In a new report, ACAS estimates that conflict costs employers £1,000 per person employed.
£1,000 per person employed is an estimate based on the total cost to organisations in handling workplace conflict. That includes informal, formal and legal processes as well as the cost of sickness absences and resignations.
What this means for employers (if they want to reduce this cost)
Put written contracts in place and, if you cannot find them (or they don’t exist!) create new ones. When conflict arises, there are few things worse than not knowing what was originally agreed.
Have some essential policies in place. Employees need to know what they can do if they have a grievance, feel discrimination or think you are breaking the law. Even with a single employee, it is valuable to have ground rules. When you employ a dozen or more, it is crucial.
Know how to handle workplace absence. Assuming that absence is solely the responsibility of the employee can be a mistake. There are techniques for managing it.
Have an induction or onboarding process. Early resignations arise when new employees don’t feel part of the business or gel with the team. Attention here can pay dividends. Although attention shouldn’t stop at induction.
Create and maintain an environment of trust. It is invaluable when conflict arises. Disagreements are inevitable in working environments but, with mutual respect, they can usually be resolved.
Nip unsatisfactory behaviour in the bud. If you or supervisors don’t know how to do this, and let’s face it there is a skill to it, talk to us. We have a framework that works well.
Disciplinary procedures should be implemented long before anyone thinks of dismissal (in most cases). Getting to the end of the road, when the employee doesn’t know they are on it, never works well.
ACAS takes a pessimistic view stressing that poor conflict management can cause staff stress, anxiety or depression and impact workplace productivity. That is correct, of course.
But good, productive, conflict lies behind some of the greatest human achievements. Powered flight (the Wright brothers), DNA (Crick and Watson) the Beatles (Lennon and McCartney), have their origins in conflict. The trick is to manage it.
It may be that conflict costs employers, but the positive spin is that by investing in sound conflict management, instead of just reducing costs, we might yield profits of £1,000 per person employed.
Malcolm Martin FCIPD
Author Human Resource Practice
Blogs are for general guidance and are not an authoritative statement of the law