an entire organisation, the effect is even greater.

Not only do companies save money by preventing some disputes to progressing to costly employment tribunals, it also offers employees greater satisfaction and control over their lives by providing them with the opportunity to have control over the outcome.

The benefits of integrating mediation

What support do we provide?

At TCM we have extensive experience of developing internal workplace mediation schemes. We have worked with organisations of all sizes, in all sectors and who face all sorts of challenges when trying to introduce mediation as a new alternative to resolving disputes (and if your organisation faces a new challenge, we will work closely with you to figure out how to overcome it!).

Organisations that work with TCM to integrate mediation will not only receive the highest quality of accredited training, but also complete wrap-around support, guidance and consultancy from TCM's Mediation Schemes Co-ordinator. We run regular free Co-ordinator Workshops for our clients with integrated mediation schemes. These workshops are a chance for those who run, co-ordinate and manage their organisation's internal mediation service to get together to share ideas around best practice, how to overcome common obstacles, and to network.

Why not visit our clients page to find out more about our recent achievements. We also have numerous case studies which demonstrate the support that we can offer.

We also offer regular webinars with top tips on a variety of topics to help you build and develop a great internal mediation scheme. Please see the video below for our most recent webinar.

Mediation Top Tips: How to increase mediation referral rates

Some internal mediation schemes may face, at one point or another, a drop in mediation referral rates. When this happens, there are a number of things that you can do to bolster your mediation scheme. In this video we offer many tips and tricks of the trade learned through our years of experience on the follow subjects:

• How to Raise Awareness about Your Internal Mediation Scheme
• Managers & Mediation: How to Encourage Engagement
• Getting Parties to Say ‘Yes’ to Mediation

Working closely with our clients over the years we have learned that there are five key ways in which mediation should be integrated in order to create a sustainable and highly effective mediation scheme:

1. Build a team of accredited internal mediators who can provide support and assistance when managers or HR are unable to handle the situation. They can also help when the parties require a mediator who is independent and completely impartial.
2. Embed mediation into your policies and procedures – We recommend developing a grievance resolution procedure.
3. Engage all key stakeholders – particularly unions, HR, managers, occupational health and board members.
4. Train your managers and HR teams to be conflict competent. This doesn’t take weeks or months – our one or two-day courses will equip them with the necessary skills.
5. Make mediation mainstream – Promote mediation as widely as possible and embed it into your employee engagement, employee wellbeing, change management and customer relation activities.

From our years of experience we have developed a comprehensive 8-stage process which we know to be the best way to establish an internal mediation scheme. By following these 8-steps, we can ensure that you will have a fully embedded, effective and efficient mediation service that will not only produce results for your employees but for your organisation as  well.

What do I get when I establish an integrated mediation scheme?

The outsourced mediation scheme has been designed for trade associations, small businesses, charities and NGOs, government agencies and smaller government departments. It is also useful for organisations who are unable to afford the cost of establishing an internal mediation scheme.

Recent clients include major government departments, banks, newspaper groups, airlines, telecoms companies and many others.

What you get:

• Priority mediation services from TCM with a commitment to allocate a professional mediator in less than 24 hours of receipt of the referral.
• Mediation completed in 10 working days of receipt of referral.
• 12 months support for the parties after mediation concludes.
• Preferential mediation rates with savings of up to 25% from our 'Locum Mediator' fees.
• A conflict MOT and mediation impact assessment at the outset of the contract.
• A basic mediation case management system similar to TCM's full integrated mediation scheme.
• A one-day mediation awareness seminar for as many of your managers and employees as you can muster.
• Annual evaluation reports from TCM.
• An annual review meeting with a senior resolution adviser from TCM.
• Ongoing support from TCM and access to our team of dispute resolution experts.
• Access to a dedicated mediation helpline.

Our outsourced mediation scheme contracts are for a minimum of three years. However, we offer a performance guarantee which means that you are free to terminate the contract at any time if you are dissatisfied with the service provided. We call it - no win/win, no fee!