Konfliktkostenrechner

von sinnvollFÜHREN

Was kostet ein ungelöster Konflikt?

Konfliktkosten stehen in keiner Bilanz als eigene Position. Sie entstehen unter anderem durch gebundene Arbeitszeit, Krankheitstage, verlorene Kunden oder notwendige Wiederbesetzungen.

Der Rechner richtet sich an Führungskräfte, HR-Verantwortliche und andere Personen, die die wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen eines konkreten Konflikts einschätzen möchten. Er schätzt, was der Konflikt bisher gekostet hat und welche Kosten in den nächsten zwölf Monaten entstehen können, wenn sich nichts ändert. Dafür brauchst du keine Buchhaltungsdaten: Sechs Angaben genügen.

Eine exakte Berechnung ist nicht möglich, weil indirekte Folgen und zukünftige Entwicklungen nicht vollständig messbar sind. Deshalb verwendet der Rechner nachvollziehbare Annahmen und zeigt eine realistische Spanne statt einer scheinbar exakten Zahl. Alle verwendeten Werte sind mit Quelle und Jahr dokumentiert.

Solange du keinen ausführlichen Report per E-Mail anforderst, bleiben deine Eingaben ausschließlich in deinem Browser.

Your context

Country

Directly involved people

Indirectly affected (team, wider circle, interfaces) people

Average gross annual salary of those affected EUR per person Default: rounded median (full-time) in your country – please adjust to your organisation: the average of the people affected.

How many months has the conflict been going on? months

Working time per week that each directly involved person spends on the conflict (hours) hours/week Default 3.3 h: average of the German respondents in the CPP/OPP study 2008, which surveyed 5,000 employees in nine countries. We use this value for all countries – please adjust it to your situation.

How would you describe the current state? There’s friction People are still talking to each other, but positions are hardening; debates go round in circles. It’s about losing face Coalitions are forming, people talk about each other instead of with each other, threats are in the air. It’s now only against each other The aim is to harm the other side – even at a cost to oneself.

Your conflict costs (range)

Incurred so far: –
Next 12 months if nothing changes: –

What this means day to day

People affected

Working time lost to the conflict each week –

Every further week without resolution –

How we calculate – with your figures

Each step shows the calculation with your entries and the source of the value used.

What one working hour costs the business –
Hours lost to the conflict every week –
Costs per week – KPMG formula I: working time × pay = minimum costs
Incurred so far, lower bound – Retrograde estimate following PwC/Viadrina IV (2013): people × costs × reach × intensity × duration
Incurred so far, upper bound –
Next 12 months if nothing changes –
Plus from the detailed calculator – Each item has its own source in the detailed calculator; the total is shown in the breakdown.

What a resolution can save

Draining share (50 %) of the costs for the next 12 months: –
Of which realistically saveable in the first year (25% thesis, KPMG 2009): –

Not all conflict costs can be saved: some friction is productive, because wrestling with the issues leads to better solutions. The first line shows the draining remainder – by default half of the costs for the next 12 months, adjustable in the detailed calculator under ‘Calculation method’. The second line is the cautious expectation for the first year: of this remainder we assume at most 25%.

Lower bound: working-time costs only (salary-based minimum costs according to KPMG formula I). Upper bound: with escalation factor and a 10% pre-cost surcharge (KPMG 2012). The detailed calculator adds all nine KPMG categories across the dimensions person, team and organisation.

Calculate in more detail: detailed calculator with the 9 KPMG categories

All entries refer to this conflict. Empty fields mean: leave this item out – this keeps the result deliberately conservative.

Person: staff turnover

Conflict-related departures so far (people) people

Expected conflict-related departures in the next 12 months (people) people For each departure we assume replacement costs in a range of 90–200% of the annual salary.

Person: sickness

Conflict-related days of absence of all those affected per year (estimate) days/year We derive the daily cost from the salary entered (full costs ÷ 220 working days).

Take reimbursement of continued sick pay into account (small businesses in Germany and Austria)

Germany: for up to 30 employees, the U1 levy reimburses up to 80% of the continued pay (§ 1 AAG). Austria: for up to 50 employees, the AUVA pays 58% – but only from the 11th day of sickness (§ 53b ASVG). Switzerland and the other countries in the calculator: no statutory reimbursement. Only the wage-cost share decreases; the loss of value added stays with the business.

