14 DAY TRIAL // According to the results of the newest study conducted by experts at the Baylor University, it would appear that people who are subjected to stressful conditions in the workplace are more likely to be rude at home than their peers.
This is especially true in the case of those who work under very difficult conditions, where a boss is constantly harassing them, or where they are engaged in interpersonal conflicts with co-workers.
Some of the rudeness that usually goes with such manifestations cannot be shaken off at the end of the work day, the team found, and therefore makes its way into that employee’s household. This type of behavior has detrimental effects for their quality of life.
Even the kindest, most patient person can fall under the influence of this behavior, even if unknowingly. The new study was conducted by Baylor assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship Dr. Merideth Ferguson, PsychCentral reports.
She explains that incivility is the primary source of stress in the workplace. According to the scientist, this behavior causes so much stress that it literally becomes impossible for victims to shake it all off by the time they punch out and go home.
At the same time, the study revealed negative side-effects in the families and life partners of those who work in such environments. But the ripples incivility causes do not stop in these people. In turn, they also take it to their workplace, allowing the behavior to persist for longer than it otherwise would.
“Employees who experience such incivility at work bring home the stress, negative emotion and perceived ostracism that results from those experiences, which then affects more than their family life – it also creates problems for the partner’s life at work,” Dr. Ferguson explains.
“This research underlines the importance of stopping incivility before it starts so that the ripple effect of incivility does not impact the employee’s family and potentially inflict further damage beyond the workplace where the incivility took place and cross over into the workplace of the partner,” she adds.
Details of the new investigation were published in the latest issue of the renowned scientific Journal of Organizational Behavior. The work covered the cases of about 190 workers and their life partners.
“Unlike the study of incivility’s effects at work, the study of its impact on the family is in its infancy. However, these findings emphasize the notion that organizations must realize the far-reaching effects of co-worker incivility and its impact on employees and their families,” Dr. Ferguson concludes.