Managers and your dispute resolution process
Make sure your managers understand your dispute resolution process.
People will be influenced by their own background, experience and communication skills when resolving disputes. However, you can help managers work at best practice by providing training and coaching on:
- establishing the key facts and issues
- listening
- encouraging open dialogue
- focusing on the employee’s specific needs
- guiding a discussion to find ways to resolve the dispute.
You should also tell employees about your dispute resolution process during induction training and other staff communications. Make it clear that if there is a dispute employees are expected to:
- express the issues from their perspective
- be open, honest and respectful in their communications
- listen.
Dispute resolution shouldn’t interfere with day-to-day work. While the process is underway, employees should continue to comply with the employer’s directions and perform any work that is safe and appropriate.
Create a simple dispute resolution process
Whatever the size or type of business, the best dispute resolution processes will:
- Be simple and credible. It’s important your employees know their issues or grievances will be taken seriously.
- Be sensitive. Employees want to be reassured their issue will be handled confidentially, and that raising the issue or grievance will not harm their job prospects.
- Seek clarification. Enable the facts and issues in dispute to be clarified but also encourage open expression of opinions and recognise the importance of feelings.
- Encourage listening. Listening to an employee will draw out what the dispute is really about. It might be due to a simple misunderstanding. It might be about issues that are quite different from the issues initially raised by the employee. Good listening will help managers determine the real issues and work out how they can be best resolved. A good dispute resolution process reassures employees that they are being heard.
- Set expectations. Begin with an expectation that the dispute can be resolved between the people concerned, while also recognising that more serious issues may need to be escalated.
- Establish an escalation process. Provide a path for escalation if the dispute can’t be resolved by discussion with the employee. It won’t always be possible to escalate the dispute through senior management. If this is the case and you’re unable to resolve the dispute, you could seek third-party assistance to help resolve the matter.
- Be consistent. Consistency is a key aspect of a credible dispute resolution process. Employees need to know that the business will approach all disputes with the same organisational values and objectivity and that, wherever possible, disputes will be resolved by the same process.
- Be quick. Prompt resolution of disputes is always desirable. It shows that the employer takes dispute resolution seriously. The longer unresolved disputes exist, the greater the chances of ongoing conflict or distractions in the workplace.
- Be transparent. Employees must know what the process is, understand the steps and know what the potential outcomes are.
Source
Effective dispute resolution – https://www.fairwork.gov.au/tools-and-resources/best-practice-guides/effective-dispute-resolution
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