Employees may think the solution to workplace conflict is to avoid it at all costs, but actually,
Eighty-five percent of U.S. employees have experienced some level of conflict at work, according to data insights platform Gitnux. On average, employees spend 2.8 hours per week resolving disagreements, while managers spend roughly 15% of their time
"Globally we're in a high state of conflict — and it's only going to get higher," says Justin Jones-Fosu, speaker and founder of Work Meaningful, a business consultation service. "These large-scale issues are seeping into the workplace, leaving a lot of people afraid to speak up because they don't want to start more conflict."
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As a result, 56% of employees who experienced conflict at work reported that it led to stress, anxiety and depression, according to Gitnux, and 40% reported feeling less motivated. Nearly half of all employees blamed clashes between personalities or egos as the leading cause of workplace conflicts, while 29% blamed poor leadership, 26% blamed dishonesty and 23% blamed
Without the right kind of perspective, continuous conflict at work could lead to low employee engagement and even high turnover. In fact, Gitnux found that 38% of employees want to quit because of poor workplace culture or a feeling they don't fit in. But that doesn't mean conflict should be discouraged, according to Jones-Fosu.
"Communication and conflict aren't inherently bad," Jones-Fosu says. "It's a lack of respect for conflict and resolution, paired with unhealthy polarization that leads to disrespect in the workplace."
Jones-Fosu recently spoke with EBN about the importance of
What are some of the drivers of workplace conflict?
Employees don't want to get canceled — they're afraid they're going to say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing — and it's stifling them. Organizations are going to continue to struggle with conflict as we continue through another election cycle, so how do you get people on one conclusive mindset around conflict in and out of the workplace?
In remote settings we saw increased engagement with many employees because they weren't dealing with any kind of workplace conflict. For example, minority groups weren't dealing with unconscious bias or discrimination at home, whereas now they might be. What we've found is that while coming back to the office is a great opportunity to improve communication, the employee experience has been impacted. A lot of organizations are still trying to figure out what's best for their team of people that used to be remote, and who are now struggling to avoid conflict from colleagues by putting their head down and feeling what they're feeling on their own.
What are some strategies employees could turn to when experiencing conflict at work?
We created five pillars to help those dealing with conflict, and the first is to challenge your perspective. This means prioritizing meaningful conversation with colleagues, like scheduling 15 to 20 minute conversations with somebody to learn their story and what's important to them. For leaders, this means moving away from an open-door policy, and moving into what we call an "out the door" policy — which encourages them to leave their office and physically go and hear your workforce's stories. This way you're establishing respect for employees before the conflict even happens.
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The second pillar is to be the student. When you find yourself in tough interactions, you should ask yourself: "What's the lesson here?" The third pillar is to cultivate curiosity. Our brains are wired to make conclusions and not be curious in moments of conflict because it's easier. Instead, ask the other person what they need in that situation or what they mean, because sometimes we find we're arguing about two different conversations entirely.
The fourth pillar is to seek out the gray area. This means understanding that dialogue is not about one point of view or another; it's about how we confront and solve the issue together, no matter the outcome. The fifth and final pillar is respect. Everybody should be respected, period. You can disagree with someone while still choosing to respect their character.
Despite the challenges, why is conflict still necessary for a healthy workplace?
Conflict helps us make better decisions. It drives innovation and creativity. Discussing the pros and cons of a situation or hearing different perspectives and stories creates this sense of camaraderie. What we really need to focus on is respectful disagreement, which is the ability to disagree in a professional setting without hurting the person you're disagreeing with. Employees will always have internal and external conflicts they bring to the office; why not give them practical ways to get better, and lean into more respectful disagreements?
