1 September 2009: Early in 2009, the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, appointed Lord Justice Jackson to lead a fundamental review of the rules and principles governing the costs of civil litigation and to make recommendations in order to promote access to justice at proportionate cost. A period for submissions to the Review closed at the end of July 2009 after Lord Justice Jackson presented his preliminary findings during May. The Reviews findings are due to be presented in December 2009.

The 650 page preliminary report sets out the current law, procedure and quanta of civil litigation costs. It also includes a number of initial conclusions:

• The introduction of one-way cost shifting into collective actions in England and Wales would be a ‘step too far’
• Away from business litigation, parties are not well informed about the benefits of alternative dispute resolution
• The personal injury litigation  industry is populated by numerous interest groups and middlemen, all of whom have to meet their overheads and make a profit on top. If any layer of activity can be removed from the process…….it may be thought that this will serve the public interest.
• Interms of court fees, it is wrong, in principle, that the entire cost, or most of the cost of the civil justice system should be shifted from tax payers to litigants
• A contingent legal aid fund (CLAF) has some attraction
• Following the retraction of legal aid, either conditional fee arrangements (CFA’s) or some other system of payment by result ‘must exist’ in order to facilitate access to justice.

Options for reform in certain areas are also included such as:

• Disclosure
• Expert evidence
• Costs assessment, both detailed assessment and summary assessment

The full preliminary report is available by clicking here:  

Civil Litigation Costs Review

1 September 2009:

A review of the health and well being of NHS staff has found high levels of sickness and absence and is calling for a major restructure of systems  to deal with the problems.

The NHS Health and Wellbeing Review found that on average, NHS staff take 10.7 sick days per year compared to 9.7 days being taken across the public sector as a whole and 6.4 days for the private sector. The cost associated to the absences is in the region of £1.7bn per year. The review found that absence in the NHS is reducing at a slower rate than in other parts of the public sector or in the private sector.

The report was led by Dr. Steve Boorman, chief medical adviser to the Royal Mail Group. 

He found incidents where staff continue to go to work when they are not fully fit or highly stressed. Staff also did not believe that line managers showed a positive interest in their health and well being.

Clive Lewis, Globis founder and managing director, refers to the association between conflict and health in his book The Definitive Guide to Workplace Mediation and Managing Conflict at Work. 

Clive comments that when relationships are poor and conflict is present, people may feel ill and will stay at home rather than come to work and face their opponent. The forerunner to Steve Boormans report was the ‘Working for a healthier tomorrow’ report authored by Dame Carol Black.  The correlation is mentioned in my book. Every organisation should have a strategy in place for building better relationships in the workplace. Conflict can also sometimes mean that although someone isn’t unwell, staying at home may be the easier option, thus adding to absenteeism problems. If structures aren’t in place to tackle conflict and to do things like conduct return to work interviews the problems will only get worse.

The NHS Health and Wellbeing Review makes a number of recommendations and says that improvements could save the NHS more than £555m a year and improve patient care.

Key recommendations include:

• Inclusion of staff health and wellbeing measures and performance monitoring in the NHS governaance frameworks
• Publication and monitoring of key health and wellbeing statistics, including annual data on sickness absence
• A national minimum standard of OH (Occupational Health) services across the NHS
• An improved provision of wellness and early intervention services for staff

At the launch of the review, David Nicholson, Chief Executive of the NHS, promised more funding over the next eight months.  The full report and analysis is available in the October edition of Occupational Health 

Health and wellbeing

10th August 2009

Globis founder and MD, Clive Lewis, has been invited to speak at this years CIPD annual conference. The conference, which is being held on 17-19 November 2009, is the largest forum to keep people management and development professionals up to date with latest issues, thinking and trends. At the conference delegates will be able to hear expert practitioners and gurus as well as receive practical tips during workshops and master classes.

Clive Lewis will be speaking at a session entitled ‘An organisational approach to mediation’. The session is designed to help delegates understand what steps they should follow to put a world class mediation scheme in place. The session will also feature a case study about East Sussex County Council. Globis trained over 20 staff in mediation skills at East Sussex County Council. Following the training, the council implemented an in-house mediation scheme. The council are currently on the CIPD 2009 award short-list for the mediation scheme which generated £500,000 of productivity savings within its first year of operation.

2009 heralds a new era for the conference which is moving to Central Manchester after being held in Harrogate for many years.

Clive Lewis said

“I am delighted that the CIPD would ask me to speak at their conference this year. I am particularly honoured as it the inaugural year of legislative changes following the Gibbons Review. Globis has been working with many companies to help them understand the best way to benefit from the changes. I am pleased to be able to pass this knowledge on”.

You can attend the presentation at the conference on Thursday 17^th November at 2.45pm. Please click here to go to the conference website. There will also be a Globis Mediation Stand in the exhibition suite throughout the conference.

10th August 2009

The CIPD have produced the second in a new series of quarterly surveys of employee attitudes, exposing attitudes how the world of work is changing. The survey is based on a sample size of 3500 people in the UK. 

The report focuses on job security and seeking employment during the recession. 64% of respondents indicated that they thought it would be difficult to find a job during the recession if they were made redundant. 

The report also covers: 

• Employee attitudes towards management
• Job satisfaction
• Pressure control and workload
• Work-life balance and flexible working
• The impact of the recession on both employees and employers

Clive Lewis, founder and MD of Globis commented ” Now is one of the best times for employers to think about how to build better relationships in the workplace. In many cases, the psychological contract has been broken and it has been replaced with a lack of trust. Employees could also think about how they can go the extra mile for their employers. The recession could prove to be a win-win for both employer and employee”.

