Irish workers are unhappy

IRELAND has one of the highest rates of employee disaffection in the world, according to a study of workplace conflict.

Over a third of Irish employees face conflict up to but excluding industrial action on a regular basis, according to the survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) and business psychology firm OPP Ltd.

They questioned 5,000 employees in Ireland as well as in Britain, Brazil, Germany, US, France, Netherlands Denmark and Belgium about workplace conflict.

The results of the survey, published by Industrial Relations News, show Ireland and Germany ranked highest with an average of 3.3 hours per week spent by individuals coping with workplace conflict. The international average is 2.1 hours.

Of the Irish respondents, 37% said they always or frequently faced conflict at work and 26% had experienced conflict that lead to bullying. Almost one in three said they had observed conflict between line managers and those reporting directly to them.

Of the Irish respondents, 18% missed a day’s work due to a conflict compared to the international average of 12%, and 16% had left the job as a result of the disharmony, compared to the international average of 8%.

Two-thirds of Irish-based workers (66%) thought personality clashes were the major cause of conflict, the highest proportion of all those surveyed. Similarly, one in five employees (18%, compared to an average of 13%) saw bullying and harassment as primary factors.

“Employees surveyed identified personality clashes, stress and heavy workloads as the top three causes of conflict at work,” said CIPD Ireland director Michael McDonnell.