My good friend Stephanie from Stellar Strategies was telling me a story today about an experience of conflict in the workplace that happened several years ago and still had the power to affect her negatively today.

She was working in a sales office with a team of people she was friendly with and she discovered at one point that 2 of the people in her office were speaking about her behind her back, exchanging nasty notes and basically having a good laugh at her expense. She recalls being shocked to find this out. She had no idea they harboured any bad feelings and was under the impression that they were colleagues with a healthy relationship and that there was no problem. Eventually, she went to her boss only to be told to “get over it”. Nothing was done about the situation, her needs were not recognised, there was no open communication and she left.

Have you ever had an experience with a employer like that? Ever felt disregarded, brushed off, pacified, ignored, completely let down? Ever been utterly dismayed by someone’s response in a position of authority? Ever had people talk about you behind your back at work?

As an employee you expect certain standards to be maintained in your workplace, you expect a certain safety level and an environment conducive to productivity. But what about when personal conflict gets in the way of that? People we interact with on a day to day basis have the ability to lift us up or bring us down and if we’re experiencing more of the latter at work our ability to feel good on the job can be seriously hampered. Undercurrents, bad vibes and gossip can just as much affect our health and productivity as obesity and smoking; we’re just not used to seeing it that way.

So whose responsibility is it? In an ideal world of course, honesty is the best policy and surely we can all be adult, speak plainly and work things out between us. This direct approach may indeed work for some but what if it doesn’t? What next? I’d like to think all employees have a right to seek assistance from the boss in these circumstances. The employer has many options and can choose to be supportive and listen, to mediate a meeting, to have a quiet word on the side with those involved, to get an outsider in to facilitate communication or all of these things.

Having an awareness that conflict at work can affect everyone’s mental and emotional wellbeing is a really good place to start. By encouraging open communication in the workplace you open the doors to a culture of health, understanding and employee wellness in every aspect.

We work with small to medium business in Brisbane and the Gold Coast to help them promote the health and wellbeing of their staff at work with inspirational education, health events, workshops, personal consultations and more. Healthy people = happy business and we understand the importance of keeping expenses down so we provide low-cost corporate health and wellness strategies for your people in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.