Employees in the business (approximately) people Germany counts part-time staff pro rata and does not count apprentices, Austria counts heads. Leave empty if no reimbursement should be taken into account.

Sickness absences here usually last longer than ten days (only relevant for Austria: subsidy from day 11)

Person: counterproductive behaviour

People ‘working to rule’ (information held back, inner withdrawal) people

Productivity reduction applied per person affected %

Team: customers, projects, orders

Annual revenue of customers already lost EUR

Annual revenue of customers at risk because of the conflict EUR

Volume of projects affected so far EUR

Volume of projects at risk (next 12 months) EUR

Order volume lost so far EUR

Order volume at risk (next 12 months) EUR

How much of the lost revenue counts as damage? (contribution margin) % When revenue is lost, material and other variable costs fall away too. Only the profit contribution therefore counts as damage: 20% means that of 100,000 in lost revenue we count 20,000.

How much of the project volume is lost because of the conflict? % A delay or cancellation rarely destroys the whole project. The share set here counts as damage: 10% means that of a project volume of 200,000 we count 20,000.

Organisation: rules, incentives, law

Additional control loops, duplicated work, workarounds (hours/week, all together) hours/week

Additional costs per year to keep people despite the conflict (bonuses, reassignments) EUR

Lawyer, procedural and severance costs incurred so far EUR

Expected legal costs in the next 12 months EUR

Calculation method Calculate with lost revenue instead of salary costs (KPMG formula II). The idea: an hour spent on the conflict also costs the revenue it would otherwise have generated. Useful if working time directly generates revenue for you, for example through billable hours – then enter the annual revenue per full-time employee below.

Annual revenue per full-time employee (for formula II) EUR Affects working-time and regulation costs as well as the plausibility cap; sickness costs remain salary-based.

Share of the conflict that drains rather than moves things forward % Part of every disagreement is productive, because people are wrestling with the issue. Only the draining remainder can be saved – it feeds the lines under ‘What a resolution can save’. KPMG uses 50% in its worked example.

Detailed report by email

The report records your current state with the date and adds what the page does not show: all entries as a table you can recalculate, how they compare with the research, the comparison ‘do nothing or resolve it’ and our recommendation including the business case.

Your email address

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What we calculate with – all stored values and assumptions

