posted 12th May 2026
Most leadership problems don't start with a grievance form or a solicitor's letter.
They start with a line manager who doesn't know how to have a difficult conversation. So they don't have it. The problem sits. And quietly, without anyone making a single dramatic decision, things get worse.
I've worked in HR and leadership for 30 years and this is the pattern I see most often.
It starts with avoidance
When line managers aren't given the skills to handle difficult situations, they default to the one thing that feels safest: doing nothing. They don’t talk to the team. They can't escalate to their own boss because they don't have the language for it or are scared to. Then the team starts to notice. Trust drops. Communication breaks down. Disengagement follows.
None of this is malicious. It's the predictable result of promoting someone without investing in what they actually need to do the job.
Then the business starts to feel it
A disengaged team doesn't stay quiet. Performance slips, customers notice, revenue softens. And eventually, the issues that were never tackled come back as formal grievances.
At that point, the cost becomes measurable. According to our own Strength Report 2025 research, a single grievance investigation running 6 to 12 weeks costs upwards of £22,000 when you account for cover, manager time pulled from core work, and potential legal fees. Add recruitment and onboarding if someone leaves — £6,000 to £12,000 per role — and the numbers start to compound quickly.
Those figures sit within a much larger picture. ACAS research estimates that workplace conflict costs UK organisations £28.5 billion every year, more than £1,000 for every employee. Nearly 10 million people experience conflict at work annually. More than half report stress, anxiety or depression as a result. And when conflict isn't resolved early, around 485,000 employees resign each year because of it, with replacement costs exceeding £30,000 per person once recruitment, induction and lost productivity are factored in.
The ACAS research is clear on one point: the cheapest time to intervene is before conflict reaches a formal process. That view is reinforced by Andrew Cooper and Dr Adrian Neal's 2025 book "Under Investigation: Transforming Disciplinary Practice in the Workplace," which argues that a significant portion of that £28.5 billion could be saved if disciplinary investigations were treated as a genuine last resort, not a default response to issues that could have been addressed through better management conversations long before they escalated. Cooper's own research at NHS Wales supports that directly: by committing to make investigations the last resort, one health board reduced its annual number of investigation cases by 70.6%.
The pattern is consistent. Early intervention costs a fraction of formal action. The businesses that understand this invest in their managers before a problem becomes a process.
The invoice arrives late, but it arrives
By the time solicitors are involved, the organisation is paying far more than a development programme would ever have cost. Our survey data shows that most respondents consider a 6-session coaching programme worth between £1,500 and £2,100. That's the cost of two or three days of investigation management, before legal fees have even started.
The decision not to invest in line managers isn't a saving. It's a delayed invoice, and by the time it lands, it's significantly larger than it needed to be.
Prevention is the cheaper option
Giving line managers the skills to handle difficult conversations early, before issues escalate, is one of the most cost-effective things a business can do. Not because conflict disappears, but because it gets addressed at the right level, by the right person, before it becomes something no one can walk back.
That's the work Be Business Fit does. Practical, grounded support for the people who hold teams together day to day.
If this looks familiar in your organisation, it's worth a conversation before it becomes a case.
References
- Be Business Fit — The Strength Report 2025. Internal research data on the cost of grievance investigations, coaching programme valuations and recruitment costs. bebusinessfit.co.uk
- Saundry, R. and Urwin, P. (2021). Estimating the Costs of Workplace Conflict. Report commissioned by ACAS. Universities of Sheffield and Westminster. Available at: acas.org.uk/costs-of-conflict
- ACAS (2025). How prevalent is individual conflict at work in Great Britain in 2025? Available at: acas.org.uk/research-and-commentary/workplace-conflict/prevalence-of-conflict-at-work/report
- Cooper, A. and Neal, A. (eds.) (2025). Under Investigation: Transforming Disciplinary Practice in the Workplace. Bristol University Press.
- Cooper, A., Teoh, K.R-H., Madine, R., Neal, A., Jones, A., Hussain, A. and Behrens, D.A. (2024). The last resort: reducing avoidable employee harm by improving the application of the disciplinary policy and process. Frontiers in Psychology, 15:1350351. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1350351
