7 Ways Your Company Is Wasting Money on Conflict

Unresolved, avoided, ineffectively managed, or destructive workplace conflict is expensive, both in financial and human terms:

1. Lost Work Time. Several studies over the last decade suggest that a typical manager spends between 25% and 40% of her time dealing with employee conflict. In a study I conducted in 2000, college and university managers’ time on conflict ranged from 40% to 50% of work hours. Lost work time accrues for the employees involved in the dispute, their supervisors, sometimes their peers, and human resource staff.
2. Attrition and Related Costs. Research reported in the late 1990s showed that workplace conflict left unresolved for too long leads to employee attrition or the use of valuable work time searching for alternative employment. Employee turnover that had its genesis in unresolved conflict is leads to expenditures for severance, recruitment, training and development for replacement staff, and the loss of productivity during that period.
3. Absenteeism and Increased Health Care Costs. The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has reported that health care costs are nearly 50% greater for workers who report high levels of stress. Stress as a reason for absenteeism increased 316% between 1995 and 1999. Stress is a known byproduct of unhealthy workplace conflict.
4. More Grievances and Complaints. Between 1992 and 1998, annual monetary benefits for EEOC sexual harassment cases increased from $12.7 to $34.5 million. Annual monetary benefits for EEOC-handled ADA cases increased from $200,000 to $49.1 million during the same period.
5. Increased Legal Fees. A 2005 Fulbright & Jaworski survey on litigation trends in the U.S. concluded that almost 9 out of 10 American companies are involved in some type of litigation and that one of the most prevalent messages to corporate counsel is "control costs."
6. Theft and Sabotage. Unhappy employees can and do damage company equipment and steal from inventory. More insidiously, covert sabotage results from the daily little acts of omission from an employee that doesn't feel heard or
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   The West Virginia State Agency that oversees the collection and reporting of State income taxes deducted from payroll checks is:State Tax Department Capitol Complex, Bldg. 1, W417 Charleston, WV 25305 (304) 558-3333 (800) 982-8297 (in state) www.state.wv.us/taxrevWest Virginia allows you to use the "WV/IT-104, West Virginia's Employee's Withholding Exemption Certificate" form to calculate state income tax withholding or federal form W4 if state and federal exemption are the same.Not all states allow salary reductions made under Section 125 cafeteria plans or 401(k) to be treated in the same manner as the IRS code allows. In West Virginia cafeteria plans are not taxable for income tax calculation; taxable for unemployment insur
   eral studies over the last decade suggest that a typical manager spends between 25% and 40% of her time dealing with employee conflict. In a study I conducted in 2000, college and university managers’ time on conflict ranged from 40% to 50% of work hours. Lost work time accrues for the employees involved in the dispute, their supervisors, sometimes their peers, and human resource staff.
7. Attrition and Related Costs. Research reported in the late 1990s showed that workplace conflict left unresolved for too long leads to employee attrition or the use of valuable work time searching for alternative employment. Employee turnover that had its genesis in unresolved conflict is leads to expenditures for severance, recruitment, training and development for replacement staff, and the loss of productivity during that period.
8. Absenteeism and Increased Health Care Costs. The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has reported that health care costs are nearly 50% greater for workers who report high levels of stress. Stress as a reason for absenteeism increased 316% between 1995 and 1999. Stress is a known byproduct of unhealthy workplace conflict.
9. More Grievances and Complaints. Between 1992 and 1998, annual monetary benefits for EEOC sexual harassment cases increased from $12.7 to $34.5 million. Annual monetary benefits for EEOC-handled ADA cases increased from $200,000 to $49.1 million during the same period.
10. Increased Legal Fees. A 2005 Fulbright & Jaworski survey on litigation trends in the U.S. concluded that almost 9 out of 10 American companies are involved in some type of litigation and that one of the most prevalent messages to corporate counsel is "control costs."
11. Theft and Sabotage. Unhappy employees can and do damage company equipment and steal from inventory. More insidiously, covert sabotage results from the daily little acts of omission from an employee that doesn't feel heard o
    How Much Do You Pay Your Employer To Work For Them?
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    t unresolved for too long leads to employee attrition or the use of valuable work time searching for alternative employment. Employee turnover that had its genesis in unresolved conflict is leads to expenditures for severance, recruitment, training and development for replacement staff, and the loss of productivity during that period.
12. Absenteeism and Increased Health Care Costs. The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has reported that health care costs are nearly 50% greater for workers who report high levels of stress. Stress as a reason for absenteeism increased 316% between 1995 and 1999. Stress is a known byproduct of unhealthy workplace conflict.
13. More Grievances and Complaints. Between 1992 and 1998, annual monetary benefits for EEOC sexual harassment cases increased from $12.7 to $34.5 million. Annual monetary benefits for EEOC-handled ADA cases increased from $200,000 to $49.1 million during the same period.
14. Increased Legal Fees. A 2005 Fulbright & Jaworski survey on litigation trends in the U.S. concluded that almost 9 out of 10 American companies are involved in some type of litigation and that one of the most prevalent messages to corporate counsel is "control costs."
15. Theft and Sabotage. Unhappy employees can and do damage company equipment and steal from inventory. More insidiously, covert sabotage results from the daily little acts of omission from an employee that doesn't feel heard o
    Improve Your Chances of a Better Position by Making the Headhunters Chase You!
    Headhunters are always looking to grow their supply of candidates, and regularly update their database of quality professionals. Getting onto that database is a key step towards obtaining an interview, and should be one of your priorities. To do that, you need to make yourself more marketable, and easier for a headhunter to work with.Because most placements are done on an assignment basis, some candidates will get nowhere if they are not seen as ideally suited for particular positions currently available.But a dynamic initial approach to the headhunter can make you stand out, and get you straight on to their list of “top-drawer” candidates - those who have priority when new career openings arise.To make the right impact, you firstly need t
    greater for workers who report high levels of stress. Stress as a reason for absenteeism increased 316% between 1995 and 1999. Stress is a known byproduct of unhealthy workplace conflict.
16. More Grievances and Complaints. Between 1992 and 1998, annual monetary benefits for EEOC sexual harassment cases increased from $12.7 to $34.5 million. Annual monetary benefits for EEOC-handled ADA cases increased from $200,000 to $49.1 million during the same period.
17. Increased Legal Fees. A 2005 Fulbright & Jaworski survey on litigation trends in the U.S. concluded that almost 9 out of 10 American companies are involved in some type of litigation and that one of the most prevalent messages to corporate counsel is "control costs."
18. Theft and Sabotage. Unhappy employees can and do damage company equipment and steal from inventory. More insidiously, covert sabotage results from the daily little acts of omission from an employee that doesn't feel heard o
    Entrepreneurialism: Research vs. Intuition
    In the development of a business there is a certain amount of research that must be conducted. Most entrepreneurs find themselves immersed in some form of research whether they like it or not.For many burgeoning entrepreneurs there is a question of whether intense research or personal intuition is the best course of action in determining the direction needed in business decisions.Henry Ford once said, “Thinking is the hardest work there is. Which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.” Even the pioneering automaker knew that research was a taxing and labor intensive process that was not necessarily enjoyable.“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?” - Author UnknownThere is a certain
    al Fees. A 2005 Fulbright & Jaworski survey on litigation trends in the U.S. concluded that almost 9 out of 10 American companies are involved in some type of litigation and that one of the most prevalent messages to corporate counsel is "control costs."
19. Theft and Sabotage. Unhappy employees can and do damage company equipment and steal from inventory. More insidiously, covert sabotage results from the daily little acts of omission from an employee that doesn't feel heard or valued.
20. Damage to Company Reputation. When conflict goes public, the loss can be measurable in terms of lower earnings, diminished market share, or decreased traffic.

