It you’ve ever worked in a toxic team or with a chronically challenging colleague, you already know the toll workplace conflict can take on you personally. It also has a huge cost to businesses, not only in terms of lost productivity, but also in potential legal fees or damage to the company’s reputation. Recently, I read an interesting article about the personal and organisational impact of workplace conflict which really resonated with me.

The article cites research by the University of Sheffield. This showed that 60% of workers involved in workplace conflict experience depression as a result. This really shows the profound effect that conflict can have your wellbeing. In 2018, almost 900,000 employees took time off work because of conflict, nearly half a million resigned and over 300,000 were dismissed. These eye-opening statistics really highlight the detrimental effect that conflict can have on individuals’ lives and careers.

As most experienced managers know, of course, the impact of workplace conflict isn’t just emotional. Apparently, conflict costs employers nearly £30 billion annually. That averages out to around £1,000 per employee. Can you believe that? Those costs are associated with three main areas:

• Resignations
• Disciplinary dismissals and the legal costs associated with them
• Sick leave caused by mental health issues

Obviously, all this creates a compelling business case for leaders to pay attention to both conflict prevention and resolution at an organisational level. Interventions to think about include training managers to recognise and respond to warning signs of conflict. It’s also useful to provide them with tools and processes to help them manage conflict and difficult situations assertively and professionally.

All of this adds up to one key message: workplace conflict is not just a personal or interpersonal issue. It’s also an organisational problem with bottom-line consequences. If you’re a supervisor, team leader or manager, read this article here.. Then pass it on to someone else who needs to hear about the importance of addressing workplace conflict.

This article summary was created by Eleanor Shakiba

Eleanor is a leadership trainer, success coach and people skills expert. She helps managers and business owners build thriving teams and organisations, using tools from Positive Psychology. She's trained more than 60,000 people during her career as a corporate trainer and professional development consultant. Her mission is inspiring talented people to become leaders who make a difference.