Blog Post

The tag on our logo is, “People, Passion, Profit.” We truly believe that each builds upon the other.

Profit is the fundamental goal and need of a successful business. Profit starts – with people. Having the right mix in your workplace and on your team is crucial not only for morale but for the corporate bottom line.

Team harmony is worth its weight in gold. Businesses with high-functioning teams reap rewards in terms of return on investment. On the flip side, conflict among employees, even as few as two, has a detrimental effect on almost everything related to the workplace. Consequences include:

• Decreased efficiency and productivity
• People avoiding speaking to other personnel or discussing sensitive subjects
• Wasted time and lost workdays
• Losing employees (either because they quit or are fired)
• Failed projects

A business’s reputation can suffer too – word gets around, with unhappy employees often venting their frustration in venues that can be very harmful - social media, speaking in public to friends and colleagues, even “spilling the beans” to customers or competitors.

Businesses need to realize there are hard costs to low morale and conflict, such as lost inventory, reduced sales, and soft costs, such as absenteeism, poor customer service and personal stress. Although this makes it very difficult to put a fine point on the overall hit to a business’s budget, Entrepreneur put some concrete numbers to a few of these costs:

• A worker calling in sick just five days a year translates to a direct cost of over $700 (based on average hourly earnings of $17.95)
• Replacing an employee costs 150 to 200 percent above their salary; for a mid-level employee that could mean more than $70,000

If these numbers seem daunting (and they should!) keep in mind that healthy teams actually add value to a business above and beyond simply preventing these kinds of monetary hits.

Generational conflict is extremely common; a 2014 American Society for Training & Development survey found friction between Generation X and Millennials, although the greatest conflict tends to arise between (perhaps not too surprisingly) Millennials and Baby Boomers. According to a Forbes article, conflict between these latter two often centers around one side dismissing the value of the other side’s experience, disagreements over the value of innovation, or a lack of respect. Again, it’s interesting to note both groups consider the other guilty of the same things they’re perceived as doing!    

Sharing the skills that allow teams to communicate openly and effectively and to overcome the conflicts that naturally happen when people work together is a major focus of our business. If you’re interested in learning more, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. Let’s get your people working with passion to maximize profits!

+ 1-800-262-0705 or Info@ThirdLevel.com.

Want to read more? Click here for the Forbes article. You can also read more at Entrepreneur.