What Happened to Civility at Work?

Three words to define civility: polite, courteous, and respect.

More than 161 million people work in the United States every day and workers collectively experience roughly 171 million acts of incivility per day. That’s a telling number. No wonder no one wants to go to work these days. These numbers come from the SHRM Civility Index and point to a growing trend of incivility in the workplace.

Are you tired of the rudeness and incivility in our society? The rudeness in our workplaces, the bullying on social media, and let’s not even talk about the way our presidential candidates are speaking at, rather than to, each other. This incivility some believe has led to some truly ugly acts of verbal and even physical violence.

So, I ask what has happened to civility at work today? SHRM says 58% of U.S. workers believe our society is uncivil. We are seeing a growing epidemic of unrest in our world and in our workplaces that is likely only going to grow before this year comes to a close.

Other new university research is showing workplace incivility is becoming more common—and it is leading to rising costs for businesses, higher turnover, and reduced work output. The research comes out of the University of New Mexico late last year and examines workplace incivility.

Four different studies were conducted looking at: incivility intentions toward an insulting colleague; disentangling the influences of descriptive from injunctive norms; workers’ perceptions of the descriptive and injunctive norms for incivility at their organizations; and predicting uncivil behavior frequency.

The overall results show key tenets of the focus theory of normative conduct, provide evidence for individual difference moderators of the norms’ effects, and suggest messaging interventions may hold promise for discouraging workplace incivility.

Perhaps the problem is people can’t define it so they can’t teach it or correct it. How can you correct something you are unable to define? Civility is about courtesy and acting politely in the course of human relationships such as friendships, justice, and society, without demeaning or degrading another person along the way.

At work, SHRM suggests practicing civil behavior establishes a safe and empathetic environment where individuals can contribute their best ideas, knowing they will be heard and valued. It is about creating a dynamic, diverse, and productive workplace where everyone can thrive.

No matter how young or old, we need to set a standard of decorum. It is not only required but must be demanded for us to survive and thrive. There is absolutely a customary code of behavior in society in our professions we must exhibit.

Consider our own military, which focuses on a set of core values and principles that each person serving must follow to protect our nation. These ethical standards were created for the purpose of helping to define this specific profession. This can be said for other industries as well, some more targeted than others, of course.

Most of us should have been taught the basic rules of common civility: Being polite and displaying behavior that is respectful and considerate of other people we encounter.

Always showing courtesy by demonstrating politeness in one’s attitude and behavior toward others. And finally, we must respect others we admire because of their abilities, qualities, or achievements.

There truly is an art to civility. That’s knowing how to behave in every situation. Ignorance is not bliss and turning an eye when we witness a heinous act simply just makes us conspirators and cowards.

At work, civility can go a long way to making the workplace more inviting for workers—but creating this culture will often start at the top. If we want to create the workplace of tomorrow, we must start by being kind and courteous to others. If not, brands will fold, businesses will crumble, and society will be in anarchy unless we recognize the importance of the people and treat each other with the same respect we all want.