Addressing declining respect in the workplace

New research reveals a regression in respect shown between employers and employees. What does this say about where the workforce is at and what can be done about it?

Speaking recently on The HR Leader Podcast, Graeme Cowan, founding board member of R U OK?, outlined the headline findings from a five-year research study carried out by Gallup, surveying more than 40,000 US-based employees, about how the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath have changed the nature of, and how we think about, the workplace.

The research, he said, uncovered “universal patterns that are emerging around the world”.

One of the headline trends identified by Gallup was a decline, over the past five years, in respect shown in the workplace and by key stakeholders.

This has been particularly so, Cowan said, in the experience of remote workers.

“They’ve had the largest decline when they’ve been forced back to the office, dropped from 46 per cent down to 35 per cent. So, they’ve been really badly impacted and feel that, you know, that trust isn’t there, the respect isn’t there,” he said.

“There’s also been some real tough times with customers as well: customers have really had a much, much higher expectation on customer service and can often be very abusive to employees. You look at some of the terrible examples that happen in retail where people have been quite verbally and physically abusive.”

As such, Cowan said, “there’s never been a more important time to have that sense of connection and belonging and connection and belonging comes through asking questions”.

“Managers need to show that they care, they need to show that they respect [the workers] by listening with empathy and asking open ended questions, and responding to suggestions and ideas to help make the workplace a better place,” he said.

When asked what a trend like declining respect says about the state of affairs in the workplace, not just domestically but globally, Cowan said that there has “a lot of scrambling, a lot of busyness”.

In light of this, it is fundamental that managers of all stripes consider whether their workers feel cared for and connected.

“That comes through listening, through probing. But we want the outcome for that to be [that workers feel as though they] belong,” Cowan said.

That sense of belonging, he said, is a fundamental human need.

Secondly, Cowan said, is to explore whether managers are leading with safety.

The post-pandemic climate, he said, is “not a time to be dictatorial, it’s a time for asking for suggestions”.

“No one manager can have all the answers. And so, take the time to ask questions about whether you are missing something. Ask if anyone has any other ideas. Say that ‘we need to work together on this’,” Cowan said.

The third element, Cowan said, is to have a shared future.

“[Employers and managers should] invite people to contribute about how we could be better prepared in the future as a team and as a group of individuals,” he said.

“It is very straightforward in many, many ways, but it’s not necessarily happening. And those figures from Gallup we’ve just gone through just really emphasise that.”