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.
For more information on
Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services contact us at
Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net
