Workplace conflict consultancy The Pacificus Group launches in Toronto

The Pacificus Group, a boutique consulting firm focusing on workplace conflict, has launched in Toronto.

Workplace conflict costs Canadian businesses more than $2 billion annually, according to research from HR consultancy Morneau Shepell.  Conflict between coworkers and between staff and management, as well as aggressive or abusive behaviour by various parties can negatively impact a workplace’s productivity. It can also lead to costs stemming from litigation.

Apart from financial costs, workplace conflict also negatively impacts the mental and emotional wellbeing of employees – an organization’s most valuable resource.

The Pacificus Group will help clients limit these costs by preventing, identifying, and resolving conflict in the workplace. The company’s leaders bring decades of expertise in conflict resolution, cultivated by experience in the armed forces, litigation, social work, and psychotherapy.

Pacificus’ executive team is composed of lawyer Daniel Sommers (president); psychiatrist Frank Sommers (chief development officer); and psychotherapist Laval Martin (chief executive officer).Daniel Sommers has been practicing alternative dispute resolution, civil litigation, and criminal defence for over 10 years. Sommers was previously an infantry and armoured officer in the Canadian Army, and is currently an officer in the Canadian Forces Reserves. He holds a JD from St. Thomas University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto.

Frank Sommers, MD, is a member of the department of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Sommers has practiced psychiatry for more than four decades. He is also a military veteran and was deployed as a civilian psychiatrist to the Canadian Armed Forces contingent in Afghanistan.

Laval Martin has worked in social services for 15 years, with expertise in crisis intervention and conflict resolution. He has also delivered psychotherapy for more than five years. Martin holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Toronto.

"Our teams' work in psychotherapy, military service, and law has shown us the depth of that cost and given us the experience to deal with it, and teaching conflict resolution skills is the best way to reduce conflict, saving businesses money and improving the wellbeing of their employees,” Daniel Sommers said. “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.”

Pacificus will deliver courses, coaching, consulting, and mediation and arbitration services to private and public sector organizations. The firm’s consulting offering includes workplace conflict-related audits, assessments, reviews, and investigations.