Marina was appointed as Acas's first female Chief Conciliator in 2022. Her role is to promote greater engagement with a wide range of stakeholders to better understand how Acas can help to prevent and resolve workplace disputes.
Marina has extensive experience in the field of dispute resolution through her work in conciliation. She is also an accredited trainer, facilitator, mediator and qualified mentalisation-based treatment (MBT) practitioner.
This year there will no doubt be many issues that have the potential to cause conflict at work. From the evolving political landscape abroad, to change closer to home such as the Employment Rights Bill, the generational shift, or how we respond to the advancement of AI.
Change and uncertainty often go hand in hand, which can lead to conflict. At Acas, we know that the way to make sure conflict does not grow or turn into expensive, time-consuming disputes, is to engage workforces early and build consensus.
When not handled well, conflict is one of the biggest barriers to productivity and growth. It costs UK businesses more than £28.5 billion each year. But organisations can excel if they recognise the drivers of workplace conflict and take steps to ensure their line managers and leaders are equipped to engage better with their people and unions, managing situations and conflict well. It is time to:
- champion healthy workplace relations between employers and their people
- celebrate effective management of conflict by skilled managers
- promote better dialogue and engagement
- put in place clear routes to resolution of formal disputes for earlier and more positive outcomes
Acas has a role to play in supporting organisations. We have been preparing our 2025 to 2030 strategy, which will set out our plans on how we will do this.
For Acas, our partnerships are key to delivering our work for employers, employees and organisations across the country. And our partnerships have been essential in helping us to understand where we can have the most benefit and impact, and to plan for the next strategic period.
This month we hosted 2 round table discussions with stakeholders from a range of sectors in Wales and Scotland. We tested our thinking, explored specific differences and needs from the devolved nations around workplace relations, and looked at who we should be collaborating and partnering with for the period ahead.
What are the big trends?
Ahead of the round table discussions we shared research done for Acas by Ipsos, which identified 6 key trends:
- economic change affecting pay and benefits
- technological advancements – such as the emergence of AI – and its impact at work
- industrial change – a workforce in flux
- social change and the evolving roles of environmental, social and governance and equality, diversity and inclusion
- workforce change, specifically intergenerational relationships
- conflict and power in the workplace – the rise of strikes and grievances
I was delighted with the enthusiasm from colleagues in both Wales and Scotland, and the appetite to constructively address the challenges in partnership.
What I also found interesting was a point raised about the need for bespoke solutions to address the drivers of conflict at work, that take into consideration the different structures of job roles. This is an important consideration and will help ensure that certain workers, such as those with less autonomy in their roles, are not left behind.
What themes emerged from the conversation?
Several themes emerged from the conversations, including:
- a desire for more collaboration with Acas and broader social partnerships in Wales and Scotland
- the need to address the critical skills gap – including skills for line managers, negotiation skills, having difficult conversations
- recognition that while partners may have different views on the challenges and how to address them, there was a broad, shared ambition and desire for better and fairer workplaces
- concern that business confidence was being challenged by some of the public discourse
- confidence that we have sufficient evidence on the positive impact good workplace practices have on growth
- wider issues that will impact conflict and Acas's priorities including the use of AI and other changing technologies, how people transition and feel part of change, how this creates generational tensions, and the connection to flexibility and fairness
Underpinning this is the sense that these themes are interlinked. They speak to the value of moving from a transactional view of workforce engagements based on 'getting the work done' to a more 'human-orientated' approach. This can bring the long-term value of upskilling the workforce and better dispute resolution capabilities.
What next?
The round table discussions were excellent due to the people in the room and their willingness to give us their insight and knowledge.
There was a genuine appetite for leaning in on some of the big workforce challenges and looking at ways to address them in partnership. This could start with greater sharing of insights, moving smoothly through using one another more to educate on what support for businesses and workers is out there.
We hope this would extend to partnerships, to get under the skin on some of the barriers to success, and tackle them.
I am looking forward to this renewed partnership approach creating a big impact.