Service Offering
What we offer
We provide advice and assistance for psychological and / or legal problems and difficult situations in the workplace, and offer dialogue-based support to work through employment-related conflicts. We will work with you to analyze the situation, develop potential solutions, and if necessary point you toward other sources of support within and outside of UZH. Our services are focused on working with you to find solutions and boosting your own capacity to take action. Our aim is to prevent and de-escalate conflicts, encourage cooperative ways to work with others, and create win-win situations.
Apart from mediation, our work consists of individual counseling. In addition, depending on available resources, we provide training and presentations on subject-specific topics.
Individual counseling
Psychological counseling: Psychological counseling supports you in difficult and/or stressful situations at work to help you find individual solutions that work for you.
Legal counseling: In the case of work-related legal issues, the MBS offers a neutral, independent initial consultation to discuss the situation and background, the most important legal aspects (rights and obligations) and possible options for further action. The MBS cannot advocate on your behalf or actively assist you in exercising or enforcing your rights. Accordingly, the MBS cannot offer a binding prognosis on the prospects of success in legal disputes.
Mediation
Mediation is a process that aims to resolve conflicts. The goal is to find a solution that works for all involved (a win-win outcome). This is only possible if all people involved want to find such a solution and agree to participate. The MBS cannot force anyone into mediation, and discussions can only succeed if all parties are serious about engaging in the process. Participants may withdraw from mediation at any time. Mediation can bring clarity to a situation. Ideally, it leads to a resolution of the conflict or dispute.
The MBS supports the parties involved in mediation in finding a solution by facilitating discussions in an impartial manner. Discussions always follow the same pattern. We will not suggest any solutions ourselves, nor is it about determining who is to blame. The parties involved develop their own solutions that are acceptable in the long term.
The time required for mediation depends on the specific case. Straightforward cases may be resolved in just a few sessions, whereas complex cases require more time. Sessions generally last for two hours and usually do not require any preparation. To create a level playing field going into the discussion, the mediators – depending on the situation – either proceed directly to a joint discussion or offer both parties a brief one-on-one preliminary meeting.
Training and presentations
Depending on available resources, we offer training and presentations on the following topics:
- Conflict dynamics and escalation drivers
- Dealing with psychologically stressful situations in your day-to-day work
- Mediation services at UZH
Please contact us to discuss which format is best suited to your organizational unit.
For whom
The service is open to all UZH employees, i.e. academic staff (at all career stages, including professors) and administrative and technical staff, as well as PhD candidates who are matriculated but not employed at UZH. The Employee Assistance Office complements and is independent of other advisory centers or support offices at UZH.
How it works
We offer honest, sincere, neutral, clear and straightforward advice.
Our services are provided free of charge and participation is entirely voluntary. All conversations and sessions with us are kept strictly confidential, and we are subject to professional confidentiality rules. The Employee Assistance Office is operationally and organizationally independent: Other university units have no right to information or directive authority over the office. Unlike an ombudsperson, the MBS also has no professional or disciplinary authority to issue directives to other individuals or offices. The MBS is not part of formal internal UZH processes and cannot initiate such processes.