The lack of respect in the workplace contributes to the negative behavior of employees with the impact of their negative professional performance and productivity and consequently to the reduction of the company’s competitiveness in the labor market.
In recent decades, the behavior of employees in companies has been increasingly studied, as the view has been established, that the success of a company depends to a large extent on its human resources and therefore, this is one of the most important competitive advantages, which has, compared to other companies. If the work environment is not positive for the employees of a company, then this results in low efficiency and productivity of its employees, lack of commitment of employees to its goals, reduced team spirit and cooperation, reduced of creativity and contribution to it and finally the departure of capable and worthy employees.
According to surveys, 75% of employees quit their jobs due to “bad” managers or toxic work environments, while 36% of Greek companies face the problem of finding and hiring human resources with the skills and abilities they desire. Therefore, it is understood, that the loss of a competent employee does not entail the immediate and easy replacement of him / her, despite the fact that there is 17% unemployment in our country. This highlights the importance of a good work environment in a enterprise. Creating a negative and toxic work environment can be caused by many factors, however one that has piqued interest in recent years is the lack of respect that exists in a company, whether it is from senior to junior executives or among its employees of the same working scale.
At this point, it would be right to give a definition of what respect is. According to G. Babiniotis’s dictionary, respect is a) The appreciation, that one feels for the other, b) The care for something, so that it maintains its prestige and c) The way of behavior, which reveals the recognition of the value of the other . In this light, it could be said, that it is not respectful your superior to scold you for mistakes and inadequacies, that you have not made, to break out on you his/her personal or professional nerves, to be obliged, either indirectly or directly, to do double or triple work than you have to, because your colleagues do not do it, to systematically ask you to do “personal services”, to place responsibilities on you, which do not belong to you or to execute in you emotional blackmail of the type “if you like it, if you do not like it go away”.
On the other hand, we could mention, that respect is given to the employee for his / her good work, fair and equal treatment of employees, observance of employment agreements, support to a staff / professional problem of the employee. I think, that we will all agree, that at a working level the third interpretation of G. Babiniotis is the most essential. “The way of behaving, which shows recognition of the value of the other”. And when we say “other” we do not mean the employee, but the person. Because, as management expert Peter Dracker aptly puts it, “they are not just employees, they are also people”, something that in many cases is overlooked.
Achieving a work environment, where there is respect for employees is not a summer night dream, but an option of the enterprise and its human resources. From the top management, its senior executives should take responsibility for hiring people, where they embrace the same philosophy and culture as the company, but, also, the dismissal of employees, those who do not accept it according to their actions, to be a model of behavior towards other employees, to be honest and straightforward to their employees, so as to avoid misunderstandings, not to discriminate between employees, to take responsibility for their mistakes, to recognize the effort of their employees and finally to support them, when it arises a labor or personal problem.
On the part of employees, they need to be honest in order to have a proper and effective communication with their colleagues, to be lenient with the behavior of others, to be polite, positive, team-oriented, helpful, humble and confidential, not to engage in gossip, not to accept, nor to spread slander and inaccuracies about a colleague.
In conclusion, respect for an organization is cultivated on the one hand vertically and on the other hand horizontally and is both an individual and a collective effort of all employees. Regardless of hierarchy, all employees need to remember that respect is gained and, above all, inspired by our behavior. It’s not required. However, the biggest responsibility lies with the leadership of a enterprise, as it is responsible for hiring human resources and shaping the working environment of the organization.
If a company attains to create a work environment, where there will be respect among employees from both senior and junior executives, as well as among employees in the same hierarchy, then its benefits will be enormous in human, professional and financial terms level, as there will be a pleasant atmosphere among the employees and as a result of this will be the high work performance, teamwork, creativity, concentration in achieving the goals, the reluctance of the employees to move to another organization, the attraction of talent people and the good reputation of the enterprise in the labor market.
This article contains copyright. Reproduction of all or part of this article may be done with the consent of the author or with reference to the website www.marialykousi.gr. The first publication was made at www.psychology.gr on 02/06/2020.