Reducing Conflict in the Workplace
When reviewing recent summaries of Personal Grievance cases that have passed through the Employment Tribunal, it appears many employers are not taking due care over the management of their employees. Some applicants to the Tribunal have received sums up to $10,000 as compensation for humiliation in addition to reimbursement for lost wages and the awarding of costs simply because the appropriate steps and process had not been followed when: Recruiting, Training, Developing, Disciplining and or Dismissing employees.
There are various Discipline forms and checklists under the Employment Law and HR section of this site. (Subscriber access only)
Many employers will spend a considerable amount of money and time attracting and recruiting new employees yet seem to throw caution to the wind and throw out all sense of fairness and attention to detail when, in the heat of the moment, they discipline or dismiss their employees.
If as an employer you appear to regularly have to discipline employees, you may need to ask yourself:
- Is there a problem with the way I recruit? (E.g. Technique, information supplied, how and from where do we attract applicants etc.)
- What type of person do I really require? (Do not over or under recruit for the skills and ability required)
- Have new employees been given an appropriate level of Induction training?
- Do employees really understand the level of performance required of them?
- Have employees been coached, counselled, and appraised appropriately and regularly?
- Have all employees been treated fairly and equally?
If you can honestly answer yes to all of the above then ideally you should never need to discipline staff on any regular basis, unless your actual leadership style creates confusion, conflict and is confrontational.
Employees do want and require quality guidance and leadership from their managers. This means working together to achieve goals and business success through inspiring and leading employees to greater accomplishments, resulting in greater job satisfaction, improved employee performance and improved bottom line profit for the business.
Your employees are in effect your business partners and the performance of the business is directly affected by their performance. Treat them as thinking and feeling Human Beings, not as commodities and you will develop a strong team ready to support you and your business. This process however must be undertaken throughout all stages of employment, not just on an ad hoc basis. Developing a relationship where trust and integrity are integral parts of both sides of the relationship will ensure long term positive results and will assist in reducing conflict within the employment relationship itself.
Much of the conflict that exists in employment relationships today can be traced back to the following:
- Inadequate recruitment process to suit the business requirements
- A lack of or limited amount of quality time spent on employee induction
- A lack of, or limited amount of adequate training and the setting of standards
- A lack of, or limited ability to allow for individual employee development
- A lack of an adequate understanding and care of the disciplinary process
- A lack of effective and appropriate leadership of employees.
It is not easy, but when you manage to get all the above right, the potential for conflict is either minimised or removed altogether. If you do need to discipline an employee, review the various discipline forms located under the Employment Law and HR section of this site. (Subscriber access only)
