Generally speaking, a ombudsman is chosen to help 2 parties having a dispute and unable themselves to achieve a satisfactory outcome find a negotiated solution that both parties accept.
There are ombudsmen in many areas:
- in consumer relations with the company with which they have a contract,
- in relations between companies,
- in interpersonal relations (for instance,family disputes, disputes with neighbours, etc.),
- in relations between an employer and his employees
In disputes between a company and its stakeholders (the ENGIE Group Ombudsman‘s sphere of intervention), the role of the independent Ombudsman is threefold:
- help resolve the individual disputes of claimants who refer their case to him following a disagreement with any ENGIE Group entity or subsidiary,
- on the basis of the disputes he handles, suggest recommendations, published in his annual milestone report, to the companies concerned to help them make changes in their process responsible for the disputes so that the latter do not recur,
- help develop alternative dispute resolution within or even beyond the ENGIE Group.