Employee Infighting: HR’s Favorite Soap Opera (That We Never Asked For)

If there’s one thing HR professionals can count on, it’s that no workplace is ever drama-free. Employee infighting is like an ongoing soap opera: lots of plot twists, mysterious alliances, and dramatic monologues—all happening before lunch. And guess who’s always in the middle of the action? Yup, HR. Here’s how we handle office spats like the professional referees we are:

1. The ‘Silent War’ It always starts quietly. Two employees aren’t talking to each other anymore, and suddenly the office feels like it’s split into rival factions. Team Susan and Team John. You’ll hear about how “someone left a passive-aggressive sticky note about cleaning the microwave,” and now they refuse to make eye contact. HR’s job? Investigate the crime scene, AKA the breakroom, and try to figure out if this all started over a missing yogurt or the Keurig pods. Spoiler: it’s both.

2. The Passive-Aggressive Email Thread There’s nothing quite like opening your inbox and finding a 10-email-long thread of passive-aggressive comments. It starts innocently enough: “Just a friendly reminder to submit your reports by 5 p.m.!” But by the end of it, you’re knee-deep in subtle jabs like, “As I’ve mentioned several times before…” and “Per my last email...” By the time HR steps in, we’re the unofficial interpreters of Office Diplomacy 101. If only we had a dollar for every time we’ve typed “Let’s take this conversation offline.”

3. The ‘He Said, She Said’ Saga Employee infighting is often like a game of telephone. “He said this,” “She did that,” and somehow, by the time it reaches HR, the story involves an office chair, a missing stapler, and a 30-minute rant about whose job it is to refill the printer paper. HR’s job is to sit through both sides of the story, nodding patiently while thinking, “We are literally fighting over staplers here.”

4. The Drama Over Food (It’s Always Food) If there’s one thing we’ve learned in HR, it’s that nothing ignites office infighting like food. Someone took someone else’s lunch (again), or there’s a full-on debate about the correct way to stack items in the fridge. It’s like the Hunger Games, but with more Tupperware. HR’s duty? Mediate the situation with phrases like, “Let’s agree to label our food from now on,” while secretly wondering if we should install a security camera in the fridge.

5. The Meeting Room Showdown Employee feuds often peak in the battle for prime meeting rooms. “I booked this room weeks ago!” “Well, I have an important client call.” HR swoops in to remind everyone that, yes, the conference room is for everyone, and no, using sticky notes to mark your territory doesn’t count as an official booking. Our secret wish? A meeting room with a boxing ring—just kidding. (Maybe.)

6. The “Let’s Loop in HR” Moment When things get really heated, HR gets looped in—whether we want to be or not. The phrase “Let’s have HR join this discussion” is our cue to put on the mediator hat and dive into the situation like we’re negotiating world peace. We’ve got our conflict-resolution toolkit ready: calm voices, neutral facial expressions, and possibly some snacks to diffuse the tension (because honestly, who can stay mad while eating cookies?).

7. The Breakroom Cold War Nothing is quite as awkward as employees giving each other the cold shoulder in the breakroom. Suddenly, people are using their lunch breaks to avoid “the enemy,” and HR is left navigating a minefield of eye rolls, loud sighs, and microwave slamming. We casually step in with a friendly, “Everything okay in here?” knowing full well it’s not. But hey, at least we tried.

8. The Resolution (AKA “Let’s Agree to Disagree”) At the end of the day, HR’s job is to make peace—or at least negotiate a truce long enough for everyone to get through the workday. Sometimes, the best we can do is agree to disagree and remind employees that, no matter how many office supplies are involved, we’re all on the same team. And if that doesn’t work? Well, there’s always the HR classic: mandatory team-building exercises. Who doesn’t love awkward icebreakers after a week of passive-aggressive emails?

The Moral of the Story? HR is here to make sure the soap opera of employee infighting doesn’t get renewed for another season. We handle the drama with grace, diplomacy, and maybe a little bit of humor—because let’s be real, sometimes all we can do is laugh (and take notes for our inevitable HR memoirs).

HR: Your trusted referee, counselor, and—let’s face it—part-time soap opera director. 🛎️🎭