Quanto tempo passa o seu departamento de recursos humanos a resolver conflitos internos?
“Tempo é dinheiro”
Benjamim Franklin (1706-1790)
Quando falo com vários directores de recursos humanos e vejo o tempo que estes passam a resolver conflitos internos eu pergunto “Não acha que haveria outra forma de ver o problema? sabe que a mediação interna, a formação em resolução de conflitos nas empresas já provou ser uma fonte de redução de custos? sabe quanto gasta a resolver os seus conflitos internos?” nunca tive respostas concretas de nenhuma empresa portuguesa, e quando comentávamos aqui na Convirgente o estudo sobre conflituosidade nas empresas portuguesas que fizemos em 2009, a maioria das direcções de recursos humanos estava consciente do problema mas ia continuar a gastar o orçamento formação em muitas outras matérias, sobretudo management, e não iria eleger a “resolução de conflitos” como algo de importante na estratégia de formação da empresa. A gestão de conflitos é por vezes integrada numa formação mais longa mas raras vezes é uma formação específica. O ensino das técnicas de mediação internamente nas empresas é quase inexistente. Uma real estratégia de “Integrated Conflict Management System” não existe em Portugal. Estou convicta que para resolver um problema é necessário primeiro identifica-lo. Em Portugal, conflitos? Eu? Não tenho conflitos na minha empresa… a última vez que um dirigente me disse isto e começou depois a falar-me de um caso, muito específico eu só comentei “pois é, na sua empresa devem trabalhar robots, pois se não tem conflitos é porque não tem pessoas as trabalhar para si”…. está claro que, não sendo a clareza algo que prima na maioria das conversações deste tipo o meu interlocutor não gostou mas também não respondeu e educadamente acabamos por ali a conversa.
Em Março deste ano, o Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development publicou um estudo sobre conflituosidade empresarial em Inglaterra. Podem ter acesso ao estudo completo
http://www.cipd.co.uk/binaries/5461_Conflict_manage_SR_WEB.pdf
Os resultados da pesquisa confirmam que os conflitos de trabalho nas empresas têm aumentado com a recessão. E face a esta situação várias empresas inglesas conscientes dos custos financeiros e conscientes do impacto dos conflitos na produtividade e no bem estar dos seus colaboradores, decidiram começar a implementar a mediação interna. Aqui segue a leitura deste testemunho esperando que possa ser algo que um director português queira seguir como exemplo…quem sabe! Boa semana a todos. Ana
“Arcadia Group is the UK’s largest privately owned clothing retailer, with more than 2,500 outlets and a number of well-known high street brands, including Topshop and Topman. In August 2009 a pilot mediation scheme was introduced in the two brands. The business case was built on cost savings from reducing the number of cases referred to the grievance procedure. Grievance cases typically take three weeks to resolve and require a significant input of HR and line management time. In the following 12 months, the number of grievances involving relationships between managers and subordinates at Topshop/Topman was down by 50%, while it increased by 12% across the group’s other brands as a whole. In the same period, 14 issues were referred to mediation, all but two of which were brought to a successful conclusion. Topshop and Topman have trained members of their joint HR team in mediation skills. It operates a two-tier system under which some cases are dealt with by senior mediators who have undergone extensive training while less difficult issues are referred to mediators with more limited skills. The company can also draw on the support of external mediation (though so far they have not found it necessary to do so). The pilot has had the unexpected benefit of getting across to employees the general idea that problems could be resolved by talking about them. This was a major shift from the belief that, if they had a problem, ‘someone else’ would be there to sort it out for them. The mediation scheme is seen as fitting well with the culture and values of Topshop and Topman, which amongst other things emphasise employee well-being. Paul Forrest, Employee Relations Manager at Acadia Group, emphasises that putting in place a mediation scheme involves a lot of hard work for HR and managers but is worth the effort. Mediation is an alien concept for many people and the scheme needs to be vigorously marketed. At Topshop and Topman there was some initial scepticism among employees, who saw that mediators were members of the HR team and which then raised the question ‘what was so different from the standard process for handling grievances?’ The HR team for the two brands responded with posters and leaflets emphasising that mediation was totally impartial. Now that they are becoming more familiar with it, employees have confidence in the service. Paul says that before the mediation scheme was introduced, he had already begun to think about reinforcing the company’s policies on bullying and harassment and problem-solving. However, the repeal of the statutory discipline and grievance procedures in 2009, and the emphasis by government on the value of mediation, was an important catalyst. He did a course to acquire professional mediation skills to get a better understanding of how mediation works before he introduced it to the business. The success of the Topshop and Topman pilot means that the Arcadia Group has decided to roll out mediation across its seven other brand businesses in 2011. The group has initiated a training programme for 30 HR professionals so that mediators are available to work across brands and the whole of the UK and Ireland. Eventually the plan is to recruit and train line managers in mediation skills. Other big retailers have also now introduced or are considering mediation schemes.”
