Disputes tend to tie up your best people in this stressful and time consuming task.

• Disputes can easily become personalised because the accusations invariably involve individuals who are at loggerheads.
• Avoid the disputes getting polarised and positions becoming entrenched
• Avoid letting it become acrimonious and more difficult and time-consuming to resolve
• Employees usually have more time to spend of this than you do

Commercial Approach

• You have the right to be robust in articulating your position and protecting your rights
• If the situation is likely to get intractable, consider the cost Vs benefit and whether it might be better to put a halt to this
• Keep evaluating your commercial position “Is it worth my time and stress to take this to tribunal?”

 If it gets protracted, don’t lose sight of the fact that at some stage it might be more important to resolve this rather than winning, even if you have to give in and pay despite being right.

Employers who have experienced a protracted and acrimonious dispute often lament how much cheaper it would have been to just settle and move on.