Top causes of office disputes revealed

Office disputes come in all shapes and sizes. There’s the minor ones, like stealing someone’s favourite pen, and the major ones, like trashing your boss’ car – though most fall somewhere in-between.

Research from Brother UK has revealed the main causes of office disputes, with gossiping colleagues coming top of the list. 34% of office workers cited gossiping about co-worers and management as the leading reason for arguments and disruption in the office. Furthermore, 31% ranked loud-mouthed colleagues as the main factor in co-worker fights, followed by messy workers (27%), theft (26%) and tardiness (26%).

After asking over 1,500 employees, the report found items such as sandwiches and mugs being stolen was actually more infuriating for office workers than colleagues being unfairly promoted. Inter-office crime waves have led to 40% of workers having to lock away their personal items. 

As the heart of the organisation, HR has a responsibility to manage any and all office disputes. Thought tactics such as mediation, leaders can halt co-worker conflict in its tracks. Andrew Dane, Mediation specialist, told Executive Grapevine of the importance of using forward-thinking tactics to solve colleague skirmishes. He said: “HR Managers and Departments could benefit by the early implementation of mediation in the Workplace. Often mediation is only implemented when the problem has manifested itself and is more difficult to satisfactorily resolve.