How to deal with coworkers not talking to each other

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I sit in a office with 2 co-workers (software developers) who stopped talking to each other after one of them made a HR complain about the other one. So now when X needs to communicate or ask a question to Y, they come to me. So far I managed asking X to send an email to Y if the don't want to talk to them, possibly CC'ing the whole team (including our embedded HR supervisor) for transparency. The situation started over a triviality (at least in my opinion),and even HR dismissed it and no action was taken. Yet it's getting annoying and the environment is not really the most inviting. Is there any smart way I can communicate to X and Y, or HR, that the behavior is childish and 2 adults should do better than this?

manpreet 2 years ago

Mention to your manager that X and Y are asking you to mediate communication and that it is hurting your effectiveness on the job. That is the manager's responsibility to deal with. If the manager does nothing, ask again and copy HR.

Insist on email for all communications that you have to mediate. Do not accept verbal requests. Forward emails once a day. This will also give you a paper-trail for your manager to see should the situation not resolve itself.