For greater collective efficiency at work, be polite to your colleagues

Social scientists have reviewed five studies, all of which indicate that bad behavior has consequences for the overall work performed.

At work, avoid being rude to your colleagues, it makes everyone less efficient. This is the message sent by researchers from the Universities of Florida and Indiana in the United States. They have just published the results of five studies which show that not saying hello, speaking unpleasantly, ignoring the personal space or the peace and quiet of the open space neighbor, reduces individual performance. Employees have lower results in tests, they are also less autonomous and less creative.

Rudeness also reduces the effectiveness of services or the company because it functions as a social threat that triggers protective reactions among team members. They cooperate less, share less information, are less flexible in organizing planning, which lowers the results of the entire team. These results were published in the American Journal of Applied Psychology Journal of Applied Psychology.

And it goes even further, because these scientists also indicate that the lack of politeness can have deadly consequences. A conclusion drawn from their observation of what happens in medical teams. In this case, the lack of respect and politeness either internally or on the part of patients, unconsciously leads to a less good application of care procedures, which can go as far as compromising patient safety, write these researchers. Previous studies have also shown that there is also a link between politeness at work and sleep disorders. “Therefore, rude behavior should not be considered as marginal issues,” warn these researchers.

It remains to be seen whether politeness, which is linked to education and empathy, can be learned in adulthood. Psychiatrists claim that it can in fact be relearned, because human beings have a natural aptitude for empathy. Last year, in France, there was talk of empathy classes in primary schools. Pilot experiments were even conducted last year in a thousand primary schools. They focused on understanding emotions. But as the new school year begins, empathy classes are no longer really a priority for the National Education system.

However, there are still educational kits available on the internet for interested teachers.