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Staff Wellbeing in Complaints and Conciliation Work

Updated: Oct 16

Why the Design of the Work Environment matters - an environmental psychology perspective.


As a mediator and trainer, I often support conciliation, early resolution, and complaints-handling staff with conversations around wellbeing and workplace resilience. We talk about the pressure of emotionally charged conversations, the weight of persistent or complex complaints, and the toll of making decisions that deeply affect people’s lives. Working in conflict often feels like running towards the fire, we do a job that demands not just technical skill, but emotional stamina. We also work in industries that make the highest number of workcover claims for psychosocial injuries and that's no coincidence. Conflict work inherently puts us at risk of psychological injuries.



Slide from a presentation: Social assistance and public administration staff, as an industry, make the most Workcover claims for mental health conditions by far. It's time we took these psychosocial hazards seriously and looked beyond the obvious and simple solutions. Source: Safe Work Australian Psychological Health in The Workplace Report 2024https://data.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-02/Psychological-health-in-the-workplace_Report_February2024.pdf
Social assistance and public administration staff, as an industry, make the most Workcover claims for mental health conditions by far. It's time we took these psychosocial hazards seriously and looked beyond the obvious and simple solutions. Source: Safe Work Australian Psychological Health in The Workplace Report 2024https://data.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-02/Psychological-health-in-the-workplace_Report_February2024.pdf

While the risks to staff are clear, in most organisations, the physical environment in which conflict managers operate is treated as an afterthought or just left to building management to sort out. Open-plan offices, hot-desking policies, lack of privacy, and uninspiring spaces can silently erode the very resilience we expect staff to bring to the table. This article explores why physical design matters for the wellbeing of dispute resolution professionals and offers considerations for leaders invested in protecting their people.


🔑 Key Takeaways


  1. Conflict work carries intrinsic psychosocial hazards - Roles in complaints handling, conciliation, and dispute resolution are psychologically demanding. Exposure to conflict, emotional labour, and ethical complexity increases the risk of burnout and mental health injuries as increasingly evident in workers' compensation data.

  2. The physical work environment can support or sabotage staff wellbeing - Open-plan offices, hot-desking, and poor acoustics can undermine focus, emotional regulation, and privacy. Research also suggests that open plan offices result in less not more collaboration. Environmental design choices directly impact staff resilience, job satisfaction, and capacity to perform effectively under pressure.

  3. Workplace design should support informal peer debriefing - In high-stress roles, staff prefer incidental, peer-based debriefing over formal structures. Environments that lack private, accessible spaces for these micro-moments of support fail to meet this vital need.

  4. Place attachment fosters identity, calm, and control - Staff who have stable, personalisable workspaces develop a stronger sense of belonging and professional efficacy. Constant movement or hybrid disconnection can erode this attachment and contribute to disconnection and fatigue.


  5. Environmental wellbeing matters, but not always in your control - While perfect offices are rare and many staff now work from home, leaders who can influence office design should consider its impact. Even small adjustments can enhance resilience, retention, and the overall mental health of your conflict management teams.


Table of Contents


Why the Design of the Work Environment Matters – An Environmental Psychology Perspective

  1. Introduction: Why Conflict Work Takes a Toll

    Exploring the emotional and psychological demands of dispute resolution roles.

  2. The Hidden Risks: Psychosocial Hazards in Complaints Work

    Understanding the link between role demands and mental health risks.

  3. Workplace Design and Staff Wellbeing

    How environmental factors can support or undermine conflict professionals.

  4. The Trouble with Open-Plan and Hot-Desking

    Why popular office trends don’t work for emotionally demanding roles.

  5. The Power of Place Attachment

    A psychological framework for understanding how space shapes identity and wellbeing.

  6. Designing for Connection: Informal Debriefing and Peer Support

    Why incidental spaces matter for stress relief and resilience.

  7. Remote Work and Environmental Disconnect

    Supporting home-based staff with environmental and emotional scaffolding.

  8. Final Reflections: Space as a Silent Ally or Stressor

    A call to action for leaders committed to sustainable dispute resolution teams.

  9. Reference

    Research sources compiled from postgraduate psychology studies on workplace wellbeing.


The Psychosocial Hazards of Conflict Work


Roles in complaints management and dispute resolution come with inherent psychosocial risks. Staff are routinely exposed to distressing content, interpersonal hostility, ethical dilemmas, uncertainty in their interactions and lack of role clarity. These risks are amplified by increasing caseloads, legislative complexity, changing or absent leadership and the growing demands of traumatised or distressed clients.


As Safe Work Australia outlines, psychosocial hazards include high job demands, emotional labour, low role clarity, and poor workplace support. These are not hypothetical risks, they show up in higher burnout rates, mental health claims, and staff attrition, especially in complaint-heavy roles. If our goal is to support resilient teams, we must think beyond workload management and invest in the physical, psychological and environmental scaffolding that sustains wellbeing.


Why Workplace Design Matters


The design of the physical workplace can either buffer or exacerbate psychosocial hazards. Research shows that environmental factors such as noise, overcrowding, temperature, lighting, and spatial layout significantly affect stress levels, focus, and emotional regulation (Vischer, 2007).


For conflict managers, the stakes are particularly high. A poorly designed space can heighten irritability, inhibit concentration, and reduce the capacity for empathy, undermining the core skills required for early resolution and conciliation.


