According to the article “Clear Expectations Can Prevent Incivility, Experts Say” on SHrM, “Research shows that rudeness and incivility in the workplace—the type of behavior that doesn’t quite reach the level of bullying or harassment—creates a wide range of spillover effects. Training, clear expectations and accountability can help.”

The authors of the recent research, Christine Porath and Christine Pearson, of the University of Southern California and the Thunderbird School of Global Management, respectively, note that “the cost of employee incivility can be measured by analyzing turnover and commitment rates, productivity levels, and the estimated number of work hours lost because of negative interactions.”

The article goes on to define “incivility” in the workplace, which ranges from talking down to people to excluding people from meetings, and stresses the importance of employee training. A great way to ensure employees are informed of the organization’s policies and procedures regarding incivility in the workplace is to create an employee handbook. An employee handbook details the company’s policies and procedures surrounding the manner in which managers and subordinates alike are supposed to treat each other. Another way to foster a culture that promotes civility within the workplace is to provide training on topics ranging from conflict management to fair and equal management practices.

Though the research mentioned above has only recently been published by the distinguished scholars, the theories they have successfully helped to measure and quantify have certainly been observed in the past. Organizations have provided employee handbooks and traditional classroom training surrounding code of conduct for many years now. However, with the advent of new technology, there are new ways to combat “toxic” behavior in the workplace. Take our new product, Learning @…, for example. Learning @… is an online learning portal that combines great features such as the traditional employee handbook and training programs, but puts them into an interactive web application that employees can access any time they have an internet connection (and lets face it, that’s pretty much all the time).

So for all the managers out there, make sure to properly train and inform all of your employees about the dangers of incivility in the workplace, no matter what tools you use to do it. Step up, be a leader, and help make your company a success!