Healthier Workplaces

Workplaces have rules of conduct and disciplinary processes to deal with violations of those rules. Restorative justice processes are being used as an alternative to more conventional adjudicatory hearings. These are articles and resources on the use of restorative justice in the workplace.

Health trust looks to solve complaints

from the article in the Gloucestershire Echo: Complaints about staff attitude, a lack of response to phone calls and not enough support have been received by the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust. The mental health services provider in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire received 35 complaints from October to the end of December.

Question on restorative justice in the UniCredit Group

Hallo, can anybody tell me, if this is still current? The link to the website tells me, that the page is not available. Is the [...]

Restorative justice in the workplace

from the entry on Mediation Services: Yet, studies show that the best places to work in North America have not attained that ranking by policies. In fact, some of them have one page of policy – and that page focuses on values and not on dos and don’ts. It starts with hiring the people, first and foremost, with the right values and attitudes, and then ensuring they have the skills necessary to complete their task. So, what does this have to do with restorative principles? Everything! If an organization wants to be a fabulous place to work, they have to figure out what their values are – and often the best places to work have values consistent with restorative principles – respect, honesty, willingness to hold others accountable and be held accountable, ability to take responsibility for one’s actions, the rare and necessary skill of thinking outside the box, curiosity, loyalty to a team, commitment to working with others …

RJ

Because we have a system that is known as the 'justice system', I understand that we probably need to differentiate Restorative Justice from mere 'justice'. [...]

The promise of restorative justice: New approaches for criminal justice and beyond

reviewed by Martin Wright It is becoming increasingly clear that the principles of restorative justice can be used, as the editors say, outside the formal criminal justice system, and this book bears witness to that. Half is about criminal justice, and half about other applications in schools and elsewhere. The contributors reflect the book’s origins among a group at Fresno Pacific University in California, but other chapters come from Bulgaria, Canada, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

How do people experience using restorative practice at work?

from Craig Lambert and Rebecca Shipley's article in Resolution: The Goodwin Development Trust is a registered charity situated in the heart of Kingston-upon-Hull (www.goodwintrust.org). Created over fifteen years ago by the residents of the city’s Thornton Estate with the intention of improving local living conditions, the Trust now manages a diverse range of projects.

Can bullying be mediated?

from Tom Sebok's article at Workplace Bullying Institute: This question has arisen recently because the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and Alternative Dispute Resolution Consortium (ADRC) have recommended that colleges and universities provide mediation as an option for faculty who feel bullied by their colleagues. Workplace bullying as defined by the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI – see below) seems to me to rarely be negotiable - or mediable – especially to those experiencing it. However, based in large part on my involvement in helping establish a restorative justice program at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the late 1990’s, I believe there are two specific practices from that tradition that could be used to facilitate meaningful and potentially even healing encounters in these situations. These practices differ from the more familiar forms of mediation and the conditions required for success are very specific. As a university ombuds I have found mediation is often an effective way to help staff and faculty to manage and/or resolve workplace disputes. Sometimes both people have the same concern(s) and sometimes their concerns differ. But in most disputes I have mediated, both parties seemed to contribute fairly equally to the creation of the dispute. As a result, they could usually participate fairly equally in developing solutions. And agreements they made to resolve their disputes – even when they included relationship issues such as respect, trust, or communication - usually seemed balanced, as well.

From Prof Jim Smith

Thank you for posting the recent media coverage of the Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) campaign--"Brady encourages Magdalene survivors ...." I am a member of the [...]

Brady encourages Magdalene survivors in talks with church

from Genevieve Carbery and Patsy McGarry's entries in Irishtimes.com.: Primate of All-Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady has encouraged Magdalene survivors in their efforts to establish dialogue with religious congregations. The cardinal met representatives of advocacy group Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) for two hours at his residence in Armagh on Thursday evening. He said yesterday it was a welcome opportunity to listen to the perspective of the JFM on “the story of the involvement of church, State and society in the former Magdalene laundries”. “By today’s standards much of what happened at that time is difficult to comprehend,” he said.

Workplace bullying and restorative justice – how to help the families left behind

from Kevin Jones' entry on SafetyAtWorkBlog: A feature article on workplace bullying in The Age newspaper on 10 March 2010 has the additional or secondary benefit of again raising the relevance of “restorative justice” to the issue of occupational safety and health. The main element of the article is the McGregor family who had two children commit suicide over related issues. The son, Stuart McGregor, described as being chronically depressed, was being bullied at work. He confided in his sister, Angela McGregor, over the issues. Angela had been bullied at school. Alannah killed herself. A month later, Stuart followed.

