Conflicts in the workplace are very expensive. What you should know about the costs of conflict.

Conflicts cause sick leave. But be careful: in addition to the direct costs, costs for replacement services and filling positions must be taken into account. We have developed a calculator for you with which you can easily calculate the actual costs for your company. Conflict costs lead to standstill.

The costs of conflict are greater than the costs of sick leave.

Over the last five years, sick leave has increased by +27%. This is a decisive factor for companies in cost controlling. Mental illnesses play an important role in the overall statistics of sick leave in Austria. They now account for 3.2% of all sick leave. More important, however, is the fact that they last 38.4 days, compared to the average sick leave of 14.9 days (according to Statistics Austria 2022). But what does that have to do with the topic of conflict? An interesting study by the Swiss health insurance company SWICA from 2022 shows that 57% of all mental illnesses can be traced back to conflicts in the workplace. The experts at SWICA analyzed over 1,300 medical records to reach this conclusion.

This means that out of 1,000 employees, 17 employees are affected. At first glance, this seems manageable, because the resulting direct costs for sick leave are "only" 203,000 euros. But be careful. The following additional costs must be taken into account:

• Replacement services: During the absence of the affected employees, the services must be provided by other employees. This is usually done through overtime. If we assume that only 60% of the absences are compensated by overtime, this is another 183,000 euros.

• Replacement: Did you know that more than 50% of all employees who suffer from mental illnesses do not return to work? In our example, this would be 8 people. They need to be replaced. Experts estimate the cost here to be 1.5 years' salary, taking the following aspects into account:

  • Recruiting costs

  • Training costs

  • Training period until performance can be achieved to its full extent.

  • Replacement services from other employees to enable the above points to be achieved.

What does this mean specifically for your company? Our calculator gives you the opportunity to calculate the costs of conflicts for your company precisely: https://proconsens.at/die-neue-konfliktkultur#konfliktkosten

Our seminar offers you more insights, which you can access free of charge at any time via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/events/waskostetstillstand-konflikteal7185336564611190784/theater/