The cost of workplace conflict can be extremely high.
For an office which is riddled with misunderstandings, disagreements and arguments, there is no positive picture to focus upon. Productivity will be at an all-time low and you’ll notice that employees would rather leave and seek employment elsewhere than try and stick it out in the office that perhaps they’ve worked at for many years.
Replacing high-quality staff is a time consuming and costly experience, but it’s also a very difficult situation if you want to ensure that productivity doesn’t drop in the process and afterwards. Remember, the employees you have at their office desks know your office inside and out. They understand the software packages, they know the customers and they understand the processes.
This isn’t something which can be learnt overnight by new employees.
For that reason, looking for the signs of workplace conflict and trying to overcome issues before they increase is vital.
Check out this infographic which talks about specific signs that workplace conflict might be evident in your office.
Source - https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/infographic/common-signs-workplace-conflict-infographic/
There isn’t a huge need to panic if you recognise just one sign, as workplace situations ebb and flow over time. However, if you notice several signs for a prolonged period, you could be looking at the possibility of conflict in your space.
There are many causes of conflict in the workplace. It might be that your employees don’t feel they can find privacy to concentrate on their work, which causes stress and therefore make it far easier for people to snap at each other when they don’t really mean to. Conflicts can often arise because of the smallest things, which can quickly snowball into something much larger.
So, now you know a few signs to look for, which are the most prevalent? Which should you seriously keep an eye out for?
- Low Morale - It can sometimes be hard to notice low morale, but it’s easy to see if you look closely. For example, are your employees lacking in smiles? Does the office have a negative feel all of a sudden? Is there a distinct lack of motivation evident from those at their office desks? These are signs of low morale but they’re also signs that conflict might be causing it all.
- Fewer Ideas And Suggestions - When you’re sitting around the boardroom tables trying to collaborate and come up with new brainstormed ideas, are you noticing far less in the way of input coming your way? This could be a clear sign of conflict in your workplace.
- Increased Sickness Absence - Stress is one of the biggest reasons for employees going off sick and conflict certainly causes stress levels to rise within the workplace. If you’re noticing that your employees are calling in sick more often, that could be a sign that stress is evident and that could be a result of conflict.
- Reduced Performance Levels - High-quality managers know their employees well, so if you’re noticing that an employee who is normally very productive is suddenly far less so, that could be because they’re being affected by conflict in the office.
- Increase Customer Complaints - If you’re suddenly getting complaints from customers and you hardly did before, you have to question why. This could very well be because productivity has dropped as a result of low morale and conflict within the workplace.
Of course, there are more signs, as the infographic shows, but these five are certainly the most common and the ones you should probably look out for above all else.
Learning to spot the signs and intervene early is a good way to try and avoid conflicts becoming large and harder to deal with. If you can nip it in the bud early, the effects will be far less serious and therefore easier to overcome as a whole.