Time spent on the conflict per week (directly involved): 3.3 h/week Study CPP/OPP Global Human Capital Report (2008) – n=5,000 in 9 countries; 3.3 h is the value for Germany (the highest in the sample). Transferred to all other countries – declared as a transfer. The study measures 1.8 h each for the United Kingdom and France, 2.1 h on average; newer data do not confirm these country differences (EU-OSHA, OSH Pulse 2025: poor communication or cooperation in France 37%, Germany 32%, EU 29%). A smaller, self-selected follow-up study found 4.34 h (Myers-Briggs 2022, n = 271). Hence one value for all countries, adjustable in the calculator.
Share of time for those indirectly affected: 0.33 factor Assumption Our own assumption (2026) – Those indirectly affected (wider circle, interfaces) spend about a third of the conflict time of those directly involved. Declared setting, can be overridden.
Annual working hours (full-time, for calculation): 1,720 h/year Practice value Common calculation value (project and HR controlling) (2026) – Calculation value for spreading the annual salary over hours; deliberately rounded conservatively.
Weeks per month (for calculation): 4.33 weeks Official Calendar arithmetic (52/12) (2026)
Forecast period: 52 weeks Assumption Definition: 12-month forecast without intervention (2026) – Continuation of the status quo, no escalation dynamics assumed (conservative).
Pre-cost surcharge (hidden conflict phase): 0.1 factor Study KPMG/Unternehmerschaft Düsseldorf, Best Practice Konflikt(kosten)-Management (2012) – The study recommends a flat surcharge of at least 10% for the phase before the conflict became visible. Only affects the upper bound of the range.
Employer full-cost factor on gross salary: AT 1.3 · DE 1.28 · CH 1.18 · EE 1.34 · FI 1.2 · FR 1.32 · HU 1.13 · GB 1.15 factor Practice value Guide values for non-wage labour costs AT/DE/CH, rounded; EE/FI/FR/HU/UK derived from the statutory employer contributions 2026 (2026) – Employer contributions and non-wage labour costs as a surcharge on the gross annual salary. Guide values. Estonia: social tax 33% + unemployment insurance 0.8%. Finland: pension insurance 17.1%, health insurance 1.91%, unemployment, accident and group life insurance, around 20% in total. France: employer contributions 2026 minus the general contribution reduction at median pay (Eurostat average across all pay levels 1.48). Hungary: social contribution tax 13%. United Kingdom: statutory minimum from National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 and 3% mandatory workplace pension; voluntary benefits not included.
Gross annual salary – default (median full-time, rounded): AT 55,000 · DE 54,000 · CH 84,000 · EE 20,000 · FI 43,000 · FR 33,000 · HU 6,700,000 · GB 40,000 per person and year Official Median gross annual earnings for full-time employees according to the national statistics offices or Eurostat, rounded down (2026) – Data year per country: Austria 2024 (€55,678, Statistik Austria), Germany 2025 (€54,066, Destatis), Switzerland 2024 (monthly wage CHF 7,024, extrapolated to the year with twelve months, Federal Statistical Office), Estonia 2025 (monthly wage €1,724, converted to full-time, × 12, Statistics Estonia), Finland 2024 (monthly wage €3,615 × 12, excluding holiday bonus, Statistics Finland), France 2022 (€33,809, Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with 10 or more employees – the French statistics office publishes no gross median), Hungary 2025 (monthly wage HUF 565,238 × 12, special payments included, KSH), United Kingdom 2026 (£40,911, provisional, ONS). Only a default for the input field – your own entry replaces the value.
Escalation multiplier (Glasl broad stage): A 1 · B 1.5 · C 2 factor Assumption Our own setting based on Glasl, Konfliktmanagement (escalation stages 1–9) (1980) – No study measures costs per escalation stage; the multiplier is a declared assumption (a = Glasl 1–3, b = 4–6, c = 7–9) and only affects the upper bound.
Directly involved (default): 2 people Assumption Default (smallest conflict: two people involved) (2026)
Indirectly affected (default): 5 people Assumption Default (typical team setting) (2026)
Conflict duration (default): 6 months Assumption Default (2026)
Replacement costs per conflict-related departure: 0.9 – 2 × gross annual salary Practice value HR practice literature (range 90–200% of the annual salary) (2026) – No robust German-language primary study – hence a range, not a point value. Structural plausibility check: in Acas/Saundry/Urwin (2021), staff departures account for ~79% of UK conflict costs.
