Here at YES! Your Human Resources Solution, we believe December’s holiday time is all about spreading good cheer and brotherhood of man.  Everyone seems to be on their best behavior in the spirit of goodness and giving, but what happens when two people just can’t seem to get along, even for the holidays?

Realistically, humans experience conflict with one another, especially when operating in close quarters, such as with family or coworkers.  We may try to forgive and forget problems this time of year, but for HR professionals, managers, and small-business owners, one of the worst things to do now—or any other time of year—is to gloss over conflict in the workplace.  See, there’s usually a very real cause fueling employee conflict, which if left to fester, could cause harm to the business and its workforce.

Here are just a few unfavorable results that could come from not confronting a workplace conflict:

Employee conflict makes management look bad.  When a workplace conflict is allowed to fester, the first place people will look is to the person who should have taken charge to help the conflicting parties work things out.  (Depending on the business’ structure, that’s going to be an HR professional, manager, or small-business owner.)  The very existence of a known, ongoing conflict means management failed to notice or address the issue.  Since one of management’s key duties is to detect and handle employee conflict, it looks like someone isn’t doing their job.

Employee conflict weakens the team.  Employees under the stress of an unresolved conflict will not operate at their best.  When two employees are at odds, they’ll tend to act more like opponents than as supportive team members.  Then, the conflict spills over into their shared projects, their communications with others, and the overall health of the work environment.  On top of that, unresolved conflict in workplace relationships is often the source of poor performance and productivity, which makes sense for employees working in a high-stress, low-morale situation.

Employee conflict causes employee turnover.  True conflicts won’t work themselves out on their own (or at least, not in a healthy way).  Rudolph is not going to wake up on Christmas morning and suddenly embrace his boss’ backwards methodology—he and his boss are going to need a hand to learn how they can work together with better results.  Long-term conflict breeds unrest, negativity, and resentment, so much that the conflict can become the employee’s singular focus at work.  And who wants to come to work every day repeating “I hate my boss,” like it’s a mantra?  Employees who are continually unhappy with no glimmer of change are likely to seek happiness from another employer.

Employee conflict can cause HR problems.  When you put a tea kettle of water over a flame, it will build up steam and build up steam until the tea kettle physically cannot accommodate any more steam building up inside it.  Any subsequent steam has nowhere to go but through a tiny hole in the spout—and then that steam escapes suddenly and loudly.  That same phenomenon can happen to employees under the heat of ongoing conflict.  Negative feelings can build up and build up until employees cannot accommodate any more.  Then those emotions have nowhere to go but out.  This is the time when some employees will quit, extinguishing the fire that is creating their pent-up steam.  Other employees will stay in the fire, but their “steam” will escape in a more explosive manner, such as an argument or even a physical confrontation.  It’s better to deal with the conflict head-on to resolve it in a healthy manner than to wait until the conflict boils over.

Before you decide that glossing over a conflict is the best way to glide through the holiday season, consider giving the gift of employee satisfaction by helping coworkers work through their problems!