New Study shows Rudeness at Work is Contagious
Most of us have experienced a co-worker who was as prickly as a porcupine. These people are unpleasant to be around and over time their rude and negative behavior starts to impact our workday. A new study out this year in the Journal of Applied Psychology reports employees who witness or experience rude behavior at work are “more likely to be impolite in return, spreading rudeness like a virus”.
Share these tips in your workplace as a reminder of how small things like good manners can make a big difference to everyone’s workday.
10 Examples of rude workplace behaviours:
- Refusing to acknowledge someone’s presence – have you ever passed by someone at work who looked right through you?
- Refusing to make eye contact – it is not pleasant speaking to someone who can’t be bothered to look up or turn around to face you.
- Making a “grumpy”, “scowling”, “frowning”, “don’t talk to me” face.
- Eye rolling.
- Interrupting.
- Complaining – about the weather, traffic, the boss, the workload, the clients, and anything and everything else you can think of.
- Slamming and banging – the phone, the door, the filing cabinet…
- Swearing.
- Muttering, grumbling or mumbling under their breath. You can’t quite hear what the person is saying but you know it is negative!
- Snapping, snarling, or just plain mean spirited response – you get the answer to your question, but the person leaves you feeling like you should not have asked and don’t come back!
How can you avoid spreading rudeness? Try these common sense, good manners at work:
- Always nod, smile or acknowledge people at work with a friendly greeting.
- Face to face interaction is always preferred. When you make eye contact you show you are listening and interested.
- Put on a happy face and maybe you will start to feel happier. As the saying goes – “fake it, til you make it”. Everyone has a bad day once in a while, but if your bad day goes on all week it will start to impact everyone around you and your productivity.
- Discuss disagreements in a mature manner. Eye rolling is flat out disrespectful and childish.
- Listen first. Then respond to what was said. Now it is your turn to make a point. Interruptions are inefficient. Often the person interrupting is not listening to others. This leads to frustration and poor communication.
- Share good news stories and keep the bad news to yourself. Complaining is the adult version of whining.
- Take a brisk walk outside to let off some steam. Slamming and banging things at work is negative and can be intimidating for others around you.
- Keep your language “clean” most days of the week. Bad stuff happens and when it does you will need to let loose with some choice expletives.
- If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. If you have something to say, speak up so everyone can hear you.
- Kindness goes a long way. Helping others feels good! If someone is coming to you to ask a question, clearly you have knowledge that is needed at your workplace. This is a good thing!
