The session will focus on the key skills used to resolve and diminish usual office conflicts and propose a systematic methodology (inspired by Mediation skills) which cannot only resolve key issues faced in office settings, but also help motivate staff, improve staff relations and increase staff retention.

About the Speaker - FIONA YOUNG

Fiona Young qualified as a lawyer in the UK in 2000, her interest in law came from a deep rooted sense of wanting to bring about change particularly in the fields of equality and diversity. With that in mind, through her legal studies she focused on topics such as civil rights, child law, law and the sexes and public international law. However, when it came to taking those principles into the work place it became apparent that social justice did not pay the student loans, whereas corporate and commercial law did. Fiona therefore entered the world of insurance litigation in the UK before coming to Gibraltar in 2003 and working with the litigation team at Hassans.

There her social principles became more relevant to the types of cases she was dealing with and Fiona began to take on work in the Employment Tribunal, representing both employees and employers with a variety of issues and needs.

After taking a career break to have and raise her two children (Dylan aged 12 and Shadi aged 9) Fiona returned to practice employment law with Amber Law, taking on discrimination cases and raising issues under the bullying and harassment legislation in Gibraltar. In 2014 Fiona attended a mediation course which reaffirmed her growing suspicion that formal and traditional litigation was not always the answer to an employment problem. Fiona achieved her interpersonal mediation qualification in 2014 and the following year she achieved her accreditation in commercial mediation. Following this she took a sabbatical from her legal practice to study International Dispute resolution and arbitration through Queen Mary’s University London. In 2016 legislation was introduced in Gibraltar to encourage mediation in the Employment Tribunal Fiona was the first mediator to be appointed to the scheme which now involves a total of 5 trained tribunal mediators. The scheme has proven to be extremely successful with just over 50% of cases referred to mediation resolving at mediation and a number of cases resolving after the mediation process. Fiona is passionate about the benefits of mediation and alternative conflict resolution methodology which focuses on bringing parties together to discuss their differences and providing a professional and supportive environment for the parties to come to their own solutions. Dialogue based resolution and mediated resolution enable the parties to look at problems from a different perspective, carry out a risk assessment with a neutral objective third party and take responsibility for driving forward their own proposals for resolution, while also often enabling the parties to maintain a professional working relationship which may have perished through the more adversarial process of traditional litigation.

Fiona also provides training on conflict resolution, mediation skills for managers and values based employment relations through local training company BC Trianing and also provides internal support to private companies and public institutions with internal mediations and workplace relationship issues.

In 2018 Fiona joined the growing team at Ramparts, with a view to developing a conflict resolution strategy team to provide clients, companies and institutions with guidance, support, policies, procedures and training in all aspects of building, maintaining and strengthening professional and working relationships.

Outside of the workplace Fiona is active in promoting issues of diversity and inclusion and has taken an active role in the support of professional women and entrepreneurs through her involvment at committee level in Women In Business Gibraltar. At a social level Fiona works closely with Youth Services, running a weekly choir called Joyful Riot which again is focused on supporting young people and finding a platform for those who may by virtue of their social background, have struggled to have their voices heard.

EVENT FREE FOR CIPD GIBRALTAR BRANCH MEMBERS - NON MEMBERS £25.00