An increasing number of people are directly or indirectly impacted by mental health issues and these can affect us all in one way or another, whether personally or professionally, at home or work, through friends or family. For Mental Health Awareness week in May 2017, CEDR brought together cross-industry mediators and other experts to explore mental health and well-being issues in the workplace and how mediation could be used to manage and resolve workplace disputes with mental health issues.

What is the issue?

According to the Mental Health Foundation, at least one in four British adults will experience some kind of mental health problem each year, with anxiety and depression being the most common. More broadly, one in six working UK adults experienced episodes related to a common mental disorder in the past week. To put this in context, as reported by the Institute of Directors in a study on Mental Health, that is 10 times the number of people who attend professional football matches every weekend. An episode can manifest itself in: depression, stress and physical symptoms, for example, migraines and other forms of sickness. It can strike at all organisational levels from the most senior person to those with less significant responsibilities. The business case for workplace interventions is compelling. The cost to British employers of mental health-related issues has been estimated at £26 billion per year or, on average, £1,035 per employee (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Managing And Supporting Mental Health At Work Disclosure Tools For Managers, 2011).

With many of us spending up to 60 per cent of our waking hours at work, many psychological stresses can emerge in the workplace. The Workplace Wellbeing Index created by the charity Mind UK, involving 15,000 employees from 30 organisations, found that 26 per cent of employees describe their mental health as poor and attributed it to work related issues. However, of those individuals who had disclosed poor mental health at work (2,200 employees), only 53 per cent said that they felt supported, yet 73 per cent of managers said that they would feel confident in supporting a member of staff experiencing a mental health problem. This discrepancy is concerning. If these issues are not prevented or effectively managed, they can have a severe impact on individual, team and organisational performance and productivity.

In that context, one of the principle reported issues is the emergence of costly and time-consuming conflict at work. The CIPD Employee Outlook Survey (2011) said that stress is now the number one cause of long-term absence (categorised as four weeks or longer) for both manual and non-manual workers and the second biggest cause of workplace conflict (after personality clashes).

The impact of conflict at work is striking and is often regarded as beyond the capacity of management or the individuals involved to deal with. On average, the CIPD estimates that employees spend on average one day per month dealing with conflict and 37 per cent of those with poor mental health reporting that it had affected their performance as a result of being more likely to get into conflict with others.

What can be done?

There were interesting conclusions from our recent event. Together with approximately 40 participants from the public, private and charity sectors, a panel of Mediators, Mind UK and Mishcon De Reya, exchanged views on the following topics and these are summarised below.

Performance – Improving the performance of those with mental health issues

The creation and nurturing of a conflict competent and supportive organisational culture is critical to prevent destructive and manage constructive conflict. This can partly be achieved through designing and implementing appropriate policies and processes to ensure early diagnosis, and thus timely intervention, to identify, prevent, manage and resolve sources and issues of conflict. What is also required is to improve communication and collaboration amongst employees, facilitated by appropriately skilled managers who are themselves trained to sensitively manage challenging issues so as to effectively prevent, manage and resolve conflict. This in turn, supports positive professional and personal relationships critical for individual and organisational performance. Examples of this can include the establishment of peer support networks, workplace ‘buddying’ schemes and access to employee assistance programmes.

Mediation can have varied and creative outcomes. One panellist highlighted a past case concerning a highly skilled engineer who, while technically excellent, struggled with the management aspects of his role, causing him stress and anxiety. The stress and anxiety he was feeling affected his ability to earn bonuses and impacted heavily on his morale and, in turn, that of his team. After organisational support, relevant training and problem-solving activities had had little effect, mediation was proposed.

Mediation offered the employee the opportunity to voice how he was feeling in a confidential and safe environment with his employers. Facilitated by a third-party neutral using a clear framework for exploring different forms of finding resolution, the engineer and his employers managed to find a position for him that capitalised on his talents whilst removing stress-inducing management responsibilities. He and his colleagues went on to be one of the highest performing teams in the organisation.

Mediation in conjunction with other support

Mediation can also be used, and in certain cases should be used, with other techniques and processes. From an organisational perspective, managers should receive adequate training to be able to communicate with their colleagues effectively and to engender a culture of openness surrounding mental health. This may sound easy but for many people it is most definitely not, especially in cases of mental ill health. Furthermore, there should be a companywide understanding of the importance of good mental health.

One panellist highlighted a mediation which had to be paused while one of the participants received a psychological referral for treatment when it became apparent during the process that it was required. The mediation continued several months later and a way forward was agreed between her and her organisation.

Adapting the Mediation process

There are various considerations that should be taken into account when managing and mediating workplace disputes with mental health and well-being issues. One of the strengths of mediation is that the parties have a major input into the process and complete control over the final decision. Regardless of whether participation is voluntary or required by the court or contract, the parties control the level of their participation and direction and pace of mediation.

The flexibility of the mediation process allows adaption on location, timing of the day when sessions take place, when breaks are taken and how parties work together. There may be a need to establish a framework for how the parties convene and ground-rules for how they interact.

One example given was where a senior highly intelligent and creative individual suffered a complete breakdown in relationship with her very prescriptive boss. This affected the individual’s mental health substantially. The mediation took place over several sessions and one of the issues faced by the mediator was that the individual was unable to enter the same building as her senior Director. The resolution in this instance did not involve the two individuals working together in the future, as the organisation recognised their incompatibility and difficulty in working together.

Specific challenges for the mediator when dealing with mental health issues

Neutrality, impartiality and independence are important assets for the mediator and ones that can be frequently tested in any dispute. In disputes with a mental health component thought needs to be given as to whether to use internal or external mediators. While both have their own different benefits and can be used equally well in employment or workplace disputes, the use of an external mediator is typically perceived as having greater neutrality. This is often useful and sometimes necessary to remove the destructive “them vs. me” dynamic. Whether internal or external mediators are used; the mediator must always be open and reinforce the principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence throughout the mediation.

Regardless of dispute type, parties should feel comfortable with the mediator. In disputes with a mental health component, it is best that a party is engaged in and feels empowered with respect to the choice of the mediator as the mediation will often explore complex and deeply personal issues. Likewise, the mediator needs to be experienced in recognising and in working with emotions, and adapt the pace of the mediation appropriately.

Sensitivity and understanding, experience of dealing with emotions and people with mental health issues, as well as professional credentials are often important when selecting mediators. These factors can be the difference between resolution or not. Mediation should not be seen as a standalone process but one that can be used in conjunction with other support techniques and initiatives, for example coaching and counselling.

Mediators also need to understand situations which they are unable to mediate such as when they have neither the remit nor qualifications and instances where the mental health sufferer needs to see a medical professional. This can be either before the mediation commences or at any point throughout and in some cases can work well with mediations already in process.

A good ending

An increasing number of mediations, in the experience of CEDR, take place when people are being treated or recuperating from mental health issues, and mediation works constructively as part of a rehabilitation programme. Again mediation and its benefits are both usable and very flexible; organisations should undoubtedly consider mediation to support the constructive and proactive management of mental issues.

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