Disrespectful employees can be a huge problem in your company. They can reduce retention, productivity, motivation, wellness, and safety in your workplace as well as increasing gossip and toxic workplace dynamics. If you want to have a healthy and happy workplace, you need to find ways to address and stop disrespectful behaviors before they cause problems. Here is what you need to know about stopping disrespectful behaviors:
What Qualifies as Disrespectful?
There are a range of behaviors that can be considered disrespectful, and some are worse than others. Some examples of these behaviors include lying, gossiping, speaking with a hostile tone, demeaning others, acting out of bias, and being physically or verbally threatening. Beyond these specific examples, any behaviors that are seen as bullying, intentionally causing emotional distress, or showing a disregard for the workplace or the people in it are also disrespectful behaviors.
Communicate Clearly
When you want to see a change in behavior, you need to communicate the desired change clearly. If there is one employee who is being disrespectful, you can communicate the needed change in a private meeting and follow up with regular performance reviews. If multiple employees are engaging in poor behavior, you should consider a company-wide statement detailing the kinds of behaviors that aren’t acceptable. This also applies to when you deal with disrespectful behavior in the moment. You may be inclined to feel upset in this scenario, but it’s important to calmly communicate that the employee in question needs to stop their behavior without becoming upset yourself.
Be Consistent
People who feel they’ve been disrespected are more likely to disrespect others. Because of this, good behavior should be enforced across departments and throughout all corporate levels. Your company leaders need to be held to the same standards as everyone else. More employees will be willing to follow company guidelines if they see that everyone is held to the same, fair standards.
Check on Your Employees
Toxic behaviors can stem from other problems in the workplace. For example, gossiping and office politics can come from a lack of transparency. To keep disrespect from forming in your workplace, address employee concerns early on. Listen to employee feedback and do what you can to make a respectful workplace. In addition, if toxic behaviors or bullying has occurred, make sure to check in on the receivers of the behavior to make sure they know that the situation is being handled. This will show your company that you care about your employees and will discourage future disrespectful behaviors.
Making a healthy dynamic in your workplace will always take work. To keep disrespectful behaviors from influencing your workforce, follow this advice.