RESEARCH FINDS A STORM IN A TEACUP IN BIRMINGHAM

Seemingly trivial irritations are becoming a major source of tension in the workplace in Birmingham, according to a survey published today by Meriden-based recruitment agency Pertemps.

The research, conducted among 500 staff nationwide, ranging from factory to office workers, found that minor misdemeanours, such as failing to make tea and coffee for colleagues, were causing conflict.

Although excessive workloads and IT problems were the top causes of stress for around 75 per cent of respondents from Birmingham, 25 per cent admitted to being riled by colleagues who persistently shirked the tea round.

Sixty three per cent of those respondents thought colleagues who failed to pull their weight in the kitchen were rude and antisocial, particularly if they regularly accepted drinks from others, but made their own without offering to make one for anyone else.

Other trivial causes of tension at work were noisy colleagues (22 per cent), people who borrowed office equipment, such as staplers and scissors, without returning them (18 per cent) and untidiness (17 per cent).

Thirty per cent of respondents from Birmingham claimed that trivial matters, such as failing to make tea and coffee, and being unable to find items that had been borrowed by other people, were a daily source of back-biting and could even result in stand-up rows.

Tim Watts, chairman of Pertemps, said: "Our research shows that tempers are running high in the workplace and even seemingly trivial incidents can trigger conflict among colleagues already stressed by heavy workloads and malfunctioning IT equipment."

"Back-biting and conflict of any kind can cause longstanding rifts and this, in turn, has a negative effect on productivity. Although it is impossible to eliminate such sources of conflict entirely, a little forethought and sensitivity could help to calm fraying tempers and enable people to work better together."