UniCredit Group and restorative justice

by Dan Van Ness UniCredit Group is a European company whose mission is "to create a new way of banking by thriving to serve our clients with innovative solutions." It has 168,000 employees operating in 10,000 branches in 22 countries in both Eastern and Western Europe.

Restorative Justice and Work-Related Death

by Dr. Derek R. Brookes This research project was initiated by the Creative Ministries Network (CMN), which is based in Victoria, Australia. CMN have provided grief-support for family members bereaved by work-related death for more than ten years. Their extensive experience found that the grieving process was prolonged and intensified by how the legal system and other agencies dealt with work-related fatalities. In searching for solutions, the agency was inspired to examine restorative justice (RJ), mainly because they had witnessed the healing that resulted from several (self-arranged) meetings between families and company representatives. CMN subsequently applied for a grant from the Legal Services Board of Victoria to explore the feasibility of RJ in this context, and I was contracted as the principal researcher. The project consisted of two parts. The first involved a literature review, which sought to explore and clarify the kind of issues that might be faced in this context. This included addressing: (1) whether it would be fair and reasonable to invite a company director, manager or worker to take responsibility for their part in a work-related death – even where no personal criminal liability has been (or can be) established; (2) whether RJ can provide any distinctive benefits to those affected; and (3) how best to situate RJ vis-à-vis the legal process.

Brookes, Derek. 2009. Restorative Justice and Work–Related Death: Consultation Transcripts. St. Kilda: Creative Ministries Network.

This document is the companion volume to Restorative Justice and Work-Related Death: Consultation Report (Creative Ministries Network, 2009). It contains the full transcripts of the interviews upon which the analysis in that Report was based. For an explanation of its contents and purpose, please see Section A. of the Report. (excerpt)

Brookes, Derek. 2009. Restorative Justice and Work–Related Death: Consultation Report. St. Kilda: Creative Ministries Network.

This Report is part of a wider project that aims to explore the feasibility of a restorative justice service in the context of work-related deaths in Victoria. This section provides an overview of the Report and the way in which it has developed. (excerpt)

Brookes, Derek. 2008. Restorative Justice and Work‐Related Death: A Literature Review. St. Kilda: Creative Ministries Network.

This literature review is the first stage of a project funded by the Legal Services Board to consider “Can restorative justice better heal bereaved families and workplace grief after a work‐related death, and contribute to improve workplace safety?”

restorative justice & repairing the damage

I love this article in the Los Angeles Times. I am not surprised that Thom Alena was quoted since he is doing some excellent work [...]

Restorative justice could be answer to doping problem

from Kurt Streeter's column in the LA Times sports section: We've tried blame. We've tried shame. We've tried hard punishment. But on the doping-in-sports front, we're making very little real progress. Suspicion still reigns. Chemists remain ahead of the testers. Every other week there's a new bust. We've hit a wall. There are the athletes who get caught and then, invariably, smile and smirk, duck and dodge, taking as little responsibility as possible. There are those, like me, who feel moral outrage -- that altering the body this way should never be condoned. Our voices are growing faint. There are the hordes who've begun to tune out the whole issue despite feeling, deep in the gut, that something is really wrong: that our games, and by extension society, have been tarnished by widespread doping. Let's try a new approach. It's time to seek higher ground: accountability, responsibility -- and yes, forgiveness....

Policansky, Sandy. Workplace conflict resolution--issues and dilemmas for practitioners

As Sandy Policansky notes, conflict is a part of all human interactions. The workplace is no exception; there are many kinds of conflicts that occur in the workplace. In this presentation, Policansky identifies some of the key issues and dilemmas that mediators face when attempting to resolve disputes in a workplace setting. In particular, she focuses on the importance of establishing the framework of the processes and ground rules before mediation; the relationship between the mediator and the organization; and the dilemma of how far the mediator can push the parties in order to reach a resolution.

Williamson, David. The Jack Manning Trilogy: Face to Face; A Conversation; Charitable Intent

This volume consists of three plays depicting the restorative conferencing process in the areas of workplace conflict and crime. It also contains an essay by the playwright on how he became interested in conferencing.

Thorsborne, M. Workplace Conferencing: An Effective Organisational Response to Transforming Workplace Conflict

While many organisations have adopted policies and procedures to deal with difficult people and situations, rarely are they able to deal effectively with the emotional impact of this harmful behaviour and its aftermath. Their attempts at problem solving often make things worse. Clever organisations, on the other hand, have understood that healthy workplace relationships are critical to job satisfaction and therefore productivity (Thorsborne, 1999). This paper will describe a process called Workplace Conferencing, which, adapted from processes used to divert juvenile offenders from court, has been used successfully as a response to cases of workplace harassment and other challenging situations which result in high levels of conflict. Brief case summaries to illustrate the use of conferencing to deal with a variety of typical scenarios have been included. (excerpt)