What are the most common causes of conflict in the workplace?

People spend most of their time in the workplace, which means it needs to be a pleasant and productive environment. However, it is inevitable that conflict will arise from time to time.

As the business manager, it is your job to deal with these disagreements, and to mitigate any friction before it develops into something worse. Therefore, in our article today, we are going to be discussing the most common causes of conflict in the workplace, and providing some information for dealing with them. Keep reading to find out more.

1. Bullying and harassment

You would think that, beyond school, people would mature and learn how to behave with civility toward those they do not necessarily like, or agree with. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

In the majority of workplaces, there will be a few instances of bullying and harassment. This commonly includes one employee making demeaning comments or being sexually inappropriate with other workers.

As the manager, it is your duty to ensure the safety of your employees, and to take measures that protect them from mental duress. However, employees often find it difficult to come forward about bullying and harassment. And so, we suggest regularly having individual meetings with each member of staff. By getting them alone, they might be more willing to reveal what is going on for them.

Make sure to remain impartial in the situation, even if you are close to the perpetrator, and do what you need to do to foster a professional environment that is welcoming to all.

2. Wrongful dismissal

Unfortunately, business leaders do need to fire staff from time to time. This is a particularly difficult process for both parties involved, as the employee is out of work and the employer usually feels quite guilty. With all these emotions being involved, it is very common for the situation to escalate.

Sometimes, employers will be accused of wrongful dismissal, which entails a painful and expensive legal process. To help with dismissing your workers, we recommend using employment solicitors. These are specialists who effectively determine whether you have the appropriate grounds to fire a member of staff, and will help you to navigate the legal and personal side of these conflicts.

3. Discrimination

Rightfully so, we have collectively become more aware of prejudice and discrimination in our society. It is now illegal for businesses to discriminate against people based on their race, gender, sexuality, disability, ectara. However, discrimination is still a massive issue in the modern work environment.

Employers need to ensure they are preventing staff from discriminating against one another. They also need to analyse how their organisation and operations might be discriminatory, whether they meant to be or not.

To prevent inequality from harming your workplace, we recommend investing in workshops which educate you and your employees on the matter. Furthermore, we deem it necessary to conduct an audit of your organisation. You can do so by hiring a separate body to examine its current standards of inclusivity, diversity and equality.

There you have it are some of the main sources of conflict in the workplace that most employers will come across.