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Civility in the Workplace---Is it Decreasing?

Guest post by: Jennifer Loftus

Article Overview: A major highlight of the second annual Civility in America poll, released by Weber Shandwick and Powell Tate in partnership with KRC Research, is the reported increase of incivility in the workplace. A whopping 43% surveyed experienced incivility at their place of work. Even more disturbing is the 38% who believe the workplace is becoming increasingly uncivil. What does this mean for human resources? Astronology investigates.

Civility in the Workplace---Is it Decreasing?



A major reason for the concern is the impact incivility has on the workplace. Such an environment means employees become more hostile towards each other. Employees also become less engaged, thus putting forth less effort and producing lower quality. Talent management would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, as disengaged talented employees leave.

Interestingly, the survey mentioned that 20% of employees left their jobs due to uncivil work environments. For customer service oriented organizations, this attitude will surely spill into customer interactions.

The Civility in America poll also mentions these surprising facts:

Behaviors Due to Incivility Experiences
In reaction to an Uncivil Experience…Did You…	2010	2011
Decide not to buy from a company again because someone representing the company treated you uncivil?	56%	69%
Reevaluate your opinion on a company because of its incivility or tone?	55%	69%
Advise friends, family or co-workers to not buy certain products or services due to your experience with an uncivil representative?	49%	58%

These numbers demonstrate an important fact. With an increase in uncivil manners comes a decrease in satisfied employees, productivity, and customers. From where does this attitude come? Psychologist and researcher Paul Fairlie of Toronto suggests: “As companies buy out and lay off workers while expecting to keep productivity up, the niceties suffer…White-collar work is becoming a little more blue-collar. There are higher work demands, longer hours. When you control for inflation, people are getting paid less than in the late ‘60s. A lot of people are working much harder. They’ve got fluid job descriptions and less role clarity. So for some people, for a growing fringe, work is becoming more toxic."

The book Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership also highlights the role of leadership. One article highlighting the book mentions, “Leaders who believe that they can work fewer hours, pass work off and change assignments without regard for employees’ full duties…quickly lose any respect granted by virtue of their positions.” If an employee’s leader isn’t showing any respect, why should the employees do so either? Recognizing how toxic incivility can be is the first step. The next step is to recognize the forms it can take within the organization and successfully combating it.

A tricky feature when it comes to incivility is how elusive it can be. Pearson and Porath define incivility as “the exchange of seemingly inconsequential inconsiderate words and deeds that violate conventional norms or workplace conduct.”In short, incivility depends upon a person’s perception of another person’s actions. It can range from blatant to subtle such as:

· Rude / obnoxious behavior in the workplace,

· Badgering or backstabbing,

· Sabotaging a project,

· Arriving late for a meeting,

· Ignoring or interrupting a colleague in the workplace, and

· Not saying “please” or “thank you.”

Recognizing how challenging it can be to recognize incivility within your own organization is the first step in eliminating or preventing it. Human Resources IQ released four additional tips to help combat this mysterious challenge:

· Increase awareness,

· Create workplace standards and value civility,

· Provide internal training and coaching, and

· Encourage open communication and feedback.

Don’t allow the trend of incivility to sneak its way into your organization! Most organizations want a culture that will encourage overall success from its various members. In order to do so, employees must feel valued and respected. Since incivility is heavily a perception issue, having open and specific discussions will clarify misunderstandings and communicate to employees that uncivil attitudes are not accepted.

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Article Tags: Behavior, Civility, Uncivil, Work Civility, Work Behavior



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