Mediation/Workplace
Workplace conflict
When the problem at work is between people.
Most workplace conflict never becomes a formal complaint. It just costs the organization, in time, in turnover, and in everyone who has to work around it. Mediation gives the people involved a way to deal with it directly, before anything has to escalate.
Sounds familiar?
The situations this page is for.
- Two colleagues who can no longer work in the same room
- A manager and a report where trust has gone in one direction or both
- A team split by one incident nobody has dealt with
- A grievance that hasn't become formal yet — and doesn't have to
- A leadership disagreement that everyone below it can feel
- Harm done inside a team that needs repairing, not just ruling on
- Employee conflict that HR has not been able to settle
- A labor and management dispute that needs a neutral table
How we'd help
A structured conversation, with someone neutral in the room.
Workplace mediation is voluntary and confidential. Nothing said in the room is reported back to a manager, HR, or anyone else, and nobody is forced into an outcome.
The mediator's job is not to decide who is right. It is to make sure each person is heard, often for the first time, and then to help the people involved work out what needs to change and agree how to do it. When the conflict has caused real harm inside a team, we draw on restorative practices as well: a facilitated process focused on accountability and repair rather than blame.
Agreements are made by the participants, not imposed on them, which is why they tend to hold.
one paragraph in the mediator's own voice about this kind of matter — experience, and how a session is run.
Common questions
What people ask before they call.
How do we start?
One person gets in touch. You do not need the other party's agreement to make the first call — part of what we do is help bring the other side to the table.
How do I get the other person to participate?
Mediation is voluntary, so no one can be compelled. What usually works is a neutral invitation from the mediator rather than from the person they are in conflict with.
How long does it take?
Typical number of sessions for this kind of matter, and how long each runs.
Is it confidential?
What is said in mediation stays in mediation. Nothing is shared outside the process unless the participants agree to share it.
Who pays?
Who usually pays, and whether costs are split.
How much does it cost?
Hourly, per session, or per matter? A range, or "quoted after the first conversation" if fees vary.
Can we do this remotely?
Virtual, in person at the Bowie office, or both — and whether the parties need to be in the same room.
Can HR or a lawyer sit in?
The mediator's practice on observers, representatives and support people.