The injustice experiences of workplace abuse and undermining account for a total of 26% of workplace disengagement !
Nicolas BEHBAHANI
Global People Analytics & HR Data Leader - People & Culture | Strategical People Analytics Design
?? 23% of employees surveyed experience injustice every month.
?Workplace injustice, like bullying, for example, can have a profound impact on the mental health of workplace victims and lead to other issues like a drop off in employee job performance, a damaged company reputation, and increased counterproductive behaviors like quiet quitting, self-isolation, and increased use of sick days.
????? Across the board, people with disabilities and those in the LGBT+ community experienced all types of injustice more frequently, reported higher levels of negative workplace outcomes, and lower levels of positive workplace outcomes.
Bystander behavior and undermining account for 42% of counterproductive workplace behavior.
?? When organizations fail to provide help and support and protect employees from subversive treatment and active abuse, they are more likely to mentally, emotionally, and behaviorally quit their job.
?? More worrying, half of the participants that experienced injustice did not report it, or the organization was simply not aware, according to a new interesting research published by 937 Strategy Group and Workforce Lifecycle Analytics using data ?? from 686 working adults within the United States and qualitative responses of the most impactful experiences of mistreatment employees had over the last year.
?Methodology
Researchers conducted a literature review and identified six common categories of mistreatment that were measured: incivility, bullying, abuse, harassment, undermining, and ostracism. Then they identified a gap in this review. Specifically, bystander behavior or failed allyship, which is experiencing others standing by while you are mistreated.
?Prevalence and Harm of Injustice in the US Workplace
Researchers noticed that 23% of US employees experience injustice every month.
?The cost of Workplace Abuse and undermining
Researchers found that workplace abuse (i.e., verbal or physical behavior that is intended to intimidate or cause distress to others) and undermining (i.e., behavior either direct or indirect that can compromise, diminish, or sabotage an individual's competence, work performance, or confidence) had the largest impact on employees feeling disengaged from their workplace.
Specifically, the injustice experiences account for 26% of workplace disengagement in our sample of participants
?Workplace outcomes impacted by injustice
Researchers found that six outcomes that were greatly impacted by injustice behaviors were:
?? Disengagement
?? Turnover intention
?? Recognition
?? Promotion potential
?? Counterproductive workplace behavior
?? Negative work-induced emotions (e.g., distress).
?The counterproductive workplace behavior
Researchers defined Counterproductive workplace behaviors as characterized by things like intentionally delaying work, using sick days when they are not sick, and intentionally breaking rules.
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Analysis of the feedback revealed numerous themes of how workplace injustice manifests. Researchers identified 4 dominant themes:
1?? Disrespect
Disrespect in the workplace has a profound impact on employees. When an individual is treated with contempt, lack of courtesy, or rude behavior it can be harmful for their wellbeing and performance. Employees may suffer from lack of confidence, emotional well-being, disengagement from work, and in extreme cases, employees may wish to leave the company.
2?? Supervisor mistreatment
Employees who experience mistreatment from their supervisor may feel as if their supervisor is harsh, overly critical or aggressive in some cases. Employees may also feel that their supervisor lacks consideration and is not supportive of them. This can lead to employees losing trust in their supervisor, feeling as if they are unsafe at work, or seeking employment opportunities elsewhere
3?? Ostracism
Ostracism involves the exclusion of individuals in the workplace from group projects, discussions, or other social activities. Ostracism can have damaging effects on employee well-being. It can leave employees feelings unwanted, isolated, and unimportant. These feelings can carry into the employees’ personal lives causing adverse health outcomes.
4??Discrimination
Employees from underrepresented groups (race, color, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability status, etc.) may experience different treatment from that of their coworkers, they may have to endure the unnecessary burden of listening to slurs, stereotypes, and other offensive behavior. This may lead employees to experience lower levels of well-being, negative attitudes towards their coworkers, supervisors, and the organization as a whole, and they may be likely to seek employment elsewhere if the opportunity becomes available.
