Why Workplace Civility Is a Competitive Advantage
When you hear the word civility, what comes to mind?
Maybe a forced smile during a meeting, or a generic “please” and “thank you” email. But real workplace civility goes far beyond basic manners and phrases. It’s about how we show up for one another, especially when things get tense, high-stakes and uncomfortable.
Here’s the biggest thing: civility isn’t just “nice to have”. It’s a competitive advantage that impacts retention, innovation, and your team’s day-to-day culture.
In a work world still recovering from burnout, turnover, and workplace toxicity, teams that know how to treat each other with mutual respect and clarity don’t just survive, they thrive. Civility reduces friction, boosts innovation, and creates the kind of culture people want to stick around for.
What Does Civility Actually Mean? (and What it Doesn’t)
On a basic level, workplace civility describes how we treat and are treated by our coworkers. It’s not so much about being passive or overly agreeable. It’s about promoting respect, courtesy, and accountability, especially when emotions run high and ideas clash.
Aspects of workplace civility include:
Disagree without being disrespectful
Giving feedback without the need to put down other ideas or processes
Comment on ideas we love, not just those we do not
Civility shows up then, in the smallest moments: not interrupting someone in a meeting; listening curiously and quietly; not interrupting or rolling your eyes if someone is struggling to be articulate.
Workplace civility isn’t always loud, but it is always felt. As is its absence.
The Cost of Incivility
Even though no one puts it on a budget sheet, incivility can be damaging. Not necessarily explosively either; in fact, it’s often quietly corrosive, taking place in the background and only showing up when the consequences are taking hold. Think about:
Dismissive comments
Microaggressions that are continuously brushed off or praised as honesty
Inside jokes or gossip
Passive-aggressive messages
The result? People disengage from their work.
The Real Consequences
In her article “An Antidote to Incivility”, researcher Christine Porath describes her first experience with workplace incivility. At 22, she moved cross-country for her dream job only to leave two years later due to bullying, rudeness, and extreme incivility that was set by the leader of the organization and trickled downward.
That led her to a lifelong focus on workplace incivility. In polling thousands of workers, she found that:
98% had experienced uncivil behaviour
85% of people who either avoided or confronted their perpetrators were unsatisfied with the result.
Even being a witness to incivility caused a decrease in performance of 30-40% for workers
The longer that incivility is allowed to fester, the more likely employees are to quit, burn out, or check out emotionally. Additionally, it also adds friction towards collaborative efforts: people stop sharing ideas and asking questions, they start working in silos, disconnected from the team.
That’s not just a workplace culture problem. It’s a business risk.
Civility Drives Business Outcomes
Here’s the thing: civility directly affects your bottom line. When it becomes the norm at work, you will see tangible gains in four key areas:
💡 Innovation
You can’t create bold ideas in an environment where people feel like they are walking on eggshells. Civility creates space for experimentation, curiosity, and psychological safety at work, all three of which are the foundation of creative problem-solving.
💼 Retention
People don’t leave jobs: they leave toxic environments.
Respectful workplaces reduce turnover and increase employee loyalty, especially among historically excluded groups who often face the most scrutiny and dismissal.
🚀 Collaboration
When people feel respected, they speak up. They ask for help. They challenge ideas without tearing each other down. In that respect, high functioning teams are built on trust, not arguments.
🌟 Reputation
Internally and externally, civility shapes your brand. It’s how clients remember you. It’s why someone might say “you should apply there” or “don’t bother.” Word gets around.
What Does Civility Look Like In Real Life?
So what does workplace civility actually look like? Here’s a snapshot:
Respectful Disagreement: Instead of dismissing someone’s work (for example, saying something like, “That won’t work”), offer to share your take and try to find ways to collaborate towards a common goal or solution, together.
Clear Communication: Talking to your coworkers honestly, without any digs or rude comments.
Giving/Receiving Feedback without Fear: Normalizing feedback as a tool for growth and change to strengthen your organization, not punishment.
Showing Consideration: Before making a joke or comment, pause to consider your audience. Avoid jokes at the expense of others or aim to embarrass or demean them. Of course, that doesn’t mean jokes aren’t allowed: it’s just understanding when and where to use them.
Embrace Humility: Be modest and contribute to a positive workplace culture by ensuring credit is given where it’s due.
None of these aspects are especially fancy or exceptional. They might even seem like common sense. However, we have all been in situations where we have felt dismissed or demeaned, and it’s all too common in the workplace.
So, it’s important to remember that, when these points are practiced consistently, it can transform the emotional landscape of teams as a whole.
Civility Forms the Groundwork for Inclusion
Let’s be clear: civility alone doesn’t build inclusivity at work.
But, it absolutely creates the conditions where inclusion can thrive.
If you’re working to address systemic barriers such as racism, ableism, or unconscious bias, then workplaces need to achieve a baseline of psychological safety that allows them to speak up, push back, and engage respectfully. Without civility, conversations about equality can easily become defensive, dismissive, or performative.
For marginalized employees, workplace incivility accumulates faster and hits much, much harder. A workplace that tolerates eyerolls in meetings or microaggressions disguised as “jokes” undermines their commitments to sustaining a positive workplace culture.
Civility does not:
Erase power dynamics
Excuse discriminatory behavior
Replace accountability
Or mean everyone has to “get along” all the time
What it does do is create a shared baseline of respect for how we show up, engage, and navigate our differences. It gives teams the tools to disagree without diminishing others, to challenge without hostility, and to support each other without the fear of retaliation.
Civility then, cannot solve everything. But without it, inclusivity cannot take root.
How to Make Civility the Norm
🧠 Train for It
Include workplace civility training in inclusive leadership training, onboarding, and team training.
🗣️ Model Civility, Even When it’s Hard
Leaders set the tone. When someone makes a mistake or gives tough feedback, how you respond sends a message. Civility under pressure is where culture really shows up.
📣 Call It In, Not Just Out
Instead of shaming people, build a culture of accountability with care. Normalize saying things like, “That comment didn’t land. Can we talk about it?”
📊 Tie It to Metrics
Want it to matter? Measure it. Include civility in quarterly reviews, team health assessments, or exit interviews.
🎉 Celebrate It
Shout out civil behavior in real time: when someone steps up with grace, gives thoughtful feedback, or handles conflict maturely. Name it and elevate it.
Civility isn’t about perfect behavior. It’s about consistent, respectful effort.
Final Thoughts: Civility Is Culture in Motion
Let’s stop treating civility like window dressing.
It’s not about being agreeable. It’s about creating space where people can challenge each other without tearing one another down or creating a toxic workplace culture. When inclusive leadership is paired with equity-driven employee voices, they can make the effort together to create a positive environment. Their work can make civility the norm, not the exception, and ensures your work becomes the kind of environment people remember, recommend and, most importantly, stick around for.
FAQ: Quick Answers to Your Workplace Civility Questions
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Not quite. While some aspects of civility might seem like common sense, different people will bring different communication styles, cultural norms, and expectations to work. What might feel “obvious” to one person might feel abrasive or exclusionary to another. That’s why training or onboarding new employees around workplace civility and professional etiquette is so valuable: it sets everyone up for success.
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Civility has never been about avoiding hard conversations, it’s about making those conversations work towards strengthening your overall work culture. This means making space for different views, handling feedback respectfully, and responding thoughtfully.
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Can civility really impact performance and business outcomes?
Most definitely, and the research backs it up. Teams in civil environments report higher innovation, better collaboration, and stronger retention.
