Executive Action: How to Resolve Disputes with Executive Employees and Protect your Business

Executive employees are employees who are, generally, engaged at a senior level in a business – they can be engaged at board level and, generally, will lead a team of employees in achieving particular objectives set for their area of the business. They are leaders, strategists, and man (woman) managers.

Executive employees are the core of any successful business: they guide the business, put strategies in place to achieve objectives, and attempt to achieve and measure progress. No business can efficiently succeed without a team of competent, engaged, executive employees.

A key function of a Human Resources team, in tandem with senior management, will be to develop and manage executive employees by providing them with training, guiding them on objectives, setting and monitoring targets, and resolving disputes.

When disputes can arise

Any type of dispute can arise in a workplace, but the common types of disputes that executive employees are involved with, in my experience, are as follows:

• Personal disputes with other employees – where the executive employee, simply, just does not like another employee (or vice versa) and relationships in the workplace are strained because of this. This can have a knock-on effect on productivity and morale
• Bullying & discrimination allegations – where the executive alleges that they have been bullied and/or discriminated against by a colleague (or vice versa). This is, clearly, an important issue to resolve in the workplace, as a failure to do so could lead, potentially, to a formal grievance being submitted and legal action being brought. These matters can escalate quickly, so it’s very important to try and deal with them promptly
• Sexual harassment – where an executive employee alleges that they have been sexually harassed by a colleague, or vice versa. Again, it is incredibly important that such allegations are immediately investigated and that prompt and fair action is taken to understand, manage, and resolve this type of dispute – failing to do so, again, can potentially lead to serious breakdowns in the workplace and claims being brought
• Performance management disputes – if the executive is not performing as they should be, or a member of their team is not performing as the executive wishes them to be, then disputes can arise regarding the threshold of performance that is expected and whether this has been achieved
• Misconduct allegations – allegations of misconduct could be made about an executive employee, or the executive employee could make allegations of misconduct regarding a member of their team or the wider workforce

How to deal with disputes

The following methods include some of the accepted practices of resolving workplace disputes with executive employees (please note, however, that this is not an exhaustive list):

1. Mediation
2. Informal resolution
3. Formal grievance process
4. Termination of employment
5. Offering a settlement

Mediation

Workplace mediation is a process of repairing relationships in the workplace where a dispute arises – a nominated impartial third party (the mediator) will sit down and help the employees find a solution to their problem. This can be an effective means of resolving disputes, but is not guaranteed to work – the employees are not compelled to accept the suggestions of the mediator and do not have to agree on an outcome.

Informal resolution

Sometimes disputes can be resolved by a more senior manager having a quick chat with an employee about the nature of their complaint and how it can be resolved – most disputes, in my experience, are resolved this way. Senior employees should therefore be approachable and make it known that they’re happy to sit down and discuss complaints that their team members have – resolving disputes at this stage generally leads to a much better outcome for everyone involved, and reduces the draw on the business’ resources.

Formal grievance process

If a complaint escalates to a formal grievance being submitted by, or against, an executive employee then the business should have formal processes in place (a formal grievance process) to deal with and resolve that dispute. The employee that is submitting the complain should also, unless exceptional circumstances apply, be given the opportunity to appeal.

Termination of employment

If particularly serious allegations are made against an executive employee that are substantiated in a grievance or disciplinary process, or the employee’s performance is adjudged to be seriously below the threshold required on a consistent basis, the business may wish to terminate the employment of that employee.

If a business chooses to go this route then it should engage a methodical and set process in doing so, and understand the benefits of such an action (getting rid of the relevant employee) but also the costs (disruption in the team, having to recruit another employee, and dealing with any legal action that may ensue).

Offering a settlement

A quick and effective way of resolving disputes in the workplace is for the business to make an offer of settlement to an executive employee and try and reach a mutual settlement agreement with them. This will generally involve the business putting to the employee an offer without prejudice meaning that the settlement discussions are generally inadmissible for the purposes of legal action, and then engaging in settlement negotiations with the employee.

A settlement offer will generally involve the business making ex gratia payments to the executive employee, as well as other benefits (an agreed reference, payment of legal fees, making an agreed announcement etc.).

The settlement route is a quick and effective way of dealing with disputes, but it can also be a more costly route for a business.

How to effective resolve disputes with executive employees

The key to effectively resolving disputes with executive employees is to understand who has the issue, what their problem involves, and dealing with it fairly, thoroughly, and impartially at an early stage – if a business takes quick and effective steps to fairly resolve a complaint then this will generally mean that there will be no need for any formal processes to be involved, or dismissal considered.