Conversely, well-designed environments can promote:

  • A sense of calm and psychological safety

  • Opportunities for privacy and reflection

  • Natural debriefing moments with peers

  • A feeling of autonomy and control, even in the face of difficult interactions


Control over our immediate Workplace environment
We prefer work spaces that allow us a sense of control over our immediate environment.

The Problem with Open Plan and Hot Desking


Open-plan offices were initially introduced to encourage collaboration. But for dispute resolution staff, they often achieve the opposite. Noise, lack of privacy, and visual distractions make it harder to maintain focus, regulate emotions, or hold sensitive conversations. This is especially problematic for roles that require concentration, neutrality, and empathy.


Hot desking presents further challenges. Staff report feeling disconnected, dislocated, and unable to establish routines that anchor their workday. These arrangements may be efficient from a property management perspective but often result in a lack of place attachment, which undermines wellbeing and professional identity.

Hot Desking and Open Plan Workplaces
Research indicates that open plan offices can detract from staff collaboration and the cognitive overload of these spaces can detract from staff wellbeing.

Place Attachment and the Psychology of Space


Place attachment theory helps explain why the physical environment matters. Place attachment refers to the emotional bonds people form with specific places through experience, familiarity, and meaning (Scannell & Gifford, 2010). In workplace contexts, research shows that personalisation of desk space - photos, plants, personal items - contributes to a stronger sense of belonging, control, and identity (Wells & Thelen, 2002; Brown, 2009).


When conflict resolution staff are denied stable or meaningful spaces, these psychological benefits are lost. This can lead to alienation, detachment, and a reduced sense of professional efficacy. In hybrid and remote environments, this disconnection can be even more pronounced, making the case for thoughtful design even stronger.


Want to explore how workplace design and environmental psychology can strengthen your team’s resilience?

I offer tailored consulting and training to help organisations support complaints and conciliation staff with evidence-based strategies. Book a free discovery call to discuss your team’s needs and explore practical solutions: Book Online


Debriefing and Peer Supervision: Designing for Informal Support


In all my training with hundreds of complaints handlers, mediators, and conciliation staff, one thing has become abundantly clear: informal debriefing is not just preferred - it’s essential.

After a difficult call or an emotionally taxing conciliation, staff don’t necessarily want to wait for formal supervision. They want to turn to a colleague, exhale, and make sense of what just happened. These micro-moments of support are how many regulate stress and maintain professional perspective.


Unfortunately, modern open-plan offices often suppress these natural, incidental interactions. When there’s no space to speak privately, or even quietly, debriefing is postponed or suppressed altogether. To counter this, organisations should consider embedding informal support spaces into their workplace design. These don’t need to be elaborate. A small corner bench, a quiet balcony, or an unbooked meeting room can become crucial zones of peer connection. What matters is ease of access, staff should feel they can step away and reconnect with a trusted peer without needing to make a formal request.

Safety in numbers? How do we look out for each other
Staff have a greater sense of wellbeing when they are able to debrief informally with their peers. Does your office environment allow for this type of connection?

Working from Home and Environmental Disconnect


With the rise of hybrid and remote work, many dispute resolution professionals are spending more time away from the office. While this can reduce some stressors (e.g., commuting or office distractions), it also reduces place-based cohesion and access to informal peer support.


Organisations must therefore find creative ways to support staff working from home, including:

  • Virtual debriefing spaces

  • Access to supervision and peer support

  • Encouraging staff to personalise their home workspace

  • Ensuring equipment and ergonomic needs are met


Remote work doesn’t negate the importance of environment, it shifts the responsibility toward home-office design and virtual connection.


Final Thoughts: Staff Wellbeing in Complaints and Conciliation Work


There’s no perfect office, and not every organisation has the resources or control to redesign their environment overnight. Budgets are tight. Hybrid work is here to stay. And property portfolios may be managed externally.


But if you do have the opportunity to shape the physical environment, whether through minor adjustments or major refurbishments, this article is a call to reflect. Because the physical environment is not neutral. It’s either helping or hindering your staff’s ability to do their job and it has a measurable impact on their wellbeing too.


In a profession where people are regularly exposed to conflict, distress, and complexity, the design of the workplace can be a silent ally or a silent stressor. If you're committed to building strong, resilient, and well-supported dispute resolution teams, space matters. I hope this article offers food for thought.



References

(Compiled as part of postgraduate research in psychology on workplace wellbeing and environmental design)


Please let me know if you'd like a copy of any of these sources!



One of the things I have been doing over the past couple of years is pursuing postgraduate studies in psychology for the specific purpose of better understanding how psychology and neuroscience can improve conflict work. Here's the assignment I did on this topic if you are interested!


Here's a copy of my research presentation on environment psychology and its impact on office staff - particularly those working in conflict and complaints.
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Shiv Martin is a nationally accredited mediator, practicing solicitor, conciliator, decision-maker, and certified vocational trainer.

Shiv Martin is a nationally accredited mediator, practicing solicitor, conciliator, decision-maker, and certified vocational trainer. With extensive experience in complex dispute resolution, stakeholder engagement, and team building across business, community, and governmental sectors, Shiv brings over a decade of unique and diverse expertise in Law, Management, Vocational Education, and Mediation.




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