What managers should do about rudeness in the workplace
An estimated 98% of employees deal with difficult people at work. And new research from the Harvard Business Review shows victims of rudeness are the ones being blamed.
The report also found managers perceived those victims to be worse performers on the job than employees who had not been mistreated, regardless of their actual performance.
LinkedIn's editor-in-chief Dan Roth told "CBS This Morning" on Friday that employees knew to expect rudeness in the workplace, but it was how managers dealt with the problems that usually caused the most turmoil.
"What really broke them, what kind of sent them into tears and health issues, is when they reported to their managers and the manager came back and said you're the problem," Roth said. "And I think this happens because, number one, you've got to make your numbers. Number two, you are just trying to get through the day, and someone comes to you and says this person is causing me a problem and the manager says 'I don't have time for this.'"
Roth said if the manager is friends with the person accused of rudeness, complaints usually go nowhere. In any case, failure to deal with the issue can also have adverse effects for businesses.
"We know that 70% of workers say they will not work at a place that has a bad corporate culture," Roth said. "You are losing your best talent if you have a culture like this. If they're not quitting, they're checking out. And what you don't want is a bunch of unproductive people who are coming in who are miserable at work and just collecting a paycheck and getting out of there. You can't stay competitive if you do that."
Training is available to help managers better deal with complaints.
"Judges have to go through training to learn how to listen to complaints and not take it personally and think through what the problem is. It's worth doing training," Roth said. "If you're running a company, you've got to put in processes and training to get your managers to understand how to listen to these complaints and not just blow them off or blame the reporter."
