This is a non-punitive version of a disciplinary procedure, designed to encourage dialogue through structured opportunities to discuss and learn from mistakes. It has been written to follow the guidelines set out in the Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures, without the punishment-based approach of issuing warnings.
Sharing a policy, guide or blog you've written is a vulnerable thing to do! With that in mind, please try to respond with the kind of care you'd hope for if you'd shared one of your own.
Wondered if anyone had any thoughts on ways of making sure conflict/grievance/disciplanry processes are non-punitive and collective, whilst also ensuring people who’ve been on the sharp end of violence before feel safe
The context is - at an organisation I was part of, which tried to blur lines between people normally seen as ‘service users’ and 'service providers,'we have had incidents where there’s been aggressive or violent feeling behaviour from some members. Enough that most members felt that some sort of formal conflict procedure had to happen, especially as there were kids in the space. We tried to make these as non-punitive and collectiveas possible, and give room for multiple perspectives to be taken into account - so that we didn’t end up excluding anyone from the organisation (especially as those ‘accused’ were people with really hard stuff in their lives and had already been excluded from other organisations). In some ways, everyone involved really appreciated the process, but there were strong concerns that it took a long time (as non-hierarchical, non-punitive processes often do) and ome members felt unsafe in the space until the issue was resolved and ways to try and prevent those sorts of incidents happening again. This was particularly pertinent as many members had experience of violence and abuse in other parts of their lives, which were triggered by the incident. I’m sure there are lots of practical ways of resolving this issue - but I have been fairly stuck on it so would really appreciate any insights from anyone!