5 Ways Your Company Can Transform Conflict into Opportunity

Well-managed conflict contributes to creativity, strategic initiative, more effective systems and communication, stronger workplace relationships and a greater commitment to the organization. Good employees stay on board and better decisions lead to greater corporate health. What can you do to create such transformation? Address the root causes of unhealthy workplace conflict:

1. Help Employees Learn How to Access Good Interpersonal Skill. All the skill training in the world won't help your employees during conflict if they don't know how to access those skills when they're in the heat of the moment. The new trend in conflict resolution training is a blend of interactive, classroom-style training with follow-up coaching to help employees really use what they learned.
2. Prepare Managers to Offer More Effective Help. Many managers address conflict by imposing a solution, chastising, lecturing, re-organizing the department in question, or trying to help parties work it out without really having good insider mediation skills. Make an investment in your managers' education as in-house mediators with substantive skills to address the kinds of complex conflicts that create long-term problems.
3. Clean Up Problematic Organizational Systems. System problems can masquerade as interpersonal conflicts. As I work with parties to peel back the layers of a conflict, it’s not uncommon to uncover ways the organization’s systems are pressing upon one or more of the individuals involved and directly influencing their behavior negatively. Such system problems may be invisible until the overt conflict begins, so wise workplaces consider conflict a possible symptom of something bigger; conf