Reducing Rudeness Among Remote Workers

Have you ever experienced rudeness from your employer or workmates when interacting online? One may be rude, while in some cases, we could be misjudging our friends and colleagues for innocent comments or gestures. Casual rudeness is becoming more common in remote workspaces as more organizations embrace the trend of working remotely.

In July 2021, Netflix fired three marketing managers for rude comments about their coworkers. Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO, informed the public through LinkedIn that they let go of the three managers after a series of personal comments about their peers when talking or presenting.

Rudeness at work is more than annoying as it makes the target group or individual worse at their jobs. According to a Georgetown study, experiencing rudeness could mean that you’ll be 33% less effective at solving word puzzles and 39% less likely to come up with creative ideas.

Solving the problem will entail digging deeper to understand the causes of rudeness in the workplace. The biggest rudeness triggers are emotional exhaustion, burnout, workload, and job insecurity. If unchecked, rudeness and incivility may become contagious and spread faster among employees that have experienced insolence from colleagues and superiors.

Employers can reduce the rudeness by addressing the issue before it escalates and perpetuates the cycle. Introducing more platforms for one-on-one interaction can also help one eradicate negative perceptions that breed while working remotely. Understanding the negative intensification bias may help you avoid dwelling solely on the negative.

An organization can also grant employees more autonomy during the work day to exercise more control over specific tasks and how they handle each. A multifaceted approach to remote working may go a long way in reducing rudeness in the workplace.