5 ways not to manage employee conflict
Respondents to a research study released in 2022 by the Meyers-Briggs Company said they spent, on average, 4.34 hours per week dealing with conflict at work. The study concluded that the more time that an individual spent dealing with conflict at work, the lower their job satisfaction and the less included they felt.
Cost of conflicts
Workplace conflict is a costly problem for organizations. An earlier study by CPP Inc. estimated that U.S. companies lose $359 billion a year due to workplace conflict. These costs are the result of diminished work performance, low employee morale, and loss of revenue, as well as the negative health effects extreme conflict can have on employees such as anxiety, depression, poor sleep, back pain, and migraines.
When employers should intervene
Even within the most cohesive work teams, interpersonal conflict may occasionally rear its ugly head. Though managers might like to stay out of seemingly petty disagreements between employees, if the conflict is happening within the workplace, it’s probably affecting work. And that’s why employers need to step in and address issues.
Of course, how a company handles conflict will depend somewhat on the individuals involved, as well as the type of conflict. However, there are some approaches that probably shouldn’t be taken by employers regardless of the type of situation.
What not to do when conflict happens:
- Do not ignore the conflict and hope it will go away. Even a conflict that appears to be purely personal can drastically affect workplace productivity and morale. Though it may be uncomfortable to investigate a disagreement between two employees, remember that they made the personal issue work related by allowing their conflict to surface in the workplace. Whatever the conflict, it’s affecting work. And it’s likely impacting other staff as well.
- Do not write off a conflict as a personal issue. Employees might bring personal conflicts into the workplace. And these conflicts initially may not be work related. However, it’s possible that something in the work environment is exacerbating their personal problem. Talk to the employees about if there is something at work that’s feeding the flames of their personal issues. For example, maybe they’re unclear about who has what responsibilities.
- Do not make their problem the company’s problem. Yes, personal conflicts on the team are a problem, but don’t be the only one responsible for fixing it. Employees are expected to be professional at work and take steps to resolve personal issues. You can provide resources to assist, however, make sure they know the potential consequences for failing to deal with the problem appropriately.
- Do not spend more time discussing the problem than considering solutions. The part of the conversation that outlines the issue should be brief and should only involve enough facts to work toward a solution. Employees should not get the impression that the company is interested in placing blame or taking sides. The focus should always be remedying the situation. If a discussion with employees isn’t productive toward that end, redirect it.
- Do not assume the problem is solved. A problem-solving session with the employees may have seemed successful, but assuming the problem is remedied without following up is almost as bad as failing to address it in the first place. After some time has passed, speak to the employees about how the solutions are working. If necessary, troubleshoot the situation again.
Key to remember: Employers cannot prevent or solve all conflicts. If two employees still can’t effectively work together, separate them if possible. An employee may need to be disciplined for behavior that doesn’t improve, and in the worst-case scenario, an employee may even need to be terminated.