External workplace mediation — for the cases internal HR can't resolve.
Some workplace conflicts require an outside party. Maybe HR is too close to the parties. Maybe internal mediation has been tried and failed. Maybe the case is too high-stakes for anyone with reporting relationships involved. HCI provides external workplace mediation across high-conflict employee disputes, manager-employee impasses, and team-level disputes — using the structured method Bill Eddy developed across 40+ years of mediation practice.
Or explore our Corporate Partnership program — a year-long engagement embedding HCI methodology into your leadership, HR, and culture.
Six signs you're dealing with this.
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The parties won't engage with internal HR.
Trust is gone. They want someone outside the organization. They'll talk to an external mediator who won't be in their performance review.
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Internal mediation has been tried.
HR brought them together. It didn't hold. Pattern resumed within weeks. You need a different approach, not another HR sit-down.
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The case is too high-stakes for internal handling.
C-level dispute. Active legal threat. Senior leader-employee conflict where internal HR has political constraints.
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You need a defensible resolution path.
If this doesn't resolve cleanly, it may end up in arbitration or court. You want the process and documentation to hold up under scrutiny.
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The parties are too far apart for standard mediation.
Interest-based mediation assumes parties who can hear each other. These parties can't — yet.
Why external mediation is often the cheaper path.
Compared to letting the situation continue or moving to formal employment dispute resolution:
$5K–$25K
typical cost of HCI external mediation engagement
$50K–$500K+
typical cost of an unresolved high-stakes workplace dispute that proceeds to litigation or settlement
2–8 weeks
typical timeline for HCI mediation resolution vs. 6-24 months for formal dispute resolution
70–85%
resolution rate using HCI's New Ways for Mediation® method on high-conflict workplace cases
Most workplace disputes that stall need a structured method built for high-conflict cases.
Traditional interest-based workplace mediation assumes parties can identify and articulate their interests, hear each other's, and problem-solve. High-conflict workplace cases break that assumption. Parties stay locked in extreme demands, blame, and rigid positions. The mediator absorbs the stress of dragging them somewhere they can't go. Bill Eddy developed the New Ways for Mediation® method specifically for these cases — a structured, proposal-focused, reverse-interest-based approach that gets resolution where standard methods can't.
Structured workplace mediation that works on the hard cases.
HCI provides external mediation services directly through Bill Eddy and senior HCI mediators trained in his methodology. Engagements are confidential, structured, and designed to produce durable resolution.
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Confidential intake
Pre-mediation conversation with HR sponsor and (separately) each party to understand the dispute, dynamics, and what resolution would look like.
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Pre-mediation coaching
Each party works individually with HCI on preparing for the mediation — including BIFF and EAR skills training and proposal-development coaching. Often the most valuable part of the engagement.
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Structured mediation sessions
Live (or virtual) mediation using Bill Eddy's New Ways for Mediation® method. Typically 1-3 sessions of 2-3 hours each. Confidential, structured, focused on durable agreements.
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Resolution documentation
When parties reach agreement, structured documentation that holds up to legal and HR review. When they don't, a defensible record of the good-faith mediation effort that supports next steps.
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Post-mediation support
Optional follow-up sessions at 30, 60, 90 days to support durability of the resolution. For high-stakes cases, ongoing consultation with the parties' managers or HRBPs.
Trainings and engagements built for this situation.
New Ways for Mediation® Training
For organizations that want to train internal HR and ER staff in the structured mediation method we use externally. 12-hour hybrid training with Bill Eddy.
Learn more →Managing High-Conflict Behavior in the Workplace
For HR and management teams supporting the mediation engagement — pre- and post-mediation skills.
Learn more →Direct consultation with Bill Eddy or Megan Hunter
For HR leadership wanting confidential strategic consultation before deciding whether mediation is the right path.
Learn more →Questions enterprise buyers ask.
Who actually mediates the case?
How is this confidential?
What if mediation doesn't resolve the case?
What does an engagement typically cost?
Can we engage you under an annual partnership?
Bring in outside mediation when the case requires it.
Talk to us about an external mediation engagement — or an annual partnership that gives your HR leadership on-demand access to HCI mediators for high-stakes cases.