Waterford sits at the centre of a south-east economy of manufacturing, food production, healthcare, third-level and public sector employers, and a very large number of owner-managed businesses — and the firm has an office at 2 Rose Inn Street in Kilkenny, a short drive away, which makes in-person sessions genuinely practical rather than a day on the road.
Owner-Managed Employers and the Missing Middle
A significant share of south-east employers are owner-managed, and they face a specific version of the workplace conflict problem: there is no HR function, the person who would hear a grievance is frequently the person the grievance is about or their close colleague, nobody internally can credibly be neutral, and the policy — where one exists — says informal resolution should be attempted first without saying by whom or how. So the practical options collapse to doing nothing or engaging an external investigator at significant cost, and a great many resolvable situations sit in that gap for months while an employee goes out sick or quietly finds another job. The most valuable thing available to an employer in that position is usually not a mediation at all: it is a sorting conversation establishing whether the complaint needs investigating, whether a grievance process is required, and only then whether a facilitated conversation would fix it. That answer comes at the first call.
How It Runs, and the Order Things Happen In
Sessions are held at the firm’s Kilkenny office at 2 Rose Inn Street, at neutral venues in Waterford, on site where that genuinely suits, at the Dublin office on Ormond Quay, or fully online. Mediating in the participants’ own workplace is generally discouraged — people are seen going into rooms, the whole place knows by lunchtime, and both participants arrive managing an audience. Whichever venue, the order does not vary. The conflicts check runs first, before any substantive conversation, which is why the first email should name the individuals involved and the employer entity. Then the terms are agreed in writing: neutrality regardless of who pays, no findings and no report to the employer on the merits, exactly what is recorded and what may reach a personnel file, that participation cannot affect appraisal or performance management, that declining is not misconduct, and that no complaint is withdrawn and no right waived by taking part. Then individual sessions with each person — more than one is normal — and only afterwards a decision, made with the participants, about whether a joint session helps at all.
Two Free Tools Before You Call
Mediate or Investigate? walks the four sorting questions that decide which process a situation actually needs — including where the answer is neither. The Escalation Stage Check shows what remains open at the point you have reached. Both run entirely on your device; nothing is stored.
Ten Lines, and Everyone Involved by Name
The conflicts check runs before anything else, so name the individuals and the employer entity first. Then the situation in ten lines, where it stands procedurally, and what a workable outcome would look like.
Call 01 5827148