Before You Start a Grievance: Will It Actually Resolve the Problem?
Someone raises a serious workplace concern. The almost automatic organisational response can be to reach for the grievance procedure. When an employee takes an issue to HR they are often told that if they want to take the matter further they will have to raise a grievance. Mediation Rescue believes that this should not be the immediate response.
Before considering a grievance as the next step, ask this question:
What problem are we actually trying to solve?
If you need an authoritative investigation and decision about what happened (perhaps because of statutory or regulatory obligations), a formal process may be necessary.
But if the real problem is a damaged working relationship, loss of trust, poor communication or people who still need to work together, asking an investigator to decide who was right and who was wrong may not resolve the problem at all.
A grievance determines a complaint. Mediation tries to resolve issues. Those are not the same thing.
Why grievance can start from the wrong place
A grievance procedure is essentially adjudicative.
Someone raises a complaint. Evidence is gathered. People are interviewed. An investigator considers what happened. The employer decides whether the grievance is upheld and what should happen as a result.
There may be circumstances where that is what is needed.
The difficulty is using the same process by default for workplace relationship conflict.
Imagine two colleagues whose relationship has deteriorated over months. Each believes the other has behaved unreasonably. Communication has broken down. Emails are being interpreted in the worst possible light. They begin to behave with passive aggression towards each other. Other colleagues are being drawn in.
Starting a grievance asks:
What happened, and who was at fault?
Early resolution asks something different:
What has happened between these people, what is preventing them working together, and what needs to change?
Both questions can be legitimate. But they are not interchangeable.
A grievance can produce an answer without resolving the problem
A grievance procedure can be conducted entirely fairly and reach a perfectly reasonable conclusion while leaving the underlying conflict substantially untouched.
Indeed, the process itself requires participants to look backwards. They explain what happened, assemble evidence, respond to allegations and defend their own conduct.
That may be necessary where facts need to be determined, perhaps for regulatory purposes. But where the objective is to repair a working relationship, it can also reinforce the very positions that are preventing resolution.
At the end, the employer may have an answer to:
“Was this complaint upheld?”
while the people involved are still asking:
“How on earth are we supposed to work together on Monday morning?”
That is the gap early resolution is intended to address.
Formal grievance should be a choice, not a reflex
Mediation Rescue's position is not that grievances should disappear entirely.
There are circumstances where investigation and formal determination may still be important. They can include serious misconduct, safeguarding concerns, whistleblowing, regulatory obligations, allegations where an employer needs to establish facts, or questions concerning statutory or contractual rights.
The point is different.
A formal grievance should be chosen because the problem requires a formal determination, not simply because somebody has used the word “grievance”.
Where the central issue is a working relationship, communication, behaviour, trust or interpersonal conflict, mediation or a facilitated conversation should ordinarily be considered before the parties become entrenched in formal positions.
Acas is moving towards earlier resolution
This is increasingly reflected in the direction being taken by Acas.
Acas published a revised draft Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures in July 2026. The consultation closed on 23 September 2026 and Acas is reviewing responses. The draft may change and is not the Code currently in force.
But the direction of travel is striking.
The draft says employers and workers should seek to resolve concerns early and prevent unnecessary escalation. It says workers' concerns are usually best dealt with informally and expressly identifies mediation and facilitated conversations as possible methods of resolution. If mediation or a facilitated conversation is agreed during a formal grievance or disciplinary procedure, the draft says the formal process should be paused. Acas
Acas itself describes the proposed revision as a shift away from the existing Code's focus on formal procedures towards explicitly encouraging early and informal resolution wherever possible. Acas
That does not mean every grievance should be mediated. The draft itself recognises circumstances where informal resolution may be inappropriate.
It does mean that asking about early resolution before defaulting to formal process is becoming increasingly difficult to regard as an optional extra.
Formal conflict is expensive
There is also a compelling economic case for intervening earlier.
Research published by Acas in 2021, using pre-pandemic data, estimated the annual cost of workplace conflict to UK organisations at £28.5 billion. In that analysis, costs where conflict resulted in formal procedures were more than three times those associated with informal resolution. These are historical estimates, not current quotations for mediation or investigation.
Those figures do not mean mediation will always be cheaper or that cost should determine how serious allegations are handled.
They do demonstrate something important: escalation has a price.
And conflict has a human cost
Acas commissioned a survey of working-age people in Great Britain in 2025.
In its 2025 survey of 4,558 working-age people, 44% had experienced workplace conflict during the previous 12 months. Among those experiencing conflict, 57% reported stress, anxiety or depression as a result. Acas
Yet the ways people actually attempted to resolve conflict were overwhelmingly informal.
