Workplace conflict is close to universal. In the most widely cited US study, The Myers-Briggs Company found that 85% of employees deal with conflict to some extent, that 29% do so always or frequently, and that US workers spend 2.8 hours each week on it, at an estimated cost of $359 billion in paid hours (from a 2008 study). The newer evidence points at managers. Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace puts manager engagement at 22%, and DDI’s 2024 assessment data shows 49% of manager candidates lack effective conflict management skills.
Summary: key workplace conflict statistics at a glance
- 85% of US employees deal with conflict to some degree, and 29% do so always or frequently (The Myers-Briggs Company, 2008).
- 2.8 hours per week is the time the average US employee spends on conflict, about $359 billion in paid hours (The Myers-Briggs Company, 2008).
- 71% of US workers say their manager or supervisor could have done more to prevent incivility (SHRM Civility Index, Q1 2025).
- 22% of managers worldwide are engaged, down from 31% in 2022 (Gallup, 2026).
- 49% of manager candidates fail to show effective conflict management skills; only 12% show high proficiency (DDI, 2024).
- 36% of UK employees who experienced conflict say it was fully resolved, while 70% of employers say their procedures are effective (CIPD, 2024).
- $660 million was secured by the EEOC for 17,680 victims of employment discrimination in fiscal 2025 (EEOC).
- £28.5 billion is the annual cost of workplace conflict to UK employers, over £1,000 per employee (Acas, 2021).
- 53% of US workers who witnessed or experienced incivility say it hurt their mental health (SHRM, Q2 2025).
- 470 US workers were killed in workplace homicides in 2024 (BLS, released February 2026).
How common is workplace conflict?
The headline number journalists cite most is that 85% of employees deal with conflict, according to The Myers-Briggs Company. Its study, commissioned from CPP Inc. in 2008, also found that 29% of US employees experience conflict always or frequently. We could not trace a newer US prevalence study from a primary source, so treat these figures as a long-standing baseline rather than a 2026 measurement.
More recent data comes from civility tracking. The SHRM Civility Index surveyed 1,540 US workers in April 2025 and estimated that workers experience or witness roughly 60 million acts of incivility at work every day. Incivility is not the same as formal conflict, but it is the low-grade friction that conflict grows from.
What drives it? In SHRM’s Q1 2025 index, workers named political viewpoint differences (50%), differences in opinion on social issues (47%), and racial or ethnic differences (39%) as the top contributors to workplace incivility. By Q2 2025, political differences still led at 43%, and the state of the US economy had entered the top five at 30%.
What conflict costs employers
The best-known cost estimate is also the oldest. The Myers-Briggs Company reported that US employees spent 2.8 hours per week dealing with conflict, which it valued at roughly $359 billion in paid hours and 385 million working days. These figures are from 2008 and reflect wages of that era.
The most thorough costing of conflict comes from the UK. Acas estimated in 2021 that conflict costs UK organizations £28.5 billion a year, over £1,000 per employee. Nearly half a million employees resigned because of conflict, and just under 900,000 took sickness absence. Acas also found that formal conflict procedures cost more than three times as much as informal resolution, which is the strongest data point for catching disputes early.
Conflict also reaches the legal system. In fiscal 2025 the EEOC received 88,201 new discrimination charges and secured nearly $660 million for 17,680 victims of discrimination. Of that total, $528 million came through pre-litigation enforcement, the highest amount in the agency’s 60-year history. Not every charge begins as an interpersonal dispute, but many do, and the figures show how expensive an unresolved problem becomes once it leaves the building.
The manager gap
Managers are where conflict is either contained or inflamed, and the 2025 and 2026 data is not encouraging.
Gallup’s 2026 report found global employee engagement at 20% in 2025, the first time it has fallen two years in a row, with low engagement costing the world economy about $10 trillion, or 9% of GDP. Manager engagement fell to 22%, down nine points since 2022. Separate Gallup analysis says managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement, and estimates that organizations pick the wrong person for a manager role 82% of the time.
