Dealing with conflict between co-workers for non-work-related issue affecting their work

Question

TL;DR version at the end.

I am the unofficial head of a 10 person research team staffed mostly by medical professionals and I seem to have found myself in a bit of a pickle.

After a grueling 6 month interview process, I was able to hire 2 brilliant physicians to join a research project I single-handedly launched. These two people complement each other perfectly and have produced excellent results over the past year but the last month has been a mess and I am not sure if I want to fire both, one of them or mediate.

A month ago I was able to overhear their conversation during breakfast (most of the team eats breakfast in a nearby coffee house every morning). Their topic sadly drifted to one of the most touchy subjects in today's society: vaccinations.

They're both new parents and both with pretty strong opinions on the matter. They had a pretty heated argument and left. I assumed that was that till I noticed a dip in their stats and an increase in mistakes. Mistakes that most of the time means thousand of Euros worth of funding goes down the drain. Which puts me on the spot.

I was told by colleagues that are closer to them that they also clashed on Facebook and other social media and they barely talk to each other at work. The team is pro-vaccination from some inquires I made so this person who is against them is slowly losing respect from her colleagues.

I would like to mediate and try to find a solution. I pride myself to be a good mediator but never dealt with this specific minefield in the past and especially in a work setting.

So the question is how do I deal with this?

• Try to tread the minefield?
• Fire the "anti-vaccer"?
• Pass the ball to HR or administrator?

I'm also open to other options besides those three.

TL;DR: two colleagues clashing over their views on vaccination causing decline in their work and animosity between the team. As their lead, I want to try to deal with this because it's affecting me directly but how?

Answer 1

You are the head (superior), to it's your duty to manage. Don't feel you're interrupting or overstepping, go ahead and mediate, manage them.

[...] dip in their stats and an increase in mistakes. Mistakes that most of the time means thousand of Euros worth of funding goes down the drain. Which puts me on the spot.

Right, so talk to them about it.

First, try inviting one of them at a time to a meeting, and mention about the problems you spotted in their work. Ask how you can help them to overcome any problems they might be facing, note down the points.

Then, repeat the same with the other colleague.

• If they mention something that is not related to the discussion and/or opinion you are assuming, then that's good. You need to find a way for remediation those issues.

• However, if they mention about the disagreement (which is their personal view) making an impact on their official work, well, they may be up for a session about keeping personal and professional life separate. You can then, tell them gently, but in a strong voice

  Hey, Yes, we're all allowed to have different and diverse opinions, and I respect that. However, unless those opinions are directly related to the assigned work (example: estimation of a work assignment), carrying them in the workplace is not acceptable. You know, one needs to wear their professional suit while at work. I need you to work on keeping your opinions getting into the way of your work. We really miss the quality of the work accomplished by you and we want you to be back on track, as soon as possible.

Then, allow some time for those inputs to take effect.

However, with time, if the situation does not improve, you may want to escalate that to HR and let them handle the situation. You need professionals, at the end of the day.

To re-iterate, one at a time is the key here. You certainly don't want both of them in a same meeting, to start the discussion process and then turn it into another argument.

Answer 2

Fire the "anti-vaccer"?

This. They have no business pretending to be a medical professional.

Being an anti-vaxxer is essentially being anti-science based medicine. Which is what a medical professional who has been hired to do research is by definition employed to do. Their anti-vaccination "beliefs" directly speak to their unsuitability to carry out the position.

More than that though they are allowing their beliefs to interfere with the project - expensively.

If it was "just" the latter, and the subject were something non-medical (say they were having a heated argument about the correct sauce to put on a bacon butty) then I'd say give both a strong warning to keep it out of the office but the topic in this case makes their position untenable. You mention that the rest of the team has already started to lose their respect for the anti-vax colleague - even if they shut up about it tomorrow do you think they are going to recover that respect knowing the stance of their colleague? It's not impossible but unlikely to say the least.

As for the main other member of staff with whom the conflict has occurred - you talk about them (previously) complementing each other well, I don't see that relationship being recoverable in a month of Sundays. So realistically someone's going to have to go - and the most logical person to go is the one who brought their own professional credibility into dispute, the anti-vaxxer.

Answer 3

I assumed that was that till I noticed a dip in their stats and an increase in mistakes. Mistakes that most of the time means thousand of Euros worth of funding goes down the drain. Which puts me on the spot.

Opinions about vaccinations aren't the problem here; performance is the problem.

It's not clear what authority you have as "unofficial head". Assuming you have the authority, you need to speak with each of them individually.

You need to make it clear that they need to do whatever is required to get their heads back in the game, get their stats back up to acceptable levels, and stop making these expensive mistakes.

You need to make it clear that their performance dip has consequences. And you need to be explicit about what those consequences entail (perhaps getting fired).

It's not your job to change anyone's vaccination beliefs. It's their job to either leave such beliefs at home, or at least stop them from negatively impacting their work.

Don't try to pass off your responsibility to HR. Holding team members accountable for their performance is part of your job. Do your job and focus on the real problem.

Answer 4

I think this is something that you should ask for your HR department for advice if you feel it is necessary.

I would recommend inviting them both for a meeting.

You need to discuss with both of them how this difference of opinion in something not work-related is drifting the team and decreasing performance.

Without taking sides, you need to reiterate that even though both have an opinion and they are free to express such opinion and ideologies, that they need to make sure that this doesn't affect the workplace and they need to remain professional.

Advice them that this is an informal meeting and that you will continue to look at their results to make sure there is an improvement and if such doesn't happen then HR would need to be involved.

Answer 5

Mediate seems to be the best option. You need to allow them to improve and let hr know of the circumstance so they can intervene if it gets any worse.

You need to let them know that they can have their own personal options as long as it does not get in the way of their work. Let them know that if their mistakes continue then it could be the end of their jobs.

If their argument continues to affect their work then let hr know that this is a serious issue and let them deal with it. In the end if they don't improve then it would be likely the anti-vacciner will be let go if she doesn't get along with the rest of the team.