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Individual Case Studies - Investigation Service
Kirklees Metropolitan Council
Kirklees Metropolitan Council has procedures for averting workplace problems, but in a large organisation, inter-personal relationships do occasionally become problematic and the Council is committed to resolving these. They usually try and conduct investigations using HR professionals within the Council. Occasionally, though, there are issues that crop up which require speedy responses, and there may not be the existing resources in HR to undertake them, as sometimes they involve a huge amount of work. The times the Council has used Conflict Management Plus Ltd has been because of a lack of internal capacity.
There might also be something specific about a case - perhaps an issue that they felt internal HR couldn't deal with because of the nature of the case - which meant it needed an investigator with more specialist skills in order to deal with the sensitivities involved. Again, the Council has used Conflict Management Plus to meet the needs and issues swiftly and sensitively in order to resolve them.
Investigations are part and parcel of what HR do, but if something is going to take a lot of time, requires specialist input and needs doing immediately, then occasionally it gets out-sourced. Public Sector bodies have to be very cautious in terms of the cost of conducting investigations in relation to outsourcing and so when they do, they have to be confident they will achieve best value. Conflict Management Plus was aware of these considerations and delivered to timescale.
Mediation also forms part of Kirklees Metropolitan Council's approach to resolving workplace tensions. Conflict Management Plus successfully bid for the tender to deliver accredited mediation training to a group of their personnel who will take part in a pilot scheme to provide mediation in the workplace.
Ros Jones, Employment Agency Manager
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