Stress From Workplace Conflict

It would seem that stress is an inescapable reality of most working environments. Factors that impact workplace stress include clashes with coworkers, supervisors, job insecurity, inability to influence decision-making, and more personal issues such as childcare, eldercare, financial problems or issues of substance abuse. The effects of these stressors on an organization can include reduced decision-making quality, loss of skilled employees, need to restructure, employee sabotage (including theft and damage), lowered job motivation, and increased absenteeism. Ultimately, this can result in increased short-term disability and long-term disability insurance premiums.

STRESS COSTS

Unmanaged conflict in the workplace is possibly the least recognized and yet most reducible cost to many organizations today. It is estimated that 42% of a manager’s time is spent attempting to reach resolution with others when workplace conflict occurs. Watson Wyatt’s “Canadian 2002/2003 Staying@Work” study reveals that psychological conditions including stress, anxiety and depression are the leading cause of both short and long-term disability. The same study indicates that most organizations surveyed share a concern about the steady increase of these conditions but are uncertain how to address these problems successfully.

The Watson Wyatt study reflects that many companies are in “reactive mode” in effectively managing disability from an organizational perspective. Proactive investment in strategies and processes to effectively deal with workplace conflict, a major source of stress and subsequent workplace dysfunction or employee disability can produce reduced short and long-term disability premiums, as well as reduced employee turnover, decreased absenteeism and finally increased employee productivity.

STRESS MODELS

Disability research has demonstrated the importance of understanding the perspectives of both the employee and employer to achieve a successful return to work. The literature proposes various models to assist employees to either stay at work or return to work when stress impacts on their ability to work effectively. These models have, for the most part, drawn from theories of disablement and focused upon the identification of medically related factors that have influenced the path from disease/injury to the point of disability. But, not enough attention has been placed upon the interpersonal difficulties between employee and employer that need to be addressed to achieve a successful return to work or to remain at work. “Workplace facilitation” (WPF) is a process that has its primary focus on non-medical issues and resolution of interpersonal conflict.

WORKPLACE FACILITATION

Workplace facilitation is a process whereby facilitative strategies are used by a trained facilitator to bring about a resolution to workplace issues that present as barriers to an employee’s attendance at work or successful return to work following an absence, often assigned to illness, which may be stress induced.

What is different about WPF? The process examines the underlying interests of each party (why one wants something) as opposed to the positions of each party (what one wants). The main emphasis of WPF is to cost-effectively address the non-medical barriers impacting on recovery and the sustainability of work or return to work planning. The underpinnings of the workplace facilitation model are:

Requires voluntary participation from all parties;

Requires confidentiality and neutrality from the facilitator;

Encourages personal empowerment;

It creates workable solutions which can be implemented; and

It preserves future relationships.

The workplace facilitation process includes:

Preparation;

Individual fact-finding interviews (e.g. of the employer, employee, co-worker);

Negotiating the issues;

Overcoming barriers and brainstorming solutions;

Creating a mutual agreement plan and documentation; and

Implementing the plan.

The conditions required for a positive outcome in the workplace facilitation process include commitment from the highest levels of the organization, neutrality and skill in the facilitator, visible/long lasting benefits for the employer/employee, thorough and timely documentation and close monitoring during the implementation phase.

THE FACILITATOR

The role of the facilitator is to assist parties in settling their disputes fairly and practically. The facilitator is a highly skilled and trained professional who acts as a channel of communication to assist each party in articulating their thoughts or needs in a manner that the other party is able to hear and relate to. The facilitator helps to clearly identify and encourage the parties to create alternative ideas to resolve disputes.

A facilitator does not adjudicate issues or make judgments on the merits of either party’s position or interests. The facilitator does not impose or prescribe solutions. In fact, such partisan intervention can potentially weaken trust in each party and ultimately undermine the integrity of the process. A facilitator seeks to affect a shift in the parties involved from an adversarial, position-based approach to a problem solving, cooperative approach in dealing with the conflict at hand.

PROACTIVE STANCE

In order for organizations to create a robust and healthy business within in a competitive marketplace, proactive steps need to be taken in the workplace to ensure prevention of absenteeism related to employee stress. In addition, there needs to be a strategy in place to deal effectively with employees who have left work or remain off work on disability, relating to non-medical barriers (i.e. workplace stress).

Workplace facilitation, conducted by trained and skilled facilitators, is an effective strategy to assist employees and employers to improve communication, build relationships, understand another’s perspective and ultimately to resolve conflict. The end result is a more productive workforce, reduced costs, as well as a less stressful work environment.