Consultancy to provide courses, coaching, mediation and arbitration services
Workplace conflict costs Canadian businesses annual financial costs of over two billion dollars and negatively impacts efficiency, success and the mental and emotional health of employees, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, a study by Morneau Shepell has found.
In response to this research by the human resources services and technology company, the Pacificus Group, a new Canadian consulting firm, launched on Apr. 20 to assist businesses and government organizations in reducing the economic and human cost of workplace conflict, said a news release.
The consultancy will provide courses, coaching and mediation and arbitration services aiming to address the issue of workplace conflict, to improve the organizations’ bottom line and to ensure that employees are happier.
The consultancy’s founders include Daniel Sommers, a litigator who has a decade of experience and who has appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada; Dr. Frank Sommers, a psychiatrist; and Laval Martin, a social worker and psychotherapist.
These founders, who are members in good standing of the Law Society of Ontario, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Ontario College of Social Workers, created the consultancy after they noticed the prevalence of workplace conflict in the course of their work.
“We already have interest from companies in the United Kingdom, United States, and across Canada, showing just how serious the problem of workplace conflict is,” said Daniel Sommers, who will serve as president of Pacificus, in the news release. “Our motto captures our purpose: to make a more peaceful world.”
“Conflict resolution skills are sorely lacking in our divided society today, and I have the utmost confidence in the skills and abilities that Pacificus brings to the table to address that problem,” said Chris Macleod, founding partner of Cambridge LLP, an Ontario-based litigation firm.
