CIPD welcomes £37 million employment relations shake-up

The extra funding, announced at the recent joint CIPD/Acas conference, will expand on the services Acas offer such as their helpline, to help prevent disputes from happening at an early stage. Increased use of mediation and improved informal conflict management by line managers can help organisations reduce the very significant financial costs and days of management time associated with conflict at work. Research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) reveals that the average employer spends 350 days a year of management time dealing with formal disciplinary and grievance cases and employment tribunal applications. Mike Emmott, CIPD’s employee relations adviser said: “Hopefully this investment signals the start of a gradual culture change in how conflict at work is managed, from one where litigation is frequently the first step, to one where mediation and more informal dispute resolution in general becomes much more commonly used. “We are delighted by the government’s decision to invest in Acas to help develop its helpline and other services to support effective and early conflict resolution. The CIPD regards informal conflict resolution as a core people management skill and has just published Managing conflict at work: a guide for line managers. The guide will help equip line managers with the skills, knowledge and confidence to identify and manage workplace disputes at an early stage, before a dispute has escalated to the point where the formal disciplinary or grievance procedure has been triggered. By this stage opinions are often hardened, confrontational and very hard to change. “We‘re pleased the statutory dispute resolution regulations are on the way out. This additional investment in promoting the use of mediation and informal conflict resolution generally will help ensure the abolition of the regulations is accompanied by a real push to secure better employment relations for the benefit of employers, employees and the UK economy as a whole.”