Some 45% discussed it with their manager and 30% spoke informally with the other person. Only 9% used a formal grievance or complaint, while just 2% used Workplace Mediation with a trained mediator. Acas
That 2% figure is particularly striking.
Mediation remains a remarkably underused resource despite increasing recognition of the importance of early conflict resolution.
Mediation does not mean ignoring the complaint
One reason organisations can hesitate is the fear that suggesting mediation somehow minimises what somebody has said.
It should not.
Taking a concern seriously and immediately commencing a formal investigation are not synonymous.
An organisation can listen carefully, consider risk, understand what the individual wants to achieve and determine whether anything requires formal investigation before deciding what process is most likely to help.
Sometimes that assessment will point towards grievance.
Sometimes it will point towards mediation.
Sometimes part of the problem needs investigation while another part can be mediated.
And sometimes what is needed is not formal mediation at all, but a carefully facilitated conversation.
The process should fit the particular conflict and the individuals involved in it.
Mediation or facilitated conversation?
The terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but they need not describe exactly the same process.
A Workplace Mediation will normally involve confidential individual preparation followed, where appropriate, by a structured joint process facilitated by an impartial mediator.
A facilitated conversation can be lighter and more flexible. It may be particularly useful where intervention is happening early, before positions have hardened into a formal dispute.
The important point is not the label.
It is creating a safe enough and sufficiently structured opportunity for people to discuss what has happened, understand different perspectives and decide what needs to change.
Explore facilitated conversations and other support
What if somebody has already submitted a grievance?
It may not be too late.
The draft revised Acas Code expressly contemplates mediation or a facilitated conversation being suggested at any stage in a process or afterwards. Where one is agreed during a formal procedure, the draft proposes that the formal procedure should be paused. Acas
Whether that is appropriate will depend on the circumstances.
But commencing a grievance does not necessarily mean that everybody must continue inexorably towards an outcome letter if a better route to resolution becomes available.
Five questions to ask before starting a grievance
Before launching a formal process, we suggest asking:
What does the person raising the concern actually want to achieve? Do they need a finding, or do they principally want something to change?
Does somebody genuinely need to determine disputed facts? If so, investigation may be necessary.
Do the people involved need to continue working together? If they do, resolving the relationship may matter as much as determining past events.
What is likely to happen to the conflict during a formal investigation? Will the process help, or is there a material risk of further entrenchment?
Could mediation, a facilitated conversation or another early-resolution process address the problem safely and fairly?
Those questions do not prejudge the answer.
They make sure the organisation chooses the process consciously.
Frequently asked questions
Should employers always try mediation before a grievance?
No. Some concerns require investigation or formal determination from the outset. But where the underlying issue is relationship conflict, communication or trust, we believe mediation or another appropriate early-resolution process should ordinarily be considered before formal grievance.
Can an employer refuse to hear a grievance and insist on mediation?
That is not the proposition we advocate. Mediation is voluntary, and employers must comply with their legal obligations and applicable procedures. The important step is to explore appropriate early resolution rather than automatically treating formal grievance as the only available route.
Is mediation appropriate for bullying or harassment complaints?
Potentially, yes. Suitability depends on the nature and seriousness of the allegations, the participants’ wishes, whether participation can be genuinely voluntary and whether facts require formal investigation. The draft Acas Code identifies circumstances in which mediation may be unsuitable, including a substantial power imbalance that cannot be managed safely. Careful preparation and support can help address some imbalances, but mediation should not be used to bypass necessary investigation or safeguarding.
Does suggesting mediation mean the employer is not taking a complaint seriously?
No. A concern should be taken seriously whichever process is ultimately selected. The question is which response is most appropriate to what has been raised.
Can mediation take place during a grievance?
Yes, where the participants agree and the circumstances are suitable. The draft revised Acas Code proposes that a formal process should be paused while agreed mediation or a facilitated conversation takes place. Acas
What happens if mediation does not resolve the problem?
The availability of other processes does not disappear merely because mediation has been attempted. Depending upon the circumstances, the employer may resume or commence an appropriate formal procedure.
Before you start the investigation, talk to us
Once a grievance investigation has begun, positions can become harder to change.
If you are dealing with a workplace concern and are unsure whether the right next step is mediation, a facilitated conversation, formal grievance or some combination of them, Mediation Rescue can help you think through the options before you commit to the process.
We will not tell you that every workplace problem should be mediated.
We will help you ask the more useful question:
What process gives this particular problem the best chance of being resolved?
Consider the wider cost of unresolved conflict
Before deciding on the next step, explore the time and resources that conflict may already be consuming. Our calculator considers management time, absence, productivity and turnover.
Explore the Conflict Cost CalculatorNo contact details required. The estimate does not determine whether mediation or a formal procedure is appropriate.
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