1. Internal Mediation in Transport for London London Underground

2. Introduction Background – Why Mediation Internal Conflict Audit Setting up Internal Mediation Scheme Measures Summary

3. Background – Why Mediation? The statutory Discipline & Grievance Procedures was replaced by a new ACAS Code of Practice in April 2009 The Code recognises the value of mediation in resolving issues in the workplace High number of formal Harassment &Bullying complaints not upheld Informal resolution is emphasised in current policies

4. Why Mediation? Focus on people Informal approach Identifies root cause of problem Quick resolution Expectations for LU –Reduction in overall cases and costs –Reduced workload on managers dealing with formal cases –Raised awareness and shift litigious culture

5. Conflict Audit Audit consisted of 3 elements: Cost of conflict identified Survey sent out to 250 managers with a 91% response rate Focus Groups held

6. The Impact of Conflict - Costs Identified the actual cost of conflict per case which included : - Legal fees - Management time for investigation, hearing etc. -Time spent by HR in Managing cases -Absenteeism This does not include indirect cost such as decline in productivity, team morale, TU release etc. Each month on average, manager’s deal with 1-3 interpersonal conflicts and it takes up to 8 hours of time

7. Causes of conflict within LU This graph shows the overall result for sources of conflict.

8. Consequences of Conflict This graph shows the overall result for consequences of conflict.

9. Perceptions of Mediation Senior managers are in the highest agreement with 75.1% holding a belief that mediation will be effective or very effective in LUL with the overall respondents agreement being 58.6%.

10. Setting up the Internal mediation scheme Project commenced in September 2009 in partnership with other areas in TFL Completed a campaign for internal mediators in December 2009 Completed conflict Audit to identify cost and causes of conflict and identify any barriers to mediation – November 2009 Commenced engagement for implementation including setting up a mediation working group – January 2010 Workshop to review barriers to success, logistics for mediation and what will make a successful internal mediation service Developed plans and approach for Local TU engagement working closely with TU reps Completed 4 groups of internal training from January 2010-June 2010 The scheme was live form July 2010 Set up HR Leads to co-ordinate referrals for each business area

11. Internal Mediation in LU Mediation has been available for a number of years but has only been used in complex cases due to the costs of external mediation LU now has a pool of 50 fully trained internal mediators, there will be minimal costs to the service and mediation can be offered to more staff. Recognise that occasionally there may be the need for external interventions for highly sensitive cases The pool of mediators is overseen by HR leads

12. Measures Measures for Evaluation Reduction in cases going through to the formal stage. To be reviewed in 12 months Review data from employee engagement survey to identify culture shift using specific questions Time taken to mediate from referral – 14 Working days. Overall feedback of parties perception on the impact of mediation

13. Summary The key cause of conflict in London Underground is relationships between colleagues Each month on average, manager’s deal with 1-3 interpersonal conflicts and it takes up to 8 hours of time Mediation is recognised as a method that could be deployed to effectively address conflict within London Underground Mediation can enable a culture shift for LU enabling the shift from a litigious culture to one where individuals take ownership for resolving conflict Stakeholder engagement is critical to success Potential to save time and money in the management of formal cases Opportunity to build internal capability and reduce reliance on external organisations