Workplace conflict is reported by a substantial share of workers, but the route from disagreement to resolution varies widely. Recent 2024 and 2025 surveys in Great Britain, together with UK employment-conciliation data for 2024–25, show both everyday interpersonal conflict and formal disputes reaching Acas or employment tribunals.
Contents
- How common workplace conflict is
- Which workers report more conflict
- How employees try to resolve conflict
- What workplace conflict is about
- Wellbeing effects and relationships at work
- Early conciliation and tribunal pathways
- Collective disputes and conciliation outcomes
How common workplace conflict is
The CIPD Good Work Index 2024 survey report found that 25% of people in work reported at least one form of workplace conflict or abuse during the previous 12 months. The survey measured a broad range of experiences rather than only formal grievances.
Its most frequently reported forms were undermining or humiliation, reported by 12% of people in work, and being shouted at or involved in a heated argument, reported by 9%. Verbal abuse or insult affected 8%.
Other experiences were less common but still material. Discriminatory behaviour was reported by 5% of people in work, while 4% reported false allegations. Non-sexual intimidation was reported by 3%; unwanted sexual attention and a physical threat were each reported by 2%; and non-sexual physical assault was reported by 1%.
The Acas report on conflict at work measured a wider 2025 picture for Great Britain: 44% of working-age people reported experiencing some form of workplace conflict during the previous 12 months. The difference between 25% in the 2024 CIPD survey and 44% in the 2025 Acas survey should not be treated as a direct year-on-year change because the surveys and measures differ.
Which workers report more conflict
The 2024 CIPD survey recorded higher reported conflict among several groups. Workers under 35 reported conflict at 32%, compared with 22% of workers over 35. Non-heterosexual workers reported 33%, compared with 24% of heterosexual workers, and disabled workers reported 35%, compared with 23% of non-disabled workers.
The gender difference was 28% among women and 22% among men. Ethnic-minority workers reported conflict at 29%, compared with 24% among white workers. These figures describe differences in reported experience; they do not establish why the differences occurred.
Contract type and employment setting also showed contrasts. Workers on atypical contracts reported conflict at 38%, compared with 26% of permanent employees. The figure was 28% for workers in C2DE socioeconomic groups and 24% for those in ABC1 groups. Public-sector workers reported 31%, compared with 24% in private- or voluntary-sector work.
Pay and industry categories were also associated with different reported levels. Thirty percent of workers in low-pay services such as retail and hospitality reported workplace conflict, compared with 20% in high-pay services such as information, professional, scientific, technical, finance and real-estate services.
The Acas 2025 survey found especially high reporting among two groups: 50% of retail workers in Great Britain and 68% of people whose disability had a major impact on daily life reported workplace conflict during the previous 12 months. These results use different group definitions from the CIPD comparisons, so they should be read as separate survey findings.
How employees try to resolve conflict
Among employees who experienced workplace conflict, the CIPD found that the most common response was not to escalate it. Forty-seven percent said they let it go. Twenty-nine percent discussed the issue with a manager or HR, while 21% discussed it with family or friends.
Direct conversation was less common: 17% discussed the conflict with the other person involved. Nine percent looked for another job. Five percent discussed it with a representative, and another 5% raised a grievance. Mediation was used by 4%.
These responses are not mutually exclusive, so the percentages should not be added together. They indicate a range of choices, from informal coping to formal workplace processes and exit-oriented responses.
The same 2024 survey found that 66% of employees who experienced workplace conflict said it was fully or partially resolved. Thirty-six percent said it was fully resolved. The distinction matters: a partially resolved issue is included in the 66% figure but is not equivalent to a complete resolution.
What workplace conflict is about
The Acas 2025 survey provides more detail on the subjects of conflict. Among people reporting workplace conflict, 38% said capability and performance was the main topic. Among managers who had conflict with direct reports, the corresponding figure was 94%.
