Why humans at work need to be humane too

Incivility, as a phenomenon, is becoming a talking point in the corporate world and, thankfully, getting named and shamed in an evolved talent ecosystem.

We see traces of disrespect, rudeness, humiliation and an ‘I know it all’ attitude amongst a lot of senior leaders, who treat their team members as though they are second-class citizens who have just discovered fire. It could also be passive-aggressive behaviour that points to vitriolic responses and a biased demeanour or a cultivated mask that gets unveiled, as the narrative demands, with hackneyed ying yang versions!

Small things like sharing credit, thanking, acknowledging others’ contribution, asking questions humbly, listening fully and smiling truly are some of the ways of dealing with incivility.

According to the findings of a global research, there are daily interactions in office that constitute civil and positive behaviour, and there are 400 touchpoints that require few more seconds to impact positively or negatively. We are humans alright, need to be humane too. There is a kindness hack of 10 and 5 greeting rule, 10 ft from someone, you smile and make eye contact, 5 ft, you say a friendly hello with your lips and eyes. Small steps that add up to be being a memorable sum of the parts.

Reports suggests that CISCO estimated a loss of $12 million annually on account of incivility scenarios at work leading to productivity loss, motivation crisis and lack of focus, which was quickly addressed.

Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace report estimates that low engagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion. That’s 9 per cent of global GDP — enough to make the difference between success and failure for humanity, let alone corporates.

Gallup’s research into wellbeing at work finds that having a job you hate is worse than being unemployed and those negative emotions end up at home, impacting relationships with family. If you’re not thriving at work mentally, you’re unlikely to thrive in life. Twenty three per cent of the world’s employees were engaged at work in 2022, the highest level since Gallup began measuring global engagement in 2009. However, while 23 per cent were engaged (thriving), 59 per cent were “quiet quitting” (not engaged) and 18 per cent were “loud quitting” (completely disengaged).

Add to that 44 per cent of employees said they experienced a lot of stress the previous day, repeating the record high in 2021 and continuing a trend of elevated stress that began almost a decade earlier.

Gallup analysis finds that engagement has 3.8 times as much influence on employee stress with the rise of hybrid and remote arrangements. In other words, what people experience in their everyday work — their feelings of involvement and enthusiasm — matters more in reducing stress than where they are sitting.

Interesting food for thought, isn’t it?

A recent interaction with one of the more evolved CXOs brought forth an interesting parallel worth reflecting on. He opined that one should focus on the strengths of the employees instead of harping on their weaknesses, as everyone is unique. Each employee has had his/her journey through life, replete with experiences and conditioning that will not mirror that of the other; it does not, however, in any way mean that it is less worthwhile and shouldn’t be compared. The need of the hour is to humanise colleagues across a spectrum of hope, fear, anxiety and morale.

The compelling urge is also to go beyond lip service and graduate to action, as there is generally a slip between the cup and the lip. Are the People Leaders truly listening or just waiting for you to finish only to start their rhetoric? It’s a choice really…

wknd@khaleejtimes.com