The Cost of Lack of Civility at Work

by Dec 3, 2015

Incivility, disrespect, and rudeness are becoming rampant in the workplace, and the costs of such behavior chip away at the bottom line. In turn, the ones who receive such kinds of conduct respond in a negative way, further threatening civility at work.

Furthermore, incivility affects productivity and sales of an organization. Employers become less creative when they feel disrespected; employees loose the appetite to work if being bullied, while people are less likely to patronize the products or services of an organization they perceive as rude. To sum it up, a single unpleasant interaction may lead customers to generalize about employees, the organization, and the product or service. All these impacts could only be treated by building a civil workplace.

While many would regard incivility as wrong, not everyone is aware nor would recognize its tangible costs which prompt organizations not to regard workplace bullying solutions as necessary. Sometimes, victims of incivility punish or retaliate against perpetrators and even the organizations. Studies show that among the impacts of incivility are: decreased work effort, reduced working hours, decreased work quality, declined commitment and performance, or resignation. Some even reported that they take their frustrations from the clients or customers.

To learn more, click here for full article.

Civility is the platform for organizational success—it is absolutely necessary for an organization to reach its goals. Download our Ebook on Seeking Civility to learn more on how to create a workplace free of bullying and abusive conduct.

 

Catherine

About Catherine Mattice

Catherine Mattice, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is the founder/CEO of Civility Partners, an organizational development firm focused on helping organizations create respectful workplace cultures and specializing in turning around toxic cultures. Civility Partners’ clients range from Fortune 500s to small businesses across many industries. Catherine is a TEDx speaker and an HR thought leader who has appeared in such venues as USA Today, Bloomberg, CNN, NPR, and many other national news outlets as an expert. She’s an award-winning speaker, author, and blogger and has 60+ courses reaching global audiences on LinkedIn Learning.  Her fourth book, Navigating Toxic Work Environments For Dummies (Wiley), is available in all major bookstores and where audiobooks are sold.

10 Leadership Actions to Create a Culture of Civility

You don’t have a toxic workplace because your organization doesn’t care about its people. And most leaders don’t wake up in the morning thinking, You know what would really improve productivity around here? A little bullying and intimidation. The problem is that toxic...

3 Culture Band-Aids That Create Bigger Organizational Risk (And What to Do Instead)

Netflix recently found itself in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. According to a recently filed lawsuit, a Netflix executive participated in a company retreat that included a "vulnerability-trust exercise." During the exercise, he disclosed that he had...

Join our Workplace Intelligence Series + Office Hours

Every day, you are expected to solve increasingly complex workplace challenges. A bullying complaint lands on your desk. A high performer is damaging team morale. Burnout continues to climb despite your wellness initiatives. Managers struggle with difficult...

Do Your Managers Create an “Us vs. Them” Mentality? Here’s How to Know and What to Do About It.

Every organization has heard some version of it. "Don't shoot the messenger. This came from corporate." "I know it doesn't make sense, but that's what leadership wants." "I'm just telling you what they told me." Most managers think they're being empathetic when they...

4 Mistakes That Turn a Necessary Layoff Into a Culture Crisis

Most leaders think the layoff is the hard part. It isn't. The difficult conversations, severance packages, and notifications are emotionally draining, but they aren't where organizations win or lose their culture. The real challenge begins the next morning, when...

3 Ways Gatekeepers Sabotage Real Workplace Change

Recently an employer’s attorney contacted us looking for workplace training for her client. She described what she called "longstanding" workplace issues and stated she was looking for a training program to resolve them. As I explained that training likely isn’t the...

AI Can Now Detect Workplace Bullying and I’m Mad as Hell About It

The Latest Workplace Misconduct Technology Misses the Point Bloomberg reports a new generation of AI tools designed to detect misconduct, bullying, harassment, belittlement, and other problematic workplace behaviors. The promise sounds compelling: use artificial...

7 Corporate Lies & The Real Truths (my 5 min DisruptHR talk)

  Interested in talking more about this topic? Head over to the LinkedIn version and drop a comment or share it with your network. You’ve been at the receiving end of a steady diet of advice that sounds smart, looks great on conference slides, and earns plenty of...

Pride Month: Performative Vs. Actual Activities

Happy Pride Month! This month, you'll see rainbow logos, employee resource group events, and social media campaigns celebrating LGBTQ+ employees and communities. But Pride Month wasn't created as a marketing campaign or even as a celebration. It began as a protest....

5 Things Ryan Breslow (& Most Executives) Gets Wrong About HR

“Fire your entire HR department.” Wait… what?  That was essentially the message Ryan Breslow, CEO of Bolt, delivered recently when he announced he had eliminated the company’s entire HR team because they were allegedly “creating problems out of thin air.” According to...