By Esther Fefoame HR / ADR Management Consultant | Arbitrator & Mediator, National Labour Commission (Ghana)
By the time a Labour dispute reaches arbitration or mediation, the damage has already been done.
Trust is broken. Positions are hardened. Lawyers are engaged. What should have been a manageable workplace concern has become a formal conflict with legal, financial and reputational consequences. From my experience mediating and arbitrating labour disputes across Ghana and West Africa, one fact is undeniable: most disputes were avoidable. They weren’t triggered by complex laws or inherently “difficult” workers, they were triggered by poor early decisions, often made or neglected inside HR offices.
- This is not an attack on HR professionals.
- It is a call to honesty and professionalism.
Where Workplace Conflicts Truly Begin
Contrary to common belief, disputes rarely start with “troublesome workers” or “militant unions.” They begin with silence, delay and misjudgment.
- A complaint goes unacknowledged.
- An investigation is promised but postponed.
- A supervisor’s misconduct is quietly “managed.”
- A termination decision is rushed without fair process.
These steps are often justified as pragmatic:
- “Let’s keep the peace.”
- “Let’s not escalate.”
- “Let’s protect management.”
But what looks like calm on the surface is usually pressure building beneath it. By the time matters reach the National Labour Commission, the Labour court, or an arbitration room, they have already passed through multiple missed opportunities for resolution.
The Unspoken HR Dilemma
In many African workplaces, HR professionals operate under conflicting pressures. They are expected to uphold fairness and compliance, yet remain loyal to management, even when management is in the wrong. This tension manifests in recurring patterns:
- HR officers advise caution but are ignored.
- HR managers are told to “make it go away.”
- HR departments become administrative messengers for flawed decisions.
The outcome is predictable: HR becomes a silent witness to injustice instead of the institutional conscience it was meant to be.
In many workplaces outside Africa, HR’s role in risk prevention and dispute avoidance is taken seriously, investigations are documented, decisions are reviewed, and due process is non‑negotiable. In contrast, HR is too often treated as an extension of executive authority rather than an independent professional function. That distinction matters, legally and ethically.
Due Process Is Not Bureaucracy
A central theme in disputes is management’s impatience with fair process.
- Investigations are seen as slow.
- Hearings are viewed as unnecessary.
- Warnings are skipped in favour of immediate dismissal.
Yet due process is not bureaucracy for bureaucracy’s sake. It is risk management.
When employers bypass
- basic fairness,
- notice, hearing,
- proportional discipline,
They weaken their own case. Even where misconduct exists, poor procedure turns defensible decisions into costly liabilities. I have seen employers lose strong cases not because they were wrong in substance, but because they were reckless in procedure.
And when that happens, frustration often follows: “But the worker was clearly at fault.”
Yes, but the process was not.
The Myth of “Keeping the Peace”
A widespread trigger of disputes is the desire to “keep the peace.”
- Complaints are ignored to avoid conflict.
- Powerful managers are shielded to maintain harmony.
- Workers are encouraged to endure quietly.
This approach rarely keeps the peace. It delays the inevitable.
When workers eventually speak,
- They do not whisper,
- They escalate.
- They unionize.
- They petition regulators.
- They go public.
- They litigate.
In mediation, one phrase is repeated again and again: “I raised this issue months ago.”
Silence did not solve the problem. It incubated it.
HR Decisions Are Governance Decisions
One of the most dangerous misconceptions is that labour disputes are merely “HR issues.”
- They are not.
- They are governance issues.
Every unfair termination, ignored grievance, or flawed investigation exposes an organization to regulatory sanctions, reputational damage, investor concern and operational disruption.
Boards that treat labour disputes as routine HR matters underestimate their strategic risk, with consequences that extend far beyond the workplace.
Global investors increasingly understand this. ESG assessments now scrutinize labour practices, dispute histories and grievance mechanisms. What was once internal is now reputationally visible.
African workplaces are not exempt from this scrutiny, even if enforcement remains uneven.
What Prevention Actually Looks Like
Preventing labour disputes does not require perfection. It requires professional courage.
- HR professionals must document concerns, even when uncomfortable.
- Management must accept advice they do not want to hear.
- Boards must ask questions beyond profit margins.
- Most importantly, organizations must stop treating disputes as surprises.
Every dispute file tells a story. Most begin with someone choosing not to act when action was still possible.
Conclusion: Where Real Reform Begins
Not every labour dispute is preventable. But most of the disputes filling arbitration rooms today did not have to get there.
They were created by silence disguised as peace, authority replacing fairness, and speed substituting for judgment.
If African workplaces want fewer disputes, the solution does not start with:
- Tougher lawyers or longer policies.
- It starts with earlier, braver decisions, taken when issues are still manageable,
- voices are still willing to speak, and
- Trust has not yet collapsed.
The real work of prevention does not happen in courtrooms or hearing rooms. It happens quietly, and courageously, inside HR offices.
And that is where Africa’s workplace reform must truly begin.
Author Bio
The Author, Esther Fefoame is an HR and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Management Consultant, Corporate Trainer, and a listed Arbitrator and Mediator with the National Labour Commission (NLC) of Ghana. She works at the intersection of labour law, workplace governance, and dispute prevention, advising employers and workers across Ghana and West Africa.
You can reach Esther Fefoame via Email: efandassociatesgh@gmail.com or via LinkedIn: Esther Fefoame
