Workplace Mediation & Restoration
Workplace conflict often starts to simmer below the surface long before an employer receives a formal complaint. The conflict is often rooted in miscommunications, misunderstandings, and differing values and perceptions among staff, and it can seep into every corner of the workplace in both visible and invisible ways. Even staff who aren’t directly involved can be impacted, leading to suffering morale, communication, and office dynamics.
We offer mediation and restoration services to employers across Canada to help them navigate and resolve conflict whenever it arises, from intervening early on before any formal complaints are raised, to rebuilding workplace culture after a formal investigation. Our mediators bring a warm, neutral, and expert presence to even the most fraught conflicts, using tested processes to guide participants towards long-lasting solutions for a healthy, respectful, and productive workplace.
Mediation
Our mediation process builds trust and facilitates resolutions by using an active listening approach and an unbiased, empathetic communication style. We view mediation as an opportunity for employers and staff to understand the “why” behind the “what happened.” By addressing the deeper, root causes of conflict, our process allows participants to feel heard and understood, establishing a solid basis for positive, long-lasting solutions.
Situations that can benefit from mediation include:
Staff performance concerns related to interpersonal dynamics and differing values
Personality conflicts between employees, supervisors, and/or managers
Staff teams experiencing misinterpretations and/or poor communication
Perceptions of unfairness
Complaints of harassment, discrimination, sexual harassment, and/or breaches of other workplace policies
Restoration
We believe restoration can be a powerful tool for employers to repair relationships and reestablish trust in the workplace after a conflict, traumatic incident, or investigation. Our process focuses on addressing harm through active engagement from the parties involved, allowing them to accept responsibility for their actions more meaningfully than formal discipline alone can achieve. Investigations are wonderful tools to help workplaces discover what happened, but they’re not designed to fully address the underlying relational dynamics or the lasting impacts of what took place. To address this gap, we offer employers post-investigation workplace restoration services tailored to identifying and repairing relationships and to restoring your team’s full potential.
Situations that can benefit from restoration include:
Workplaces that have undergone large-scale organizational changes, including layoffs and restructuring
Vulnerable or damaged staff relationships after traumatic incidents and/or formal workplace investigations
Longstanding interpersonal conflicts among staff, including low morale, poor team dynamics, and breakdowns in communication channels
Sample Mediation Process
We approach every workplace mediation and restoration process uniquely, in recognition of differing organizational contexts and values. We discuss our proposed process with employers at the outset to make sure it meets your needs and budget. We are pleased to offer flat rates for our mediation and restoration services.
Here’s an example of our joint mediation process, where participants attend a session together facilitated by an experienced SLG mediator.
Our Approach
We meet with the employer to learn about the conflict you’re seeking to resolve through mediation. We draft a retainer agreement setting out the scope of our services and our rates.
Initial Meeting & Intake
These are one-on-one meetings with the participants that take place before the formal mediation. The SLG mediator gains a deeper understanding of the conflict and of the participants, and the participants have an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the upcoming session.
Pre-Mediation Meetings
We meet with the participants to facilitate an exploration of their current situation, how they came to be there, and how they might be able to move forward productively. We guide the participants through the process of sharing their stories, brainstorming solutions, and working towards agreed outcomes. Most mediations are half- or full-day sessions.
Mediation
If requested, we prepare a confidential report detailing the outcomes of the mediation session and documenting the terms of any agreements reached between the participants.
Reporting
