Workplace conflict is a common these phenomenon these days.  You are not among the minority feeling the tangles of conflict or tension at your workplace.  According to a study by CPP, a Mountain View, training and assessment company showed that most workers spend an average of two hours per week on clashes in the workplace.  The study which covered a sample population of 5000 employees in nine different countries including Germany, Ireland, U.K, Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France and of course the United States, showed that such conflicts have snowballed to a figure of roughly $350 billion in one year.  The study found that the Unites States was among the top three countries in their number of hours spend on dealing with conflict (they spent 2.8 hours/week).The down economy, leads to increased stress and bigger workloads.  Although it is definitely recommended for employees to seek professional help and learn techniques to channel their stress, outside of the workplace, it is every employer’s responsibility to also offer its employees the facilitation and conflict resolution expertise of an expert.   As a corporate psychologist, I constantly come in contact with individuals who after having struggled for a long time, end up leaving or getting terminated from their organizations, and then seeking my help.  When I ask why they didn’t seek help while they were employed, they mention that their long hours at work did not allow them to cut from their busy schedules to spend time on conflict resolution.Organizations are being more frugal in their spending, however when one looks at the hours and the amount of dollar lost in haphazard ways of dealing with the workplace clashes, one can only reach one conclusion: it is wiser to spend a fraction of that amount on providing the employees the assistance they need in order to avoid much greater losses down the line.It is a common misperception that workplace conflict is a result of personality clashes alone; when in fact it is only a percentage of all incidents.  While personality clashes cover 49 percent, stress, heavy workloads, poor leadership from the top, and lack of honesty and openness comprise the greater portion of the conflict.  Ironically, a good Conflict Resolution Plan is all it takes to resolve the latter issues, while on the other hand, personality clashes are a matter of understanding, tolerance and as a drastic measure and  final resource, removal.

During 2008, many companies found themselves in a state of shock. From challenged business results, to failed new ventures and in turn facing downsizing. Some companies including Circuit City, Best Buy, Gap Inc. etc. had to eliminate over 2000 in a brief period of time. This trend continues until today, and of course, following these events, corporate moral takes a down turn as well. At this crucial point in time, it becomes especially important for Human Resources managers and executives to put on their corporate social responsibility hats and create momentum in communicating transparency and dignity. To preserve morale, personal empathy is a requirement. We need to be asking ourselves “how to maximize the level of support?” Company leaders and employee need to recognize the organizations key challenges, how they have been caused, and the solutions. This will result in open communication which can serve as a key problem-solver as well as a prevention technique. As a counsel to the both the HR executive as well as the business leader in times as these, I recommend the following:

1. Creation and support of an HR Summit which establishes a podium for addressing important topics as they arise or are foreseen.
2. Creating a website or intranet helpline that is updated frequently with new information case by case as they arise or are foreseen.
3. Gathering a Temperature Read of where employees awareness stands as related to cost saving and reshaping efforts.
4. Hold once a month open-director meetings, where workers and staff are able to question senior leadership.

Of course, depending on the size and budget of your organization, you may have the flexibility to do a total-rewards redesign, offer severance packages, make healthcare plans available for part-time employees and introduce health-reimbursement accounts.Regardless of what you choose to do, remember that you have the responsibility for another person’s personal expressions of themselves.