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Most people work to live, not live to work. But considering the amount of time most people spend in the workplace, over time, many employees come to value morale over money.
Not surprisingly, job satisfaction is often directly tied to workplace culture: Employees survive and thrive when they feel supported, leave when they feel devalued. A main complaint from employees who have traded salary for satisfaction is not overt discrimination or harassment; it is incivility. Incivility is the subtle saboteur that sparks attrition.
Incivility and Emotional Exhaustion
Sana Shahzadi et al. (2025) studied the impact of workplace incivility on non-work outcomes such as insomnia and rumination.[i] Surveying healthcare workers in Pakistan public and private hospitals, they found that workplace incivility as linkied to insomnia and rumination by emotional exhaustion.
Incivility Invites Reciprocity
Juseob Lee at al. (2024) describe an “incivility spiral” kicked off by uncivil behavior in the workplace.[ii] Although workplace incivility may present as a low-intensity behavior, it can escalate into more serious aggression through reciprocity. In a study of 296 employees in the United States, they found that the more an individual perceived a coworker’s behavior as uncivil, the more likely they were to reciprocate. One positive finding, however, was that people with high levels of agreeableness were less likely to reciprocate incivility.
Turnover Is Trending
As much as jobs reports make the news, attrition does too. Employers suffer in terms of both productivity and profit when they are forced to recruit, onboard, and train replacements to fill the shoes of talented, experienced employees who loved their craft but hated the culture. Turnover negatively impacts the bottom line, through lost productivity as well as through potential legal costs related to employee claims of constructive termination.
Fortunately, there are recommendations to reverse the trend.
Engagement as Intervention
Di Zhang et al. (2022) explored the mediating effect of engagement within a workplace of incivility-related fatigue.[iii] Studying 1,200 female nurses in China, they found a significant positive link between workplace incivility and reported fatigue.
Workplace incivility was inversely associated with engagement, a finding they suggest could be explained by the effect of incivility on internal motivation. When incivility is a sustained stressor, Zhang et al. explain, nurses use mental and physical energy to defend themselves, and that decreases self-esteem, sense of achievement, and work efficiency, creating additional pressure. The researchers recommend that managers seek to improve workplace civility by promoting workplace engagement in order to reduce fatigue.
Productivity, Positivity, and Profit
Across professions, incivility in the workplace can cause productive employees to become discouraged, disengaged, and disinterested in professional development. The result: increased absenteeism and reduced productivity.
In order to both recruit and retain talent, employers should proactively prioritize positive workplace culture at every level of a company. By preventing incivility and promoting satisfaction through smart strategies of support, employers can ensure they hire the best people and know how to keep them.
