A fear of confrontation is preventing employees from solving work disputes early, according to new research.
Employment law company WorkNest found that a fear of conflict escalating is stopping 43% of employers and HR professionals addressing interpersonal issues at work.
Almost a quarter (24%) cited a lack of training or skills in conflict management, and a fifth blamed resistance to change.
A small proportion (8%) of respondents to WorkNest’s survey of 700 employers and HR professionals said that there was limited organisational support for conflict management, and 5% felt that policies were unclear.
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WorkNest found that day-to-day confrontations were affecting morale the most, with 38% citing personality clashes as a source of discord.
Around a quarter (26%) cited performance-related disputes as an issue, and 22% mentioned conflict between line managers and their employees.
Only 10% said that formal allegations of bullying or discrimination were commonplace.
Alex Holmes, an employment law adviser at WorkNest, said that, if handled correctly, “it can actually de-escalate a situation and ensure a minor conflict does not become more serious”.
“The knock-on effects of not efficiently dealing with minor conflicts are severe. It will impact employee wellbeing, productivity and retention as well as increasing absences and potentially putting businesses at legal risk due to formal grievances,” she added.
WorkNest’s research echoes similar findings from the CIPD last year, which found that only a third of staff who have experienced conflict feel it has been fully resolved.
One in five HR professionals responding to WorkNest said they felt “very unsupported” by senior leaders in managing conflict.
This requires a shift in culture rather than policy change, argued Wendy Lockhart, HR consultant at the company.
She said: “HR must tackle conflict avoidance norms and encourage effective resolution of these low-level, personal conflicts.
“This can be done through upskilling line managers beyond policy, driving a resolution mindset with employees, normalising preventative and informal dialogue and ensuring that senior leadership understand their role in modelling the correct behaviour to enable real cultural change.”
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