Decreasing Disputes and Reducing Corporate Risk

• Posted by Geoffrey G. Gussis on March 15th, 2005


• Filed in Guides, Tips and Practice Pointers, Risk Management & Compliance

Michael Maslanka has written a thoughtful article that was published in Corporate Counsel magazine that is designed to "inculcate a culture of better employee relations, fewer disputes and decreased corporate risk."  I know you’re thinking what I’m thinking - anything that inculcates has to be good.  Fortunately, the article is presented as a pithy "Top 10" list for easy digestion.  Here is one salient tip:

"Train to communicate. Stop lavishing training dollars on teaching managers what’s unlawful. They know. Instead, train managers about effective workplace communication, which eschews finger-pointing, encourages accountability and promotes productivity. Effective communication, coupled with a few tactically smart policies, stops employment suits from being filed. And here’s the math for GCs:

effective communication + tactically smart policies = no suits

fewer suits + lower legal expenses = happier C-level execs and more money to spend on the company"

Certainly good advice - make sure that you read the rest of the article and, if you haven’t already, sign up for a free subscription to Corporate Counsel magazine.