Industry
Law / Health
Issue
The two employees had been working together for around 8 months. During this period, one of the employees, Jessica, felt that the other employee, Sarah, did not respect her knowledge and skills, spoke to her in a derogatory way and had raised complaints to their manager about her. Jessica felt like she could not trust Sarah, and felt that Sarah was watching her, monitoring her work and making reports to her manager.
Sarah felt that Jessica was not doing her work properly, was putting clients at risk, and was not following protocol. Sarah had raised this with her manager, but only when Jessica was away on holiday and Sarah needed to take over her work. That is when she raised it with her manager. Sarah had issues with Jessica’s work and experienced frustration when she tried to speak to Jessica because she gets confronted and starts crying, or just leaves and they are unable to resolve anything.
Outcome
The parties attended the mediation and were able to see where their communications weren’t working. As the way that they normally communicate played out in their mediation, the mediator was able to raise their awareness about their communication style with each other and identify why it was failing. Both had a part to play in this. Once they were able to see this, and hear each other’s view, they were able to consider exploring ways of working into the future. They reached agreements, and a structure was put in place to review how their relationship and communication progressed into the future.
Follow-up
Six weeks after the mediation Emverio Workplace Solutions contacted the employer who reported that their relationship has changed for the better. They are working together extremely well, and their communication has improved drastically. Jessica is now reaching out to Sarah for support with work and personal issues.
Please note that the names of participants have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.
