Creating a Positive and Civil Workplace: A Cultural Approach to Ending Workplace Harassment
”Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.” ~ Steven Covey
Businesses have long paid attention to hostile work environments, workplace violence, sexual harassment, diversity issues, and difficult people. Type any of these phrases in Google to learn how to resolve them – and the number of articles you find will be mind boggling.
It’s no secret that harassment has a tremendous impact on the workplace. Even when employees don’t necessarily feel harassed themselves, they also suffer from anger, anxiety, discouragement, depression and burnout as witnesses to the behavior. Watching harassment happen, or hearing about it through the grapevine, causes just as much distress and negatively affects work quality and work product. In turn, businesses spend millions of dollars annually in absenteeism and turnover, workers compensation claims due to stress, reduced work product, lower levels of job satisfaction, communication breakdown and even a bad reputation within the community.
Many managers and Human Resource professionals facing the problem of resolving a harassment or hostile work environment grievance focus on resolving the specific issue. Of course, by law they must investigate, document, and make a formal finding. While these are important steps, they are simply a band-aid approach to resolution.
Negative behavior is an organizational culture problem, not just an individual problem. Since culture dictates behavior, the investigation isn’t solving the bigger issue. There is a better approach to resolving these common and familiar challenges. Instead of attempting to end violence, harassment and workplace bullying, focus on building a positive workplace instead. A culture of positivity and civility will push the bad behaviors out.
A nice side benefit of building a civil work culture is a better bottom line. For example, according to a study conducted by global consulting firm, Watson Wyatt, in 2003, companies that openly promote civility among employees earn 30% more revenue than competitors, are 4 times more likely to have highly engaged employees, and are 20% more likely to report reduced turnover. Another study by GreatPlaceJobs.com found that only 44% of companies who had won a great workplace award laid off workers in 2008, while a whopping 86% of Fortune 100 companies without this recognition laid employees off.
Here are five key steps to successful implementation of a healthy, civil, and positive workplace culture:
1. Have a conversation about what leadership really means. In order for a positive culture to exist, leadership at all levels needs to be on board. Start talking to leaders about what leadership means in your organization, and guide them into understanding that leadership means support, empathy, civil communication… in addition to achieving results. In fact, you can’t have the latter without the former.
Read the remaining four steps in The Centre for Organization Effectiveness’ whitepaper.
