Store posters reminding us of the right for retail workers to be treated with respect, is an ongoing reminder of how much is needed to be done to help retail workers feel safe. There has been a 26.5% surge in organised retail crime since Covid with 80% of retailers reporting a rise in violence and aggression. Hard economic times in an uncertain world leads people to feeling on edge. This is contributing to increased theft and customers being more like to be rude or aggressive.

It is a big obvious problem. The cost of retail theft is estimated to cost $1.77 trillion globally in 2024 (noting this also includes internal theft by team members). But there is so much more conflict in the workplace than this obvious harassment and abuse and it is flowing into significant bottom-line impact.

What is quiet conflict?

Typically, when people think about conflict in the workplace, what comes to mind is the significant issues with customer aggression, or formal complaints of bullying and harassment. But there is an insidious disease in organisations called quiet conflict.

It is the proverbial elephant in the room that people don’t feel comfortable talking about, or only want to talk to others behind closed doors about it. It builds up tension inside people. It starts as discomfort, annoyance, frustration, concern.  But when unresolved, starts to impact relationships and ultimately performance.

It can include:

  • Feeling the pressure of poor sales/increased loss/not hitting key metrics without support and not knowing what to do with it.
  • Not enough hours to do the work but no money to put into extra hours.
  • Changes to processes with unexpected impacts and not feeling heard when raising the issue.
  • Not feeling seen or understood by management, particularly for the causal team members.
  • Inexperienced managers who don’t know how to effectively navigate complex personal situations with team members.
  • Hidden harassment and bullying that isn’t witnessed by others.
  • Internal competition leading to people hiding their ‘tricks’ from each other and make fun of those at the bottom of the league table rather than supporting them.

Quiet unresolved conflict erodes confidence, health and performance by stealth. This is costing you.

Where are the hidden costs of conflict?

Whether the conflict is overt or quiet, it impacts people’s mental health. The more obvious costs of unresolved conflict include:

  • Workers’ compensation claims
  • Higher sick leave and turnover
  • Forma investigations into complaints

There are also hidden costs that, while hard to measure, have a profound impact on the bottom line.

Hidden conflict, places people more on edge, not able to perform at their best consistently. It can lead to the lost opportunity cost associated with:

  • People putting in the bare minimum
  • Poor interactions with customers – resulting in customers not returning and bad mouthing the organisation without putting in a formal complaint
  • Losing good people who could have been excellent future store managers and beyond.

This cost of absenteeism, presenteeism, turnover and compensation needs to be absorbed, adding increased pressure, or passed on to customers, in the price of  products.

What can you do about it?

You likely already have a strategy for obvious conflict that would include

  • Protecting team where you can with barriers.
  • Training team in how to effectively navigate with aggressive or inappropriate customers.

Build on this by:

  • Developing skills in navigating conversations with each other.
  • Teaching neuroscience-based approaches to teamwork, so they know how to better create a strong ‘tribe’ that supports when things don’t go well.

When it comes to quiet conflict, consider:

  • Store Managers role modelling proactive mental health, including creating strong connection in the workplace.
  • Develop leader’s skills in creating psychological safety through connection, valuing contribution and curiosity.
  • Develop leadership skills in being able to shrink the ‘elephant in the room’ through navigating difficult conversations effectively.
  • Create a culture of curiosity not blame, when things go wrong. Blame causes defensiveness which wastes everyone’s energy. Owning what you could do better without feeling vulnerable about this with others, promotes effective problem solving.
  • If you are brave, consider challenging the norms on what is healthy versus unhealthy competition. Consider how you can create increased collaboration internally, so that ‘competition’ is focused against the external competitor.

Facing into quiet conflict is not easy. It needs to be practical, scalable and relatable. But you can’t ignore it. It will cost you too much. 

Genevieve Hawkins is a retail executive with experience across health, safety and wellbeing, workers’ compensation, public liability and leading major transformations in culture and business. She has written two books, Mentally at Work and Shrinking Elephants.