Frequently asked questions about setting up an in-house mediation service

What is an in-house service?
This is where a mediation service is created within your organisation. With the help of UK Mediation, we can train a specified number of delegates from your company in the skill of mediation and help to enmesh it within your existing polices. This way when you encounter conflict in the future, you will have the correct skills and policies to deal with it before the dispute spirals out of control.

Why do we need an in-house service?
You may want to use mediators for resolving workplace disputes or for handling complaints more positively, effectively and cheaply. With this service in place, the mediation process becomes far more cost effective. For instance, if you have an in-house service in place, each dispute will cost you nothing to resolve, as your internal employees that are trained in mediation will resolve the conflict. Whereas, if you need to source an external mediator for each individual dispute, it could cost around £1,000 per dispute.

How do we train our staff in mediation?
One of the most crucial parts of starting a service is to train the mediators properly, which is what we offer through our training courses, most of which can be tailored to your organisation’s needs.

What do we need for an effective in-house mediation service?
There are many factors instrumental in creating a successful service. Firstly you must select employees that possess the necessary skills to become a good mediator. You must also remember that confidentiality is the key to mediation, so look at the possibility of training employees from different departments. Some of the other key factors in creating a successful service include:

• A clear description of the aims and expectations of the service
• A set of policies and procedures to make the service work
• Someone to assess cases that are referred to the service to ensure their suitability
• Arrangements for the supervision and monitoring of mediators
• Systems for evaluating the effectiveness of the service

What do your mediators specialise in?
Our experience of setting up mediation services for organisations varies between many different public and private sector organisations. We have worked alongside county councils, NHS trusts, Universities and large multi-national organisations, all of which are currently implementing the system that we helped create.

What can UK Mediation provide?
Usually the first in-depth contact we have with an organisation is when we deliver the in-house training course. Something which we pride ourselves upon is the ability to tailor our courses to your organisation’s needs. With experience in the education sector, HR, homelessness, counselling, police services and many other fields, we understand common disputes that are likely to arise. When it comes to the dispute simulations and role plays throughout the course, we can call upon this experience to make them relevant to your organisation. Also, when enquiring about the course content, you can speak with a trainer if you have a particular subject you would like covering and we will incorporate this into your course.

During the course we can have brief discussions on how to make the service work. However, the consultancy for this is provided after the training is concluded. We would prefer that the training course concentrates solely on training, while the discussions about all of the factors to make the service effective can be contained in a visit by someone from UK Mediation after the course has concluded.

For £1,095 + VAT we will visit the organisation and run a day in which we provide input on how to get the most from an in-house service. We base this input on our 10 years’ experience of helping people set up and run their own services, and we aim to leave you with everything that you may require including sample forms and further literature.