Annual working days (full-time, for calculation): 220 days/year Practice value Common calculation value (HR controlling) (2026) – For spreading the annual salary over daily costs. Plausibility check: BAuA (2024) puts the production loss per day of sickness absence in Germany at €152 (wage costs) or €258 (gross value added); for average salaries, our salary-based derivation is of the same order of magnitude.
Reimbursement of continued sick pay (share of the continued pay): AT 0.58 · DE 0.8 · CH 0 · EE 0 · FI 0 · FR 0 · HU 0 · GB 0 share Official DE: § 1 AAG (U1 levy, statutory maximum rate); AT: § 53b ASVG with the EFZ subsidy regulation (50% + 8.34% supplement for special payments); CH: no statutory reimbursement (OR Art. 324a); EE, FR, HU, UK: no reimbursement to employers; FI: Kela reimburses only sick pay extended by collective agreement, the employer bears the statutory ten working days (as of 2026) (2026) – Only applies if a company size is entered and it is below the threshold. DE: the statutes of the health insurance funds can lower the rate to 40% and exclude employer social security contributions – 80% is the statutory maximum (lowest cost estimate). AT: micro-businesses with up to 10 employees would receive 87.51%; not modelled for simplicity (costs slightly overestimated there). Only reduces the wage-cost path; the loss of value added stays with the business. Legal position 2026.
Company size up to which reimbursement applies: AT 50 · DE 30 · CH 0 · EE 0 · FI 0 · FR 0 · HU 0 · GB 0 employees Official DE: § 1 para. 1, § 3 para. 1 AAG; AT: § 53b para. 2 ASVG (2026) – DE counts on a weighted basis (part-time 0.25–0.75, apprentices not counted), AT counts heads including marginal employees. The calculator asks for an approximate number; anyone close to the threshold will know their status.
Reimbursement from day of sickness: AT 11 · DE 1 · CH 0 · EE 0 · FI 0 · FR 0 · HU 0 · GB 0 day Official DE: § 1 AAG (from the first day); AT: § 53b para. 2 no. 3 lit. a ASVG (from the 11th day, only for more than 10 consecutive days) (2026) – Conflict-related absences are usually short. In Austria, reimbursement therefore only applies if sickness absences usually last longer than ten days – the calculator asks this as a switch instead of including a reimbursement that rarely applies.
Productivity reduction for counterproductive behaviour: 0.1 factor Assumption Our own assumption (2026) – Working to rule, information held back, misuse of working time: conservative setting of 10% of work performance per person affected; can be overridden in the calculator.
Plausibility cap: 1 × annual personnel costs of those affected Assumption Our own setting; benchmarked against KPMG 2012 (2026) – Productivity losses (time, sickness, counterproductive behaviour) are capped at 100% of the annual personnel costs of the group affected (pro rata for the period so far) – people's work cannot be worth more than they cost. Replacement costs are a real cash outflow and lie outside the cap. In the documented KPMG 2012 cases, conflict costs reached up to ~50% of the payroll; calculators without a cap can produce implausible values far above 100%.
Contribution margin (lost customers and orders): 0.2 factor Assumption Our own assumption (2026) – Lost revenue is counted only at the lost contribution margin, not at full revenue (conservative). 20% as an industry-neutral setting; can be overridden in the calculator.
Share of damage in the project volume affected: 0.1 factor Assumption Our own assumption; context: CPP/OPP 2008 (2026) – Conservative setting: 10% of the project volume affected is lost (delay, rework, share of cancellations). Context: 19% of German respondents experienced conflict-related project failure (CPP/OPP 2008). Can be overridden.
Avoidable (dysfunctional) share of conflict costs: 0.5 factor Assumption KPMG conflict cost study (worked example), our own setting (2009) – Only the dysfunctional share is avoidable; functional conflict costs are part of productive disagreement. The KPMG worked example splits 50/50; according to KPMG 2012 the split is specific to each organisation – hence declared as an assumption that can be overridden.
Realistic reduction potential: 0.25 factor Assumption KPMG conflict cost study (2009) – The study states a reduction potential of at least 25% as a thesis, not as a measured result – and we declare it the same way. The potential is calculated conservatively: total costs × dysfunctional share × 25%.

