Half of Employees Don’t Feel Respected by Their Bosses

When it comes to garnering commitment and engagement from employees, there is one thing that leaders need to demonstrate: Respect. That’s what we saw in a study of nearly 20,000 employees around the world (conducted with HBR and Tony Schwartz). In fact, no other leader behavior had a bigger effect on employees across the outcomes we measured. Being treated with respect was more important to employees than recognition and appreciation, communicating an inspiring vision, providing useful feedback — even opportunities for learning, growth, and development. Those that get respect from their leaders reported 56% better health and well-being, 1.72 times more trust and safety, 89% greater enjoyment and satisfaction with their jobs, 92% greater focus and prioritization, and 1.26 times more meaning and significance. Those that feel respected by their leaders were also 1.1 times more likely to stay with their organizations than those that didn’t. Respect also had a clear impact on engagement. The more leaders give, the higher the level of employee engagement: People who said leaders treated them with respect were 55% more engaged. See more HBR charts in Data & Visuals Unfortunately, over half (54%) of employees claimed that they don’t regularly get respect from their leaders. If leaders’ disrespect leads to less engagement, more turnover, less focus and productivity, greater health care costs — and is contagious — why do over half of employees feel like they’re disrespected all too often? To learn why people are disrespectful, I conducted a separate survey asking 125 employees why they behaved uncivilly. Over 60% claim they are overloaded and have no time to be nice. This is a hollow excuse since respect doesn’t require extra time; it’s about how something is conveyed — your tone and non-verbal communication — not a separate action. Twenty-five percent claim that they don’t have a role model for respect in their organization, they’re just behaving as the leaders do. Over the last 18 years I’ve studied the effects of civility (which I define as behavior involving politeness and regard for others in the workplace, within workplace norms for respect) and I’ve learned that the vast majority of disrespect stems from a lack of self-awareness. Only a masochistic 4% claim they are uncivil because it is fun and they can get away with it. More often people just do not realize how they affect others. They may have good intentions, but they fail to see how they are perceived. For example, a top doctor in a Masters of Medical Management program I taught in told me that until he received some harsh 360-degree feedback, he was clueless that so many people thought he was such a jerk. He was simply treating residents the way he had been trained. You and Your Team Engaging Employees Best practices for keeping your team focused and motivated. Leaders need to keep in mind that respect is different for different people; it’s all in the eyes of the beholder. Respect is directly tied to what a particular individual expects — and how the leader makes the person feel. Norms vary by culture, generation, and gender — as well as industry and organization. In this doctor’s case, the norms of a younger generation were different than his generation and experience. How can leaders demonstrate respect to win employees and gain returns? Doug Conant, the former CEO of Campbell’s Soup, serves as a great example. When Conant assumed leadership in 2001, the company had lost half market value, sales were declining, the business was collapsing, and there had been a series of layoffs. The company’s toxic environment prompted a Gallup manager to describe the company’s engagement as “the worst [he had] ever seen among the Fortune 500.” Conant turned things around in large part by showing employee’s respect. During his tenure as CEO, he wrote more than 30,000 individualized notes of thanks to his 20,000 employees. He took every opportunity to connect with people and make them feel valued. And the results showed. By 2010, employees were setting all-time performance records, including out-pacing the S&P by five-fold. I’ve written about the benefits of demonstrating respect (as Conant did) as well as the costs of disrespect. Our studies reveal that without respect, even if people want to perform well, they can’t. In experiments conducted with Amir Erez, we watched performance plummet after incivility occurred. Just witnessing incivility caused outcomes to falter by nearly half. Witnesses’ reactions to brainstorming tasks were stifled. They stumbled at solving puzzles. External experts rated their products as significantly less creative. We found that people are also 5 times less likely to be attentive to information they see. Incivility taxes working memory, and in doing so, decreases performance on cognitive tasks. These costs chip away at the bottom line. Nearly everybody who experiences workplace incivility or feels disrespected responds in a negative way. Employees are less creative, and many leave. About half deliberately decrease their effort or lower the quality of their work. Incivility damages customer relationships too. Our research shows that people are less likely to buy from a company with an employee they perceive as rude, whether the rudeness is directed at them or at other employees. Witnessing just one short negative interaction leads customers to generalize about other employees, the organization, and even the brand. So what are leaders supposed to do with these findings? First and foremost, they need to promote a culture of respect. That starts with recruiting and selecting for civility. Do your homework on candidates and ask directly about their treatment of other people in reference checks. Leaders also need to be role models for civility. One surefire way to communicate how much you value civility is to directly evaluate and reward it during performance reviews. Include metrics on interpersonal skills or emotional competence. Introduce peer and customer recognition and rewards is to catch people in the act and reinforce respectful behaviors. Finally, leaders need to correct bad behavior. Employees that fail to treat people respectfully, should be given fair notice about their behavior, along with clear direction about what needs to change. Impolite behavior must be dealt with swiftly. After all, respect pays.

Half of Employees Don’t Feel Respected by Their Bosses

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