One of the services offered by the Office of the Equity Ombudsperson is confidential mediation of workplace harassment issues. Mediation is a process whereby the parties involved in a complaint or issue jointly work out a resolution to the concern or problem with the help of a mediator. The resolution can be worked out between the parties directly, in face to face discussions, with the mediator facilitating the discussions, or indirectly with the mediator going back and forth between the parties.
Any resolution achieved is developed and designed by the parties.
There is no resolution reached in mediation unless everyone participating agrees with that result, resolution or agreement. With workplace harassment issues, be it sexual harassment or harassment based in other forms of discrimination, the ingredients for a successful outcome include a quick response and one that is sensitive to the realities of the workplace for the complainant. In most sexual harassment complaints the complainant primarily wants the behaviour to stop. As time passes without resolution, emotions and reactions become stronger and the situation becomes increasingly intolerable and unresolvable. Mediation can be initiated very quickly, within days, and is as adaptive, flexible and responsive to the parties as they require or demand.