The latest report can be viewed here:

The Spring 2009 report can be viewed here :

7 August 2009

The latest statistics from the Employment Tribunal Service (ETS) have been published. The total number of employment tribunals rose by 43% to 189, 303 during 2007/8.

• The highest number of claims related to equal pay. There were 62,706 equal pay claims in 2007/8 compared to 44,013 for 2006/7 
• There were 40,941 unfair dismissal claims in 2007/8 compared to 44, 491 in 2006/7
• There was a three fold increase in age discrimination claims (2,949) compared with 972 in 2006/7 
• Claims relating to working time rose to 55,712 in 2007/8 compared to 21,127 in the previous year

 Figures on the level of compensation awarded in 2007/8 are:

Globis Director Jack Fallow said “The benefits of mediation and alternative dispute resolution will begin to eventually begin to filter through to parties wishing to go to Tribunal. The evidence suggests that engaging in mediation is far more cost effective for the claimant and defendant both in terms of money and time. There are also benefits in terms of preservation of reputation and avoiding potential risks to ones health”.   

23 July 2009: An article entitled ‘How to solve workplace disputes’ is being featured on the IOD’s website. Written by Clive Lewis, the article highlights the importance for businesses to take the issue of conflict management and mediation seriously. 

To view the article, please click here

(This link will take you directly to the Institute of Directors website).

23 July 2009: In early 2008, Globis provided in-house mediation training for East Sussex County Council. The Council then implemented an in-house mediation scheme. The scheme has now been running for one year and has just been short listed for the CIPD Awards 2009 in the category of ‘Business Impact’. The Council is a large complex organisation, employing over 16,000 people in 500 locations. Leatham Green, Assistant Director of Personnel and Training, states that the introduction of mediation into the workplace has:

·         Prevented disputes from escalating out of control

·         Reduced the cost of resolving conflict (financially and emotionally)

·         Contributed to a more positive and productive working environment

·         Reduced the stress and anxiety of all parties involved

·         Provided a safe place for all to be heard

·         Placed the responsibility for resolution directly with the parties rather than HR or the trade unions   

The organisation reports productivity savings of over £500,000 in the first year of introducing the in-house scheme.

Jack Fallow, Globis Director said “Globis had the privilege and honour of providing the accredited mediation training for East Sussex County Council. Right from the outset, it was clear that the organisation had thought through how mediation would fit within the Councils overall HR & Business Strategy in order to achieve the greatest impact for the business as well as its employees. We work with hundreds of organisations, and believe that the way East Sussex has embarked on mediation has been nothing short of exemplary and world-class”

The Definitive Guide to Workplace Mediation

15 July 2009: The widely-acclaimed Definitive Guide to Workplace Mediation and Managing Conflict at Work, written by Clive Lewis continues to be a sought after book. Last week, a large order for the book came in from South Africa. The book has also been ordered by practitioners in America, Germany and the Isle of Man.

Lord Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE , International Director of Diversity and Citizenship at KPMG says “This book is timely. As organisations look for opportunities to save money and build trust, this book offers great advice”.

 

Alison Brimelow, President of the European Patent Office says: “This book is an excellent guide: ground in reality. Understanding that mediation and conflict resolution are effective techniques can be learned the hard way or with help like this. I wish it had been available earlier in my career”.

In the UK, copies of the book have also been purchased by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The book is available in the Departments resource centre as a reference guide that can be accessed by the Departments staff.

 To order your copy of the book, please click here:

Workplaces are changing. Strategies for building relationships and preventing conflict at work are gaining importance.

18 June 2009: Clive Lewis, Founder and MD of Globis has just returned from speaking at an International Mediation Conference in Algeria. The conference was attended by around 400 members of the Algerian judiciary and legal profession. The Ministry of Justice in Algeria is embarking on a major launch of mediation. Britain has a worldwide reputation for being one of the leaders in the field of establishing good practice mediation principles. Clive Lewis was invited by the Algerian government to present on ‘Workplace Mediation – The British Perspective’. The other presenter from Britain was a Judge who spoke about how Court Based mediation is being adopted for civil disputes.  

Other experts were invited from France, Lebanon, Switzerland, Morocco and Spain.

Clive Lewis spoke about the background to the legislative changes of April 6^th 2009. He also spoke about the compelling business case that is convincing organisations across Britain to embrace the principles of mediation. Other topics covered at the conference included:

·         The legal and regulatory framework of mediation in

·         A sociological and historical approach to mediation

·         Mediation in European Common Law, principles and ethics

·         The role of the lawyer in the promotion of mediation

·         Training and specialisation of the mediator

·         Mediation in intellectual property disputes

Jack Fallow, Globis Director said ” I am delighted that Clive was invited to Algeria to talk about the exciting developments in the field of mediation in Britain. It is great news that countries such as Algeria turn to Britain for advice and guidance on implementing good practice mediation principles”.

The British Ambassador to Algeria, Andrew Henderson, also attended the conference.

On 10th February 2009, Clive Lewis and Michael Gibbons hosted the latest Globis Webinar. Globis Webinars begun in 2008 to help organisations prepare for legislative changes of April 2009. To view the webinar, please click here: http://www.globis.co.uk/resources/webinars.php Please note that you will need to register first.