Misconduct at workplace takes toll on workers’ productivity

LAHORE: Research has established that misbehaviour at workplace takes a huge toll on performance, increases worker turnover rate, and if directed towards the customers the results can be disastrous.

This decline in workers’ productivity is a puzzle for the private sector in Pakistan, as even doubling of minimum wages has failed to achieve any positive results, probably because the human angle of general uncivilized behavior in our enterprises has not been taken into account. This general resentment-triggered rudeness is one of the causes of bureaucracy’s overall inefficiency. This misconduct travels down the chain of command from top to the bottom and ultimately reaches the public, which, as a result, gets bad, little or no service at all. Thus, the biggest casualty of government employees’ irritability, depression, and disinterest in their work is PUBLIC SERVICE.

Incivility is on the rise both in public and private sector despite the use of modern office and communication technologies, which help lower potential tensions and improve the process of information sharing and team building.

Senior executives in the private sector should realize the employees feel disrespected or ignored in a constantly abusive or discouraging working environment. They are undermined by colleagues when publicly belittled by an insensitive manager. It could leave a lasting damage to the organization. Interaction with workers in the industries reveals the seniors’ misconduct towards juniors is constantly on rise in our private enterprises. Perhaps, the origin of this snubbing behaviour is in the ebbing business. They must understand this ‘aggressive code of conduct’ will only make things go from bad to worse instead of improving.

Rudeness and misbehavior are definitely paid back to the offender and the organization. Those treated shabbily perform worse. They deliberately cut down their working hours and may intentionally let the quality of their work fall. Both these acts go against the commercial interests of the organization. The commitment towards organization of the workers, subjected to uncivilized behavior, is reduced. Nearly everybody who experiences workplace incivility somehow settles the score—with their offender and the organization. The loss of workers confidence due to acidic behavior of superiors, results in lower performance as they are terrified of the insults that they may face if they failed to achieve the production targets. Prudent managers deal softly on missing targets and encourage the workers to make up for the loss subsequently.

Workers turnover in Pakistan is not taken seriously by the private enterprises. They are ignorant of the fact that the organizations with stable long time workforce perform much better than those where workers turnover is high. Rude behavior and lack of respect in the organization is the foremost reason for the employees to shift jobs. High turnover is injurious for the future of the organization as they lose the employee after a year or two during which he/she learns the culture of the firm. The new employee will have to go through the learning process again that keeps productivity low.

A disgruntled employee, whose spirits are lowered by rudeness at workplace may not be able to deal with the customers proficiently. Many consumers also feel disgusted when they see a fellow human being humiliated publically at workplace. Some of them may opt to shop elsewhere. This may badly impact the organization or a specific brand as well. Some mistreated workers take out their frustration on customers that is also counterproductive for the organization.

Workers, at all levels, are expected to be respected as disrespect hurts their self esteem. The humiliation they suffer at the hands of their superiors not only gnaws at them but also their work potential. They will not perform to their potential when at loggerheads with other workers. They cannot be expected to collaborate with other colleagues. It has been established that good behavior enhances individual performance as they operate with confidence in cohesion with fellow workers.

One reason for uncivilized behavior is the keenness of the management to start operations without imparting proper training to their staff. When unskilled workers make mistakes or are slow in production, the managers feel frustrated as they are supposed to produce according to the capacity of the machine. In such cases, they have to be patient and devote some time to inculcate skills into the workers with love and care.

Each employee should get training on negotiation, stress management, crucial conversations, and mindfulness. Develop a set of civility metrics to assure that change is sustained.

The management leaders should be fully committed to engage with all employees with due respect. Leadership is crucial. It goes without saying that it is more important for the employees to be treated with respect than appreciation and recognition.