May 28, 2025 6 min read

An Employer’s Guide to Healthy Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

Unresolved workplace conflict is certain to hurt your company’s profit, productivity, and morale. These 4 strategies for healthy conflict resolution are proven to stop these effects.

The side effects of unhealthy conflict are clear to see, with about $359 billion in paid hours being lost to negative workplace friction. Conflict doesn’t have to cause this damage, however.

When conflict is managed in a positive way, it can actually boost workplace engagement and communication.

Let’s talk about how managers can conduct conflict resolution in a healthy, productive way so that your company can reap these benefits.

This article will discuss:

What is unhealthy conflict resolution
Healthy conflict resolution strategies
How Frankly can help

Click below to learn more about boosting employee engagement.

Unhealthy Conflict Resolution

Conflict is inevitable in the workplace, especially when companies have large, diverse teams.

Conflict becomes unhealthy, however, when it consists of reactions and behavior that inhibit resolution. This may appear in many forms, but most often it is accompanied by heightened negative emotions.

Here are 3 examples of what unhealthy conflict resolution looks like:

1. Personal Attacks

When conflict occurs, it’s common for each party to attack each other’s personal characteristics and focus accredit these characteristics to the cause of the issue.

For Instance, if a conflict occurs between two office employees over a large error in financial documentation, one might say to the other, “I know it’s your fault, you’re always so careless.” This is a direct attack on the other party’s personal character, which creates a hostile environment by removing the focus from the professional matter and onto their personal life in a negative way.

Attacks like these also divert the conversation from addressing the real problem and instead undermines the other person’s competence, thus driving the discussion away from realistic resolution.

2. Communication breakdown

Avoiding communication altogether is another toxic response to workplace conflict. This includes giving the silent treatment, refusing to engage in discussions, or shutting down conversations prematurely. It may also appear as not voicing one’s opinions because they feel it will be rejected and not considered.

The lack of dialogue can lead to misunderstandings, poor teamwork, and a breakdown in collaboration. It will also ensure that the conflict is left unresolved as voices go unheard or silenced.

3. Gossiping

Sometimes, a conflict is left to fester without any real conversation and is instead sent throughout the workplace via gossiping. This consists of negatively talking or “ranting” to uninvolved parties about the conflict.

Gossip can deepen divisions and escalate tensions by talking about coworkers behind their backs, exaggerating issues, or spreading false information. This then fuels the conflict by contributing to negative feelings and avoiding productive conversation with those actually involved.

Gossip undermines a culture of trust and respect and contributes to a toxic work atmosphere by creating cliques and tension within a team. It can also result in further misunderstandings because the information often becomes twisted as it passes between coworkers.

Each of these examples can lead to harmful effects on your company. With employees distracted by the tension caused from unhealthy conflict resolution, they will become less productive and have lower quality work. They may also experience lower morale, increased stress, and damaged team collaboration.

On top of that, unhealthy conflict often leads to high turnover rates, meaning that you will have to spend the time, money, and resources to find new employees.

Instead of putting your company at risk of these effects, focus on resolving conflict in a healthy way.

Healthy Conflict Resolution Strategies

Practicing healthy conflict resolution can negate these risks and even offer huge benefits like a positive workplace environment.

Here are 4 strategies for healthy conflict resolution you can try the next time conflict occurs in your workplace:

1. You and me vs. the problem

This strategy involves a shift in mindset during conflict. As a manager, you should think of your role in conflict to be a leader who helps find resolution with your employees rather than a boss who applies pressure for the issue to simply disappear. Put yourself in the mindset that the conflict can only be solved as a team.

With this, you should also encourage the parties in the conflict to adopt this mindset: that they should find the solution together rather than fight against each other.

Doing this will help to limit the amount of tension between the employees because they will feel more inclined to solve the problem peacefully and productively.

2. Recognize when to mediate

Although it might be easy to just try to let conflict go away on its own, it can sometimes be too intense to go without mediation. As a manager, you should mediate when the conflict creates a toxic environment for your team.

Your focus should be on early intervention to prevent escalation into unhealthy conflict and communication breakdowns.

3. Active Listening

When you’re mediating conflict, it’s important that you listen to each side without interrupting or inserting your own beliefs preemptively. You should also use body language like eye contact and head nodding to show your employees that you value what they’re saying.

Be sure to consider each side’s perspective with empathy and compassion, and communicate this empathy to create a comfortable environment in which your employees can express themselves.

4. Continued mentorship

Conflict doesn’t always stop when the conversation is over; you might need to mentor your employees even after you reach resolution.

This involves rebuilding trust and communication within the team by encouraging employees to express themselves and discouraging negative dialogue. It also involves setting clear expectations for future behavior and focusing on improving the cause of the conflict.

By practising these strategies, you can facilitate a welcoming culture in which conflict doesn’t become toxic or harmful. Instead, you can embrace the diversity of your team and celebrate the varying perspectives they bring.

What Can Frankly Do to Help?

Frankly is here to support every company and its employees as they navigate challenges in the workplace. Frankly is a wellness company that provides assistance through our holistic, person-centric approach.

If you find yourself struggling to manage conflict among your employees, Frankly can offer you a multitude of services ranging from one-on-one sessions to group and co-working sessions where your entire team can learn about how to resolve conflicts in a healthy way.

Frankly will pair you with a health and wellness coach that will work with you to devise a training plan that addresses any of your workplace health and wellness concerns. The service you’ll experience will be unique to you and your company because Frankly knows that every company has different needs.

Your wellness coach can help you identify the roots of conflict and work with you through personalized sessions and training to help your team learn about the best ways to find solutions. We’ll help you define your company's goals and break down the steps to meeting them while focusing on the mental health and wellness of you and your employees.

To learn more about how Frankly can support your team's wellness, book a 15-minute demo.

A Workplace With Healthy Conflict Resolution

There are countless benefits to practicing healthy conflict resolution in your workplace; some of which include boosted productivity, stronger relationships between coworkers, collaborative problem solving, and enhanced employee engagement.

Turn conflict into something positive and lead your team to experiencing these benefits. You can make your company a better place to work starting today!

Click the link below to read more about how to cultivate healthy habits in the workplace.