Acas urges small businesses to avoid tribunal costs with early mediation

Acas, the employment relations service, is urging small businesses to avoid the risk of facing employment tribunals by considering mediation earlier when solving workplace disputes. The advice comes off the back of new research, which revealed that most managers only see mediation ñ when an impartial party is brought in to help those in dispute to resolve their differences - as a last resort.

The study polled 500 decision makers from small businesses to assess their awareness of the use of mediation as a means of solving workplace disputes. The findings revealed only 7% of businesses had used mediation and that 52% of respondents thought mediation was only suited to large organisations.

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 commented: ìResolving 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.î

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 on mediation and any other aspect of employment relations visit www.acas.org.uk.