The Rise of Incivility at Work
October 10, 2024
This is the age of DEI and an emphasis on the importance of developing and maintaining a healthy workplace culture, yet workplace incivility—disrespect, insensitivity, and rudeness among those we interact with at work—is on the rise according to numerous employee polls. Why? And what can we do about it?
Research supported by the National Institutes of Health states, “A direct relationship was found between being uncivil and organizational change, job insecurity, low social support from co-workers and high job demands. However, the strongest relationship was found between experienced incivility from co-workers and instigated incivility. This could be reflecting a climate or culture of incivility in the organization, and carry implications for future practice in interventions against workplace incivility.”
Incivility crops up in every workplace from time to time. We are only human after all. Even those coworkers who are generally easygoing and polite can lose it when faced with increased pressures and more stress than they can handle. They may have been the recipient of a thoughtless or unkind comment themselves and passed it on to someone else in a misguided effort to gain some feeling of control and emotional relief. Incivility is contagious.
Especially when someone is treated disrespectfully in an ongoing way, whether they’re routinely ignored, publicly embarrassed by an insensitive colleague or supervisor, or subject to micro-aggressions like having their name intentionally mispronounced or their “Hi” ignored, incivility can cause real damage to an individual and an organization. It creates a toxic work environment, the antithesis of a healthy workplace culture. Workplace incivility has a negative effect on the perspective, behavior, and general well-being of all members of an organization. It causes depression and anxiety, lowers self-esteem, and leads good people to quit.
But dealing with incivility can be challenging in that rudeness doesn’t always quite rise to the level of harassment or abusive conduct. And it can be difficult to prove. So what can HR do?
Here are some ways to help turn the tables on incivility:
- Provide written organization policy guidelines for standards of conduct, with examples of what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior on the job, whether onsite or remotely.
- Provide training on how best to respond to incivility without becoming uncivil in turn (role-playing can be an effective tool).
- Encourage open, respectful communication to provide a psychologically safe environment, one where no one fears encountering ridicule or rudeness for being themselves or expressing an opinion.
- Encourage employees to bring concerns about uncivil interpersonal interactions to HR, and be empathetic when they do.
Maintaining a respectful work environment is important for the health and well-being of individuals and organizations. And it’s the right thing to do.