Saturday 26th January 2008

We’re gripped by health issues, but we don’t often associate health with conflict at work. The fact is, lower stress, less fatigue and a better work-life balance all help us take care of ourselves.

Employees face huge pressure trying to be effective at work and maintain a quality home life. Business demands high quality performance, short response times and heavy workloads. At home, there are money pressures, family demands, education concerns and limited time with loved ones.

As a result, workplace relationships become strained. It is commonly known that poor relationships at work have a knock-on effect. For example, organisations are likely to see an increase in sickness absence and stress when there is friction or poorly-managed change at work.

Recently I was asked by an organisation to help resolve a dispute between two individuals. As a result of the fallout, one of the parties was experiencing a deteriorating skin condition. Her skin was flaking. 

When I saw her about two weeks after the problem was resolved there was an amazing improvement. She (and her doctor) linked the skin condition to the conflict situation with her colleague.

Sickness absence costs UK businesses in excess of £13bn per year, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Work related stress accounts for over a third of all new incidents of ill health. 12 million days are lost each year to stress, depression and anxiety. Some of these will be unauthorised absence in connection with strained relationships in the workplace. Why is this?

Check out the typical responses to conflict below. A passive way of avoiding personal contact might mean phoning in sick. This might not be the right thing to do but you might persuade yourself that it buys some reprieve from having to deal with a difficult situation. 

It makes sense therefore, for an organisation to keep positive and productive workplace relationships at the top of its agenda. 

I regularly mediate disputes at County Courts across the country. I recall mediating an employment case between a GP and a Primary Care Trust a few years ago. I was struck by some of the notes I received about the case. To give an idea of how profound the health effects of conflict can be, here is an extract:

‘Furthermore, my client has incurred legal expenses, accountants fees, costs for employing lawyers, time spent meeting with lawyers, time spent researching, writing letters, photocopying documents, sleepless nights, precious time lost, stress worry, psychosomatic symptoms such as headache, migraine, depression, suicidal thoughts, weight loss due to loss of appetite, strained relationship with family, sleep depravation, loss of earnings, total waste of precious time and energy. The defendant has also been unable to open her mail box without trepidation since receiving a letter from X’. 

The intensity of these words hit me. During our discussions, the GP had to make frequent trips to the lavatory – one of the effects of the dispute. That it was a GP suffering made it somehow more poignant, though of course conflict impacts us all, irrespective of our occupation or seniority.

In your pursuit of better well-being, you would do well to think about how your relationships at work can contribute towards better health. Here are a few questions to help you think about how to maintain good relationships at work.

• How can you best respond rather than react to a situation?
• Generally, how important is this issue on a scale of 1-10 (10 being life and death)?
• Are there any learning points for you from previous interactions with your colleagues?
• Will this issue be important in a year?
• What can you do to turn the issue into something positive?
• Pursue solutions to these questions, and you are much more likely to not only have better relationships at work, but have better health too!

Clive is founder and Managing Director of Globis
You can also view this article on-line at Opportunities Magazine 
http://opportunities.modezero.net/default.asp?title=It’smakingussick%2CsaysCliveLewis&page=article.display&article.id=181