Skills are the other half of the problem. DDI assessed more than 70,000 manager candidates and found that 49% failed to show effective conflict management skills, and only 12% showed high proficiency. The weak spots were specific: 61% struggled to clarify the core issue, 65% struggled to offer support, and 60% struggled to empower team members to own the solution. DDI also reported that just 30% of leaders felt confident managing conflict.
Employees notice. In SHRM’s Q1 2025 index, 71% of workers said their manager could have done more to prevent incivility, 65% said their manager had ignored acts of incivility, and only 25% said managers actively encourage people to talk issues through.
For employers that promote their best technician, crew lead, or shift supervisor into management, these numbers matter. Technical excellence and conflict skill are different abilities, so hiring supervisors and project managers in construction is worth screening for people leadership alongside field experience.
Employers and employees see different things
A UK survey shows how far perception can drift. CIPD’s 2024 research surveyed 2,009 employers and 5,496 employees. Seventy percent of employers said their organization has effective procedures for resolving interpersonal conflict, and 81% felt they were doing enough to prevent and manage bullying and harassment. Yet only 36% of employees who had experienced conflict in the past year said it had been fully resolved.
Employers were also candid about managers: 49% admitted that line managers can cause conflict in their teams, rising to 61% in the public sector. The most common tools were disciplinary action (43%) and grievance procedures (41%), the formal routes that Acas found to be the most expensive.
Conflict, stress, and turnover
The human cost shows up in health and retention data. SHRM’s Q2 2025 data found that 53% of US workers who had witnessed or experienced incivility in the past month said it negatively affected their mental health. Women were more likely than men to report that impact (58% versus 48%).
Retention follows manager response. The Q2 2025 civility index found that workers who received little or no manager support after an incivility incident were nearly 48% more likely to be looking for another job than those who received a high level of support.
In the UK, Acas found that close to 10 million people experience workplace conflict in a year, and more than half of them report stress, anxiety, or depression as a result.
When conflict turns dangerous
At the extreme end, interpersonal breakdown becomes violence. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 733 fatal work injuries from violence and other injuries by persons or animals in 2024, down from 740 in 2023. Homicides accounted for 470 of those deaths, up from 458. Violence has many causes beyond workplace disputes, and the data does not isolate conflict as a driver. It is still a reminder that the cost of an unresolved dispute is not only financial.
The same BLS release shows where the stakes of a high-pressure crew are greatest in physical terms: transportation and material moving occupations had the most fatal injuries of any occupational group in 2024 (1,391), followed by construction and extraction (1,032 deaths). Those totals cover all causes, not conflict alone, but on a job site, plant floor, or rig, clear communication and trust between coworkers are part of safe operations.
Emerging trends and what’s new in 2026
- The manager is the story. Gallup’s 2026 report says lower manager engagement accounts for much of the recent downturn in employee engagement, with managers at 22% in 2025. Conflict data now needs to be read alongside manager capability.
- Civility has become a tracked metric. SHRM’s quarterly index turns incivility into a measurable trend, with a Q2 2025 workplace score of 38.8 out of 100, unchanged from Q1 2025.
- Politics and economic anxiety are contributors. Political differences led the Q1 and Q2 2025 contributor lists, and economic worries joined the top five in Q2.
- Support after an incident predicts quits. The 48% gap in job-search likelihood tied to manager support is one of the clearest retention links in the recent data.
- Perception gaps persist. CIPD’s finding that 70% of employers believe their procedures work while 36% of affected employees feel resolved remains the sharpest illustration of why measurement matters.
- Enforcement remains high. The EEOC’s record $528 million in pre-litigation recoveries in fiscal 2025 shows the value of resolving disputes before they escalate.
How Tall Trees Talent helps
Tall Trees Talent helps energy, construction, manufacturing, and transportation employers fill supervisor, project management, and technical roles with recruiters who have worked in those industries and know what strong people leadership looks like on a crew. Learn more about Tall Trees Talent.
