Workplace conflicts and declining employee productivity may have deeper roots in psychological stress than poor communication, with business leaders urged to address the emotional conditions under which workers receive and process information.
Alice Shikina, a mediator and arbitrator, said employees experiencing anxiety, financial pressure or fear of workplace punishment could struggle to understand instructions, respond constructively to feedback or participate effectively in discussions, regardless of how clearly messages are delivered.
In an opinion article published by Newsweek, Shikina argued that organisations risk misdiagnosing workplace challenges when they blame employees for poor communication without considering the stress affecting their ability to listen, understand and respond.
She maintained that the ability to communicate effectively depended not only on how messages were presented but also on the emotional state of those receiving them.
Citing the American Psychological Association’s 2026 Stress in America report, Shikina said 77 per cent of American adults identified the cost of living as a significant source of stress, while Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report put global employee engagement at 20 per cent in 2025, its lowest level since 2020.
The Gallup report also estimated that declining engagement accounted for about $10 trillion in lost productivity globally.
According to her, the figures point to a connection between mounting personal pressures, employee disengagement and difficulties in workplace relationships.
She explained that people do not leave their personal challenges behind when they report for work, noting that financial worries, family disagreements and anxiety about economic conditions could influence how they respond to colleagues and supervisors.
Shikina observed that an employee who feels threatened, embarrassed or insecure during a discussion may become more concerned about self-protection than understanding the information being communicated.
She illustrated the problem with an experience from her mediation practice, where a husband involved in a divorce settlement could not explain a financial proposal his wife had presented because he was too overwhelmed to process the information.
She said similar situations occurred in workplaces where managers interpreted employees’ inability to understand repeated instructions as incompetence or deliberate resistance, without considering the circumstances surrounding the interactions.
Shikina further noted that workplace pressure often extends into family relationships, creating a cycle in which unresolved tensions at work affect people’s conduct at home, while personal difficulties subsequently influence their performance in the office.
Citing Gallup findings, she said 27 per cent of full-time American employees reported feeling burned out very often or always in the second quarter of 2026.
She also referenced provisional data from the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which recorded 662,950 divorces and annulments in 2024, while cautioning that the figure did not establish a direct connection between workplace stress and marital breakdown.
To address the challenge, Shikina advocated what she described as Step Zero, an approach that requires managers to establish a calm atmosphere before attempting to resolve disagreements or communicate difficult decisions.
She urged organisational leaders to replace accusatory remarks with open-ended questions, listen to employees without immediately preparing counterarguments and confirm their understanding of what has been said.
Where conversations become emotionally charged, she recommended taking breaks and returning to discussions when participants are better positioned to engage constructively.
She also called on employers to create environments where workers can express concerns without fear of punishment, arguing that psychological safety should be treated as an essential condition for effective teamwork rather than an unnecessary workplace concession.
Shikina stressed that managers did not need to become psychologists but should understand how stress influences human behaviour and incorporate practical exercises, role-playing and listening techniques into staff development programmes.
She warned that organisations that continue to attribute workplace disagreements solely to poor communication risk deepening mistrust, weakening productivity and transferring unresolved workplace tensions into employees’ personal relationships.
