Ask the Staffing Doctor

Employee Conflicts & Turnover

by Daniel Abramson

Q Gwen from Dallas Asks … We do pretty well attracting and hiring staff. But high turnover is caused by employee conflicts. What can we do?

A Make sure the problem is really employee conflicts. Are you getting your information from personal impressions, written questionnaires, or via the grapevine?

Most exiting employees tend to take the easy way out when asked why. So if the questioning process poses two reasons—like "conflicts with other employees" versus "difficulty with supervisor"—most people will opt for employee conflict.

To get the real scoop on why people leave, set up an exit interview process that involves gentle, patient probing, acute listening, and an objective, confidential interviewer.

If there is conflict, then there are three basic business causes: 1. work environment; 2. skills mismatches; 3. communication/personality clashes.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

If it's the work environment, then workspaces may be too tight; deadlines may seem arbitrary; the prevailing mode of employee interaction may be too raucous, insensitive, or permissive; or the job duties may be unclear, overlapping, unrealistic, or contradictory.

If the problem is with dispensing staff, it could be that sales expectations are unrealistic. Since you are "in" the environment and have probably adapted to it, your best bet in attacking this one may well be to get help from someone from outside the practice who can apply a fresh lens.

SKILLS MISMATCHES

If you have the wrong people in the wrong jobs, or if you have people in jobs for which they are grossly under- or over-qualified, then you will need to do a careful skills assessment, implement some retraining, and engineer needed reassignments.

Remember that people who can't handle the stress of a job, either because they cannot do it or because they don't feel they should have to do it, will often put up smoke screens by being obstructive and shifting blame to others.

CLASHING STYLES

If the work environment and the skill matches are in line, then the problem is most likely to be clashes in personality and communications styles. This is the most widespread (and most-often misdiagnosed) cause of conflict in the workplace, and it is best addressed via a measurement tool like the DISC Personality Assessment.

Test yourself as well as your entire staff. Provide detailed feedback individually and a summary of individual personality styles in a staff meeting, using a certified assessment professional as a knowledge leader and buffer. You'll be amazed at the insights and results of this treatment. EB

Daniel Abramson, CTS, is president of Staffdynamics and has focused on workforce performance strategies and "raising the bar" for over 25 years. His book, Secrets of Hiring Top Talent, is available on amazon.com. He can be reached at Daniel@staffdynamics.biz..

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If you have a question you'd like to have answered in Ask the Staffing Doctor, send it to Daniel Abramson. Email: Daniel@staffdynamics.biz.. An archive of past Ask the Staffing Doctor columns can be found on the Eyecare Business website at www.eyecarebusiness.com.