New research from Wharton management professor Peter Cappelli reveals how even the slightest mistreatment at work can result in lost productivity.
2 min. read
Small slights from a manager may seem like no big deal, but new research from Wharton reveals that even the mildest of mistreatment at work can affect more than just employee morale.
The study finds that when managers at a national retail chain failed to deliver birthday greetings on time, it resulted in a 50% increase in absenteeism and a reduction of more than two working hours per month. The lost productivity was a form of revenge, with slighted employees taking more paid sick time, arriving late, leaving early, and taking longer breaks.
“Insults are about a lack of respect, and that’s what this is really all about. There are huge and small lacks of respect, but they all leave a mark,” says Wharton management professor Peter Cappelli, who conducted the study with Liat Eldor and Michal Hodor, both assistant professors at Tel Aviv University’s Coller School of Management.
The study, “The Lower Boundary of Workplace Mistreatment: Do Small Slights Matter?”, is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While there are a growing number of papers that examine the effects of severe workplace mistreatment such as sexual and physical harassment, the study is the first to measure the cause and effect of minor infractions.
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