The Cost of Incivility

Every day you can encounter incivility in the workplace.  Every day you can see rudeness given to an employee, a customer or to yourself.  Every day, customers leave that place of business never to return.  What does that cost? 

Everyone who experiences workplace incivility will respond negatively, in some cases overtly. When an employee feels disrespected they are less likely to work with engaged effort and many just get tired of it and leave.  What is the cost of turnover?

Research tells us that incivility is expensive.  It also tells us that few companies actually recognize it or take action to curtail it. 

We’ve all heard of (or experienced) the “boss from hell.” The stress of ongoing hostility from a manager takes a toll, sometimes a big one, but unchecked rudeness can be surprisingly common.  This is especially the case when the recurring incivility comes from the C-suite. Oftentimes the managers who are uncivil don’t even realize they are that way.  There’s an adage in sports that “you can’t coach speed.”  So to it is very difficult to change a uncivil person’s character type or personality save a threat of job loss.  And unfortunately in that regard there is a tremendous emphasis by companies placed on the cost of litigation as a solution.  Believe it or not, the opposite can occur, the person being offended is at risk of losing their job so the company can avoid the conflict altogether.  No wonder unchecked incivility is so common.

The Costs of Incivility

While all managers must realize that incivility is wrong, many don’t recognize the true costs.  Through a poll of 800 managers and employees in 17 industries, research found in Harvard Business review conducted by Christine Porath and Christine Pearson found that of employees who had faced incivility:

•        48% intentionally decreased their work effort.

•        47% intentionally decreased the time spent at work.

•        38% intentionally decreased the quality of their work.

•        80% lost work time worrying about the incident.

•        63% lost work time avoiding the offender.

•        66% said that their performance declined.

•        78% said that their commitment to the organization declined.

•        12% said that they left their job because of the uncivil treatment.

•        25% admitted to taking their frustration out on customers.

Obviously People are less likely to buy from a company with an employee they perceive as rude, even when the rudeness isn’t directed at them.

At a time when employee engagement is high on ever company’s priority list, it just makes good sense to do all you can to eliminate incivility in your company. An added benefit of incorporating an employee recognition reward effort and put it in the hands of front line management is that it will uncover incivility.  This disrespect is easy to spot when you’re looking for just the opposite.  Every time you reward respect you reduce the tendency toward incivility. And turn this negative into a positive.  When you model good behavior you will influence good behavior.

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