LEVELS 3 & 4: Benefit of MEDIATION for Employees

Everyone has been there: a demanding boss; gossiping co-workers ;colleagues who try to undermine at every turn; unfair performance review; and the list goes on…. These are common causes of conflict and the resulting cost to the employee is emotional distress in the form of  stress, anxiety, frustration, reduced efficiency and productivity and depression.  

So the question, on the mind of most employees, HR personnel and management is, ‘how can we quickly and easily resolve these conflicts and create a more harmonious work environment?’ It has already been shown that mediation is effective in helping employers by minimizing the time and costs associated with conflict resolution.


As for employees, mediation makes sense because it will help to minimize the emotional costs of the conflict because:

1.    It gives employees the chance to express their feelings and emotions (especially anger) in a safe environment;

2.    The mediator will help channel the employee feelings and emotions into a feasible solution for all;

3.    The mediator is bound by confidentiality, neutrality and objectivity; thus, the employee does not need to worry about “losing face” with his/her superiors and colleagues;

4.    Mediation is voluntary – i.e. employees cannot be forced by management to participate;

5.    During mediation, the mediator will ensure that all the parties treat each other with respect while they are working to resolve their conflict;

6.    The mediator will also ensure that each employee gets a chance to expresshim/herself; and

7.    Mediation is self-empowering for the employee because all the solutions are drawn from ideas obtained from the parties themselves.

Given the lack of information regarding mediation in most organizations, it would be understandable if employees are skeptical of the process.  However, if the benefits outlined above are discussed, it would be clear to most employees that they have nothing to lose by trying – and everything to gain (even though there is no guarantee of success).  


Seeing that mediation contributes to increased communication and psychological health for the employees, mediation is one of the first options that should be explored once conflict reaches level 3 or higher on the conflict scale.  It provides feasible solutions for both employers and employees and as such helps to promote peace at work.




~Wishing you all a harmonious workplace!