Dispute Management in the Workplace It takes an enlightened company and HR department to understand the damage inflicted on the company by mismanaged conflict within its ranks. It is a matter of enlightened self interest for a company to avail itself of the services of a conflict resolution professional. The Cost of Conflict in the Workplace The problem with the cost of conflict in the workplace is that it is not directly visible. No line item on the budget will say "cost of conflict." We tend to ignore what is not explicitly visible. Factors that make conflict in the workplace costly People spend more and more time distracted from work by the conflict. The number of people included and involved in the dispute expands over time, including supervisors and HR staff who spend many hours trying to resolve the issue. Less work gets done and as stress increases, the quality of work suffers. Morale suffers, absenteeism increases and when experienced workers leave, their absence disrupts work. The cost of locating replacements and training them is estimated at 50% of the annual salary paid for the job being replaced. Poor solutions, such as restructuring the work flow to keep the conflicted parties apart, undermine output. Estimating the annual cost of conflict Dr. Thomson's Rule of Thumb: If we were to average the cost of conflict across all employees in a medium to large size company, we can count at least 2 hours of work lost on average per employee per week. This means, every 20 employees represent one full-time salary that is paid for nothing. Total number of employees, divided by 20, multiplied by the average annual salary paid by the company gives us an estimate of annual loss due to mismanaged conflict. In a company with one thousand employees and an average salary of $40,000, this invisible cost is estimated at 2 million dollars a year! An External Mediator It is desirable to encourage early and constructive handling of differences through proper training of both management and staff. However, when an issue resists resolution, the solution may be an External Mediator. What are the advantages of an External Mediator? Impartiality. An external mediator does not represent the company, and does not have personal relationships with the parties, and is therefore perceived as impartial by the parties to conflict. Confidentiality. The external mediator assures parties to mediation of confidentiality. Only general outcomes, and whatever participants agree to, are reported to the company. The external mediator brings a fresh view to the situation, offers assessment of the problem, recommends resolution, and has the skills to help resolve the conflict in a constructive and productive way. EAP services are oriented toward mental health of employees. They do not offer conflict resolution expertise. For that you need a dispute resolution professional. INTERPEOPLE OFFERS EXTERNAL MEDIATOR SERVICES Call Dr. Thomson to set up a meeting to discuss your options. Area of service: Workplace mediation and training can be provided anywhere in the United States and across the globe.