Surveys
We chose to conduct two surveys via the research software company, Qualtrics. The first survey asked respondents questions about their experiences with civil discourse and incivility in the office.
40 respondents completed the entire survey.
For the second survey, we intentionally targeted underrepresented demographics. Our specific targets were people with disabilities, people of color, and people who identify as LGBTQIA+. We hypothesized these minority groups may experience more adversity and uncivil interactions in the workplace.
12 respondents completed the entire survey.
Here's what we found:
01
Almost 50% of respondents
agreed Incivility is impactful
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In the first survey, none of the respondents answered they were not impacted by incivility.
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34% of respondents in our general survey said uncivil actions have a big impact and 9% said significant.
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In our second survey, 34% of respondents noted incivility has a big impact and 14% said significant. It's clear this group is affected by incivility more deeply, potentially due to their identities and/or additional obstacles.
02
60% of respondents report
Uncivil incidents only sometimes get resolved
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Both surveys favored conflicts only sometimes getting resolved, with the next highest response in the second survey being "rarely resolved" at 27%.
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Even if there was a resolution, 2/3 of the second survey respondents reported they were not satisfied with the result, 13% of those claiming to be very dissatisfied.
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The first survey had a similar result, with 55% of respondents not satisfied.
03
All potentially controversial topics were mentioned
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The survey offered politics, promotions, cliques, racism, sexism, and nepotism as origins of incivility and uncivil discourse in the workplace.
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None of the origins were favored as origins that always happened. Most were statistically cited in the "rarely" and "sometimes" categories.
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Notable written-in responses were "verbal abuse" and being "LGBTQIA+"