Workplace conflict is on the rise and costing businesses billions

A report recently published by Acas won't come as a surprise to many of the HR professionals we work with: workplace conflict is increasing. And it has a serious knock-on impact on organisations: the staff involved often experience stress or depression, their performance declines and it impacts productivity. 

The report: how prevalent is individual conflict at work in GB in 2025 is the largest study of its kind into conflict in Great Britain and provides robust evidence of the experiences of both managers and employees. It defines conflict broadly; as disagreements, disputes or difficult relationships with a work colleague, manager or supervisor, direct report, customer, client or member of the public or colleague in another organisation.

Key facts

• 44% of staff have experienced workplace conflict in the past 12 months – the highest level ever recorded;
• Experience of conflict is most common among people whose disability had a major impact on their daily life (68%); and
• The age at which people experience conflict was lower for workers aged between 55 and 65 (32%), but broadly similar for people younger than that (averaging 45.5%). 

Main causes of conflict

The most common trigger for conflict happened in the context of managing an employee's performance closely followed by personal disagreements and bullying, discrimination and harassment. These affected both managers and employees without managerial responsibilities. 

However, men are more likely than women to experience conflict about their performance (men - 44%; women - 32%), and women are more likely than men to experience conflict over bullying, harassment and discrimination to report (women - 26%; men - 21%). 

In line with this, the main source of conflict was either a colleague (39%) or line manager or supervisor (32%). Only 14% said the source of the conflict was a customer or member of the public.

There were higher reported levels of conflict between disabled people and their line managers (38%) compared to people without a disability (29%). In contrast, disabled people were less likely than non-disabled people to report conflict with colleagues (36%; non-disabled: 41%) or with direct reports (9%: non-disabled: 12%). 

Sectors most affected

Retail and wholesale trade workers reported the highest levels of conflict (50%). Hospitality and arts/entertainment sectors also reported above-average rates (around 49%); and at the other end, administrative support, education, professional services and finance reported lower levels (33–36%).

Resolving conflict

Most people tried to resolve issues with their line manager (45%), and 30% had an informal chat with the other person involved. Only 9% submitted a formal grievance and no-one in the sample group issued proceedings in an employment tribunal. 

Half of people reporting conflict said it had been largely or fully resolved. At the other end of the spectrum, a third of people said it wasn't resolved (31%).

The cost to business

The University of Westminster is currently working with ACAS to calculate the annual cost of workplace disputes to businesses in Great Britain. It expects to publish its findings in the Spring. Last time it did this, it estimated that the annual cost of workplace conflict was around £30billion. Given that conflict appears to be going up, employers should expect this figure to increase too.

How we can help

Your managers are likely to need help to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts to avoid issues escalating and becoming more difficult to tackle. Our online Back-to-Basics training are designed with this in mind. They give your line managers the tools they need to handle day-to-day challenges confidently. 

We have a number of modules - including how to effectively manage performance issues and sexual harassment. 

You can find out more about these in our brochure. Please speak to Gordon Rodham or Jenny Arrowsmith if you need more information. 

Our newsletters

We publish monthly employment and education newsletters. If you'd like to be added to the mailing list, please let me know.