The High Cost of Workplace Incivility |
Most people work to live, not live to work. But considering the amount of time most people spend in the workplace, over time, many employees come to value morale over money.
Not surprisingly, job satisfaction is often directly tied to workplace culture: Employees survive and thrive when they feel supported, leave when they feel devalued. A main complaint from employees who have traded salary for satisfaction is not overt discrimination or harassment; it is incivility. Incivility is the subtle saboteur that sparks attrition.
Incivility and Emotional Exhaustion
Sana Shahzadi et al. (2025) studied the impact of workplace incivility on non-work outcomes such as insomnia and rumination.[i] Surveying healthcare workers in Pakistan public and private hospitals, they found that workplace incivility as linkied to insomnia and rumination by emotional exhaustion.
Incivility Invites Reciprocity
Juseob Lee at al. (2024) describe an “incivility spiral” kicked off by uncivil behavior in the workplace.