Having a team work well together is the dream of any line manager. It is possible to have people who come from different backgrounds, with different personality styles, all working together in harmony towards a joint project or business goal. But, it is essential to recognise that not everyone is going to get along. You need to be able to identify when this might turn into a bigger problem, such as bullying and harassment that could lead to an employee filing a Constructive Dismissal Claim through Employment Law Friend.
One of the best ways to try and prevent these issues from occurring or from having minor disagreements escalate into significant problems is to make sure that you know the dynamics of your team. This not only means looking at the proportion of full time and part-time workers but also means looking at the gender split and personality types.
Whilst you can’t ask for certain genders or personalities in your job descriptions when hiring for positions, you can use them to think about how you shape the teams that work within your departments. For example, you probably wouldn’t want to have a team that is made up solely of parents with young children who all need to leave work at the same time or a team full of people who would classify themselves as introverts.