How Much is Internal Conflict Costing You?
How Much is Internal Conflict Costing You?
BY MALACHI MCPHERSON, THE TCM GROUP
“Each year, organisations spend billions, both in terms of time and money on internal conflict.” says Malachi McPherson from the TCM Group. The yearly cost of workplace conflict is not only a staggering £28.5 billion and parties also suffer a huge emotional cost in terms of stress and trauma. So how can we do better? Dispute resolution and mediation can help to resolve conflicts, facilitate communication and improve workplace climate.
Each year, organisations spend billions, both in terms of time and money on internal conflict. Outdated processes and policies can often exasperate issues; amplifying their impact and causing damage to organisations, individuals, teams and workplace culture.
In the UK alone, the total cost of workplace conflict is a staggering £28.5 billion! This of course is notwithstanding the additional emotional ‘costs’ in terms of stress, trauma, unhappiness and more, which are often biproducts of conflict for individuals and teams. A closer analysis of the financial cost of conflict in the UK reveals:
£12.8 billion is spent on formal HR procedures, including grievances, disciplinary cases and dismissals cost
£11.9 billion accrued cost is from the impact of resignations
£2.2 billion is spent due to sickness absence
Contemporarily, the issues and costs associated with workplace conflict seem to be worsening, if a report released by The Myers-Briggs Company in August 2022 is to be believed.
Their research has found that the time spent on workplace conflict has doubled since 2008! On average respondents spent 4.34 hours per week dealing with conflict at work. This of course can have a significant impact on productivity, as well as impacting wider culture within the organisation and job satisfaction.
