Having seen the effects of workplace incivility on key organizational indicators, how do HR folks deal with the issue?
With their ability to take meaningful action limited by the (very) questionable support they get from management, here’s what HR folks do:
- They get busy revising policies (69%), however only 7% initiate the creation of Team Charters that would help employees take ownership of these revised policies.
- They provide training to management (51%) and front line staff (54%), but only 17% are able to create an overall strategic organizational response.
- 34% hang posters, distribute pamphlets and do newsletters write-ups, however only 34% make it `a topic of conversation across the organization’.
- And many, as gleaned from the survey’s open comments sections, simply `do nothing’, or they deal with the issue on a case-by-case basis.
These results point to a glaring incongruence between the magnitude of the incivility risk (we’ve covered that in the previous entries in this series) and organizational responses to it. The organizational resources dedicated to solving the problem dwarf in comparison with the costs associated with its impact.
But before we get all up-in-arms about a lack of initiative and focus on HR’s part, it might be worth looking at the (very real) obstacles they face.
Which is exactly what I’ll do next week, in the final instalment of this series!