This difference reflects the perspective and circumstances of the groups measured. It does not mean that capability and performance was the subject for 94% of all workplace conflicts. Instead, it identifies the topic reported by managers whose conflict involved direct reports.
Pay and employment conditions become especially visible when disputes are collective. In Acas’s 2022–23 evaluation of collective conciliation, pay was the main issue in 74% of collective disputes handled. Trade-union recognition was an issue in 18%, and terms of employment other than pay were also an issue in 18%.
Cost-of-living pressures were present in many of those collective cases. Eighteen percent of customers said the increased cost of living was a direct result of their collective dispute, while 43% said it was a factor. These measures distinguish a direct cause from a contributing factor.
Wellbeing effects and relationships at work
Workplace conflict often involves an identifiable working relationship. In the Acas 2025 survey, 32% of people reporting conflict said it was with a line manager, while 34% said it was with another colleague in the organisation.
The reported wellbeing association was substantial: 57% of people reporting workplace conflict said it resulted in stress, anxiety or depression. This is a reported outcome of conflict, not a clinical prevalence estimate and not evidence that conflict was the only cause of a person’s mental-health experience.
The CIPD findings add detail on the types of conduct that can affect working relationships. Twelve percent reported being undermined or humiliated, 9% reported shouting or a heated argument, and 8% reported verbal abuse or insult. Discriminatory behaviour was reported by 5%, non-sexual intimidation by 3%, and unwanted sexual attention by 2%.
The lower-frequency categories remain important because they describe serious experiences: 2% reported a physical threat and 1% reported non-sexual physical assault. A workplace resolution process therefore needs to distinguish ordinary disagreement from conduct involving abuse, discrimination, threats or violence.
Early conciliation and tribunal pathways
Acas received 124,546 early-conciliation notifications in the 2024–25 financial year, up from 104,884 in 2023–24, according to the Acas Annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025. These are formal notifications, not a count of every workplace disagreement.
In 2024–25, unfair dismissal accounted for 34,856 early-conciliation notifications. Wages Act complaints accounted for 28,522, and disability-discrimination complaints accounted for 20,180. Acas also received 43,189 employment tribunal cases for conciliation in that financial year.
Of employee-led early-conciliation notifications, 55.5% proceeded to conciliation in 2024–25. In the January–December 2024 outcome cohort, 13,035 early-conciliation notifications received a COT3 outcome. The financial-year activity measure and calendar-year outcome cohort cover different periods and should not be combined.
The Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2025 reported 42,000 single-claim receipts for UK Employment Tribunals in 2024–25. At the end of March 2025, UK Employment Tribunals had 45,000 open single-claim cases. Receipts measure cases received during the year, while open cases measure the caseload at a point in time.
Collective disputes and conciliation outcomes
Collective disputes often reach conciliation after escalation. In Acas’s 2022–23 collective-conciliation evaluation, 63% of collective disputes had already involved industrial action, an industrial-action ballot or a threat of industrial action when they reached Acas. Forty-two percent had been in negotiations for four to six months before Acas became involved.
The reported outcomes show several levels of progress. Customers judged 75% of collective disputes to have been settled or progressed after Acas conciliation. Key issues were settled in 58% of disputes. The measures are not identical: a dispute can progress without every key issue being settled.
Customer satisfaction was also reported on a seven-point scale. Seventy-three percent of collective-conciliation customers rated their satisfaction with Acas at 6 or 7 out of 7. This is a service-rating result for customers using the service from April 2022 to September 2023, while the dispute statistics in the same evaluation refer to 2022–23.
Taken together, the figures describe a resolution landscape that ranges from informal responses to formal conciliation. Most reported conflict does not appear in tribunal statistics, while formal case volumes capture only a narrower part of workplace disagreement. The most useful comparison is therefore between like-for-like measures: survey prevalence with survey prevalence, early-conciliation notifications with notifications, and collective-conciliation outcomes with collective disputes.