6 ways to root it out

New research out this week highlights a puzzling dichotomy for HR leaders: A majority of employees feel that their organization is working in a meaningful way to root out incivility, harassment and discrimination, but most are still seeing these behaviors in the workplace.

It’s a risk heightened in the current climate. Just last week, a Ford Motor Co. employee was suspended after a public run-in with the president, while ongoing massive layoffs are fueling in-office clashes.

According to a new report from employee learning platform TalentLMS, fewer than 40% of employees surveyed said they did not witness any mistreatment at work in the last year; just 44% report not having experienced it themselves—highlighting a significant opportunity for HR to lean more into compliance this year.

The gap between employee perceptions of workplace policies and what they look like in practice reveals “a troubling contradiction,” researchers write. “Protection is uneven and, as further findings show, fragile when tested.”

What kind of workplace misconduct are employees seeing?

Incivility or disrespect are the most common, followed by professional or social exclusion, retaliation for speaking up and identity-based discrimination. Less common are physical violence and sexual harassment—both witnessed or experienced by 15% or less of those surveyed. But, researchers say improper handling of more “minor” bad behaviors, like incivility, can “create conditions in which more serious violations can take root.”

“Discrimination undermines the very idea of workplace equity, while retaliation teaches employees that speaking up carries personal risk,” they write. “And the prevalence of violence and sexual harassment exposes a profound gap between the promise of safety and the reality many employees face.”

How leaders handle complaints about these behaviors significantly drives the environment that is subsequently created. About one-quarter of those who witnessed or experienced mistreatment at work didn’t report the incident; 16% did and said nothing was done.

For those who chose not to report, more than half weren’t confident that reporting would change anything, while more than one-third feared retaliation and about a quarter were concerned about the impact on their career prospects at the company.

“For a substantial portion of the workforce, the reporting system does not reliably translate concerns into outcomes,” researchers write. “This gap between input and resolution can create a vacuum of trust. The cost is a workforce that learns to endure problems, not report them.”

See also: Amazon’s latest legal challenge: disabled employees, RTO and HR tech

6 strategies to tackle misconduct at work

Researchers recommend six strategies to reduce misconduct at work and create the cultures that make those efforts sustainable:

• Ensure consequences apply to everyone equally: This was the top factor cited by employees when asked how they would like their employer to confront mistreatment. Unequal accountability is a particularly salient issues for employees, nearly two-thirds of whom report that misconduct is more likely to be overlooked for top performers and leaders.
• Create safer environments for reporting: Protecting employees from retaliation for reporting misconduct is a “must-have,” researchers say, but just the first step. “Employees need to see that reporting leads to action,” they write.
• Model from the top-down: More than 40% of employees say leadership can set the tone for civil workplaces. Such behavior, when consistent, “defines the line” between a policy that’s simply a “paper shield” and one that is actually effectively executed, according to the report.
• Center psychological safety: Managers have a critical role to play in addressing issues and encouraging—or suppressing—workplace behaviors, and they should be held accountable for this, researchers say. “Evaluating managers on team behavior and psychological safety directly targets [the] gap” between a policy that simply exists on paper and one that is brought to life, they write.
• Make compliance training more practical: More than one-third of employees are craving better compliance training, particularly rooted in “realistic” scenarios that could equip them with tools to effectively address mistreatment.
• Take minor complaints seriously: When incivility or rudeness is tolerated, it “normalizes disrespect” and “sets the tone” for even greater workplace issues. “Early intervention,” researchers write, “breaks that progression and promotes accountability before harm escalates.”