Workplace mediation is used where there’s a strain or breakdown in working relationships between two or more colleagues, or in a team. This could be a communication problem, tension over different values or styles, a disagreement about strategy/roles or a boardroom conflict. The goal of workplace mediation is to defuse tension, repair working relationships, find robust solutions and ultimately restore harmony to the organisation.
It’s different from employment mediation, which is used when an employee or ex-employee is bringing a legal claim against the organisation.
We provide workplace mediation for boardroom and senior-level disputes, covering a wide range of issues—from relationship breakdowns and clashing leadership styles to tensions around diversity, inclusion, or differing views on strategy and vision. Mediation can also help address allegations of bullying, sexual harassment, or challenges linked to mental health-related absence.
Rather than pursuing a formal grievance or disciplinary process, workplace mediation offers a more constructive route forward. It can also support teams after formal procedures, helping to rebuild trust and working relationships. While mediation is valuable at any stage of a conflict, early intervention often leads to better outcomes.
All organisations experience conflict – in fact a healthy level of differing views drives innovation and discourages groupthink. But when conflict escalates it has a destabilising effect. For the individuals involved it can cause anxiety and stress, result in underperformance or lead to absenteeism. For the organisation, the repercussions may be a decrease in productivity, time-consuming formal grievances or reputation-damaging litigation.
The benefits of workplace mediation:
prevents disputes escalating
improves productivity and performance
reduces risk of costly legal claims
improves morale and engagement
enhances team cohesion
saves valuable management time
reduces absenteeism
helps retain key talent
Workplace conflict can build up over months or even years. Often, the longer a conflict continues the more disruptive it becomes to the organisation. As workplace mediators, we’re here to take the heat out of disputes quickly and effectively.
We offer a flexible mediation service based on your needs. As a guide, a typical mediation between two employees takes around 12-16 hours (1.5-2 days in total) over a period of one to four weeks. We find this timeframe facilitates the best results, allowing participants the necessary space to work through the issues and make lasting changes in behaviour and attitudes.
For particularly complex situations, or disputes that involve multiple participants, the mediation may take longer. In urgent situations we can complete it in one day.
We also offer a different approach for employees who are absent due to mental health conditions.
Workplace mediation is voluntary and can only take place if everyone involved in the conflict agrees to it. It can be used for two people or whole teams and works equally well with peers and senior-junior relationships.
After initial discussions with HR or the line manager, the mediator will speak to each individual separately to explore the issues and discuss the outcome they’re hoping for. The next stage is a joint meeting – a safe and confidential space where everyone has the chance to be heard. The mediator doesn’t tell participants what they should or shouldn’t do. Their role is as an impartial facilitator. They will guide the conversation, supporting the participants to agree an action plan for continuing their working relationship.
Mediation can be conducted face to face or remotely (for example, via Zoom).
The theme of LIDW was “Adapting to a changing world” and this motif was picked up by Rebecca asking each of the speakers to address “what’s new and what’s to come?” regarding resolving art related disputes. During an informative afternoon, we heard from Laytons’ Paddy Kelly on areas of dispute around Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). It was such a fascinating subject we felt it worth exploring further here.
NFTs are relatively new. Christie’s offered its first ever NFT artwork for auction in March 2021 (Everydays: The First 5000 Days by the artist Beeple sold for $69 million, and was paid for in cryptocurrency). A year later, Europe’s first NFT art gallery opened in London. And, in between these two events, the first NFT-related claim was filed in a UK court – more on that later.
Potential for litigation may start with the very nature of NFTs. Put simply, a Non-Fungible Token is a unique digital token that links to a digital asset such as an artwork, song or video. When purchased, ownership of the NFT is logged and recorded on a blockchain. Ownership of the digital work itself, or even the real-life physical work, may or may not be included in the purchase of the NFT token.
Uninformed buyers may believe they have bought a copyrighted artwork, when in fact they have solely bought an NFT token – a misunderstanding that will potentially lead to all manner of disputes concerning ownership and IP rights.
Throw in the fact that NFTs are currently unregulated and there’s no harmonisation of legal rules and regulations internationally – not to mention that the law is lagging behind NFT technology – and it’s clear there’s going to be trouble ahead.
The theme of LIDW was “Adapting to a changing world” and this motif was picked up by Rebecca asking each of the speakers to address “what’s new and what’s to come?” regarding resolving art related disputes. During an informative afternoon, we heard from Laytons’ Paddy Kelly on areas of dispute around Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). It was such a fascinating subject we felt it worth exploring further here.
NFTs are relatively new. Christie’s offered its first ever NFT artwork for auction in March 2021 (Everydays: The First 5000 Days by the artist Beeple sold for $69 million, and was paid for in cryptocurrency). A year later, Europe’s first NFT art gallery opened in London. And, in between these two events, the first NFT-related claim was filed in a UK court – more on that later.
The theme of LIDW was “Adapting to a changing world” and this motif was picked up by Rebecca asking each of the speakers to address “what’s new and what’s to come?” regarding resolving art related disputes. During an informative afternoon, we heard from Laytons’ Paddy Kelly on areas of dispute around Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). It was such a fascinating subject we felt it worth exploring further here.
NFTs are relatively new. Christie’s offered its first ever NFT artwork for auction in March 2021 (Everydays: The First 5000 Days by the artist Beeple sold for $69 million, and was paid for in cryptocurrency). A year later, Europe’s first NFT art gallery opened in London. And, in between these two events, the first NFT-related claim was filed in a UK court – more on that later.
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