Survey shows that employees faced with offensive co-workers are expected to deal with it on their own.
Survey of employees proves that one-third feel they must tolerate offensive coworkers as managers aren’t effective in dealing with unprofessional behavior in the workplace.
Employees who feel belittled, sabotaged or discredited by co-workers have to depend on their own interpersonal skills and coping strategies in the workplace, because superiors won’t prevent employees from clashing, according to a new survey.
A survey of 532 full- and part-time workers ages 18 and older employed in office environments revealed that one-third find themselves working alongside rude and offensive co-workers. Of the 29% saying they encounter unprofessional behavior in the workplace, 68% said they felt co-workers behave badly frequently and distributed their rude behavior equally among subordinates, peers and superiors. And close to one-quarter reported that their managers were ineffective at dealing with unprofessional behavior from co-workers.
“Most employees will encounter an unpleasant colleague at some point, and how they interact with these co-workers can affect their careers,” said Diane Domeyer, executive director of OfficeTeam, in a statement. “Tactfully handling challenging personalities requires strong interpersonal skills and diplomacy.”
Yet an overwhelming majority across age groups didn’t believe such behavior should be tolerated even if the offenders completed their job requirements. On the high end, close to three-quarters of survey respondents aged between 55 and 64 strongly disagreed the bad behavior should be tolerated and close to half of those aged 18 to 34 said the same. Those 65 and older seemed most at ease with rude co-workers. “Those who have spent a lot of time on the job may be more effective at negating problem behaviors,” Domeyer added.
OfficeTeam, the staffing service company that developed the survey, also offered tips in dealing with the most common offensive co-workers. For instance, the “Belittler” is described as tearing others down to build themselves up with demeaning remarks and disparaging comments. And the “Saboteur” also enjoys making others look bad by not fulfilling their job duties and laying blame on others. Other bad behaviors include spreading rumors, stealing credit for others’ work and slacking off to the point that others need to pick up extra work to compensate.
Despite being in the right behavior-wise, OfficeTeam recommends professional employees develop coping strategies for dealing with offensive co-workers.
“The fact is while you cannot always control others’ behavior, you can control your own reactions to it,” Domeyer said.