Details and reasoning in the methodology appendix.

Was diese Zahlen sagen – und was nicht

Eine Schätzung ist kein Kontoauszug. Wir rechnen bewusst vorsichtig: Felder, die du leer lässt, zählen als null, und die Obergrenze der Spanne ist gedeckelt. Was hier steht, ist also eher zu niedrig als zu hoch.

Der eigentliche Wert liegt woanders. Wenn die Zahl größer ist, als du erwartet hast, lohnt sich die Frage, wie lange ihr euch das noch leisten wollt. Ist sie kleiner, ist das eine gute Nachricht und trotzdem bleibt die Frage, wie viel Energie gerade in etwas fließt, das niemanden weiterbringt.

Wie wir rechnen, welche Studien dahinterstehen und welche verbreiteten Zahlen wir bewusst nicht verwenden, steht offen im Methodenanhang (also in English).

Was ist jetzt der nächste sinnvolle Schritt?

Die berechnete Summe löst den Konflikt nicht. Sie macht sichtbar, was weiteres Abwarten kosten kann. Welcher nächste Schritt sinnvoll ist, hängt vor allem davon ab, wie gut die Beteiligten noch miteinander ins Gespräch kommen.

Ihr könnt noch miteinander reden

Dann ist jetzt ein guter Zeitpunkt, den Konflikt selbst zu klären, bevor sich Positionen verhärten. In unserem Seminar lernen Führungskräfte, schwierige Situationen früh zu erkennen, konstruktiv anzusprechen und lösungsfokussiert zu klären.

Die Gespräche drehen sich im Kreis

Wenn sich Lager gebildet haben, Gespräche immer wieder scheitern oder nur noch übereinander gesprochen wird, kann eine neutrale Begleitung helfen. Wir unterstützen Teams dabei, wieder arbeits- und entscheidungsfähig zu werden.

Du bist dir nicht sicher?

Beschreibe uns kurz die Situation. Wir klären gemeinsam, ob ihr selbst weiterarbeiten könnt oder ob Unterstützung von außen sinnvoll ist.

Häufige Fragen

Was kostet ein Konflikt im Unternehmen?

Das hängt davon ab, wie viele Menschen beteiligt sind, wie lange es dauert und was sie verdienen. In den dokumentierten Fällen der KPMG-Studie von 2012 lagen die jährlichen Konfliktkosten zwischen rund 66.000 Euro in einem Vier-Personen-Betrieb und mehreren Millionen bei einem Konflikt zwischen zwei Abteilungen. Der Rechner auf dieser Seite schätzt die Größenordnung für deinen Fall.

Wie berechnet man Konfliktkosten?

Der größte Posten ist fast immer Arbeitszeit: Beteiligte Personen mal Stunden mal interner Stundensatz. Dazu kommen Folgekosten wie Krankheitstage, Wiederbesetzung nach einer Kündigung, verlorene Kunden oder verzögerte Projekte. Wir rechnen nach dem Kategorienraster der KPMG-Studie und weisen jede Annahme einzeln aus, damit du sie an eure Situation anpassen kannst.

Wie viel Arbeitszeit geht durch Konflikte verloren?

Eine Befragung von CPP und OPP aus dem Jahr 2008 in neun Ländern mit rund 5.000 Beschäftigten ergab für Deutschland durchschnittlich 3,3 Stunden pro Woche. Für Österreich und die Schweiz gibt es keine vergleichbare Erhebung, deshalb nutzen wir diesen Wert als Vorbelegung für alle drei Länder und weisen die Übertragung offen aus. Du kannst ihn überschreiben, wenn er für euch nicht passt.

Rechnet der Rechner meinen konkreten Fall aus?

Er schätzt eine Größenordnung, keine exakte Summe. Konfliktkosten lassen sich nach heutigem Forschungsstand nicht vollständig erfassen; ein Teil bleibt unsichtbar. Deshalb bekommst du eine Spanne. Für eine belastbare Erhebung im konkreten Fall braucht es Gespräche im Unternehmen.

Was mache ich mit dem Ergebnis?

Wenn ihr noch miteinander redet, ist das meist selbst zu klären. Rüstzeug dafür vermittelt unser Seminar. Wenn sich Lager gebildet haben und übereinander statt miteinander geredet wird, hilft nach der Konfliktforschung von Friedrich Glasl in aller Regel eine dritte Seite von außen. Der Rechner sagt dir am Ende, wo ihr nach deinen Angaben ungefähr steht.

Werden meine Eingaben gespeichert?

Nein. Die Berechnung läuft in deinem Browser, deine Angaben werden nicht übertragen. Nur wenn du am Ende den ausführlichen Report per E-Mail anforderst, gehen sie einmalig an uns, verschlüsselt, und nach dem Versand gelöscht.

Was kostet die Nutzung?

Nichts. Der Rechner ist frei nutzbar, das Ergebnis siehst du sofort auf der Seite. Wenn du zusätzlich den ausführlichen Report als PDF möchtest, brauchen wir deine E-Mail-Adresse dafür.

Für welche Länder gilt der Rechner?

Der Rechner ist für Österreich, Deutschland und die Schweiz gemacht. Wir sitzen in Wien und haben mit dem österreichischen Rahmen begonnen, die Richtwerte für Deutschland und die Schweiz aber genauso hinterlegt. Du wählst oben das Land, wir rechnen in Euro oder Franken.

Fragen, die hier nicht stehen? Schreib einfach an office@sinnvoll-fuehren.com.