From time to time, DirectiveGroup team members will share their views on a provocative or otherwise thoughtful piece found as they research. Here, Kim comments on an article posted by Barbara Bartlein, in Entrepreneur, Negative Culture Saps Productivity.
Throughout their lifetime, most people will have at least one work experience where the culture is riddled with negativity. For most employees, it is extremely difficult to function at a high productively level in this atmosphere. Eventually, the employee will most likely move on to other opportunities. In most cases, the cost to the employee is the time he/she spent while employed.
For the company; however, the cost is much higher. Below are some statistics regarding the impact of a negative culture in a company mentioned in the article. A cost that was not mentioned, but I think is extremely important to consider, is the cost of employee turnover (i.e. training and recruiting).
• Over 91% of people spend a large portion of their day frustrated by their coworker’s dysfunctional behaviors and regularly think about quitting their jobs.
• Managers waste 37% or more of their day dealing with dysfunctional and unproductive behavior.
• More than two thirds of the workplace is considered to be “disengaged” according to polls by Gallup.
• One dollar out of every three payroll dollars is lost due to disengaged employees.
Although productivity incentives and team building exercises can help in creating a positive work environment, these are only temporary fixes. The solution is to change the company culture at the root level. So, the question becomes, “how do you transform a negative culture into a positive, productive one?”
This article provides several recommendations to get you started on the path.