? Main reasons for inaction
Researchers found three reoccurring themes that account for over half of the reasons for inaction:
? Lack of consideration
? Passivity
? Relationship/ supervisor involvement
?? Finally researchers provide some recommendations to organizations to prevent and act upon injustice in the workplace:
?? Maximize Reporting: Encourage employees to report injustice so you know what happened and so you can address it.
?? Increase Action: If injustice happen is reported, take action.
??Type of action: The important thing is that when action was taken, most experienced a positive outcome.
?? ???? ???????????????? ????????:
This insightful research provide a powerful insight into how various forms of mistreatment impact different workplace outcomes. Researchers investigated the relationships between all forms of injustice (the independent variables) and each outcome variable (the dependent variables). The three recommendations of researchers are valuable and can be applied to any type of company.
Thank you ?? 937 Strategy Group researchers team for these insightful findings:
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Industry Veteran | Exploring Future of Work | Great Manager’s Coach & Mentor
5 个月?? Thanks, Nicolas BEHBAHANI, for sharing this eye-opening research! The findings are indeed shocking. ?? Seeing that workplace injustice accounts for 26% of disengagement, with 23% of employees experiencing it monthly, is alarming. The employee engagement outflow is massive - Is money going down the drain! ?? ?? If this is US data, what can be the state of affairs in other nations? Cumulatively, what? ?? ?? I liked the researchers' 3-pronged approach: 1?? Maximize reporting 2?? Increase action 3?? When, How, & What of action's. ??♂? My add: Reporting can take various forms, including anonymous submissions to protect identities & maximize reporting. ???♂? ?- Solution - Be FAIR ???? its just basics. F - Foster Awareness with proper communication. ?? A - Assess, Investigate & be Transparent. ?? I - Intervene Effectively and show-case. ?? R - Review People Policies, Procedures & Practices.??
Fractional Chief Human Resource Officer | Senior Global HR Advisor | Malaysia's Woman Leader 2023 | Advocate for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion | Promotes Empathy and EI | Data for Human Resources Management | Mentor
5 个月Great post on a timely issue Nicolas BEHBAHANI Often there is no proper grievance procedure in place to address these situations even with large multinational companies therefore solutions like reporting and taking action becomes minimal.
PhD, DBA- HR ?? | Aspiring CHRO/HR Director ?? | HRBP | CPHR, SHRM-SCP ?? | Ready for Strategic Leadership
5 个月The statistics on workplace injustice are alarming. How can organizations improve? Nicolas BEHBAHANI
Human Resource Professional | MBA | Coporate Recruiting Professional- ASA | Ex-Wirtgen Group,A John Deere Company
5 个月Very informative and relevant research! Indeed, workplace injustice and abuse significantly contribute to employee disengagement and dissatisfaction, which impacts overall organizational performance. This mistreatment not only affects mental health and job performance but also leads to detrimental behaviors like quiet quitting and increased absenteeism. In many cases, these behaviors often go unreported due to employees' reluctance, fear of retaliation, lack of trust in the system, or past experiences of inaction. Encouraging reporting is essential; employees need to feel safe and supported when sharing their experiences. This requires clear, accessible reporting channels and a strong commitment from leadership to address complaints. Implementing clear policies and procedures for handling complaints, along with regular follow-ups, can illustrate the organization’s dedication to justice. Establishing a transparent process for managing complaints, where outcomes are communicated, and justice is visibly served, can rebuild trust and underscore a genuine commitment to fairness. Thank you somuch Nicolas BEHBAHANI for sharing this wonderful research.
Keynote Speaker | Board-Level Strategic Advisor | Board Chairman | Best-Selling Author | Leadership & Organizational Culture Expert | AGLN
5 个月Thank you for sharing the insighs about our brand new research study on workplace injustice. There were so many insights that surprised us. We received more than 1200 comments from the respondents sharing detailed accounts of how they experienced injustice in the workplace. We also were able to calculate the economic impact of the mistreatment. $914.7 Billion is lost due to disengagement and turnover.