When Workplace Incivility Goes Virtual

Workplace interactions are increasingly virtual, with much of communication happening over email, Slack, and Zoom—whether employees are in the office or not. Rude and uncivil behavior—damaging enough when it occurs in person—is now taking place online, which can make it even more insidious, according to researchers.

Negative impacts from workplace rudeness are exacerbated when it occurs via virtual channels, according to a 2020 study conducted at the University of California, Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business and published in the Organizational Management Journal.

Researchers say that such virtual toxicity is driven by a phenomenon called online disinhibition, in which people feel free to be much harsher via anonymous and asynchronous communication than they would be face to face.

“The problem with email, as we know, is people think they’re more anonymous,” said Jone Pearce, distinguished professor emerita of organization and management at the University of California, Irvine and co-leader of the study.

“You can be rude face to face and undercut it with a shrug or a smile, but with email, you can’t do any of that,” she said. “We also know from previous research that people tend to overinterpret email communications, and they overreact.”

Uncivil online behavior can also include unreasonably harsh feedback over Zoom, using capitalization in an email to “shout” at someone, or harassing someone via Slack.

In separate research conducted for the American Psychological Association in 2020 and published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, researchers concluded that virtual incivility can be categorized as either active or passive, with active incivility being perceived as more emotionally charged and passive incivility being perceived with more ambiguity.

For example, airing one’s grievances in rude language via email is active incivility, whereas ignoring someone’s Slack messages can be considered passive incivility, explained Zhenyu Yuan, assistant professor of managerial studies at the University of Illinois Chicago and a co-author of the research.

Yuan added that the lack of visual social cues in much virtual communication can leave messages open to interpretation, leading to unhealthy rumination and feelings of unresolved conflict.

“Email is too often used to deliver stressful information or to unload on someone,” said Christine Porath, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and a consultant who helps organizations reduce incivility. “Because email can be sent off at any point, too often, people aren’t regulating their emotions when they send off a potentially destructive email.”

The negative impacts of such incivility at work are numerous.

“Incivility hijacks people’s attention,” said Porath, author of Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace (Balance, 2016). “Cognitive performance suffers. Motivation drops. People make more errors. They are less creative. Efficiency lags. Increased toxicity, tension, and conflict stem from incivility. We find that people have more dysfunctional thoughts, which translates into counterproductive behavior.”

Incivility can also impact productivity and the bottom line. U.S. workers who personally experienced or witnessed incivility at work reported an average productivity loss of approximately 31 minutes per occurrence, according to the SHRM 2024 Civility Index. More than one-third of U.S. workers said they would accept a pay cut to work in an environment free from incivility.

Remedies for Virtual Incivility

There are steps that employers can take to reduce virtual incivility and promote effective communication styles.

To protect workers, employer brands, and company bottom lines, workplace experts say that management should proactively set clear expectations for virtual communications at work.

“In general, organizations should be more explicit on email norms in order to hold consistent expectations for what respectful communication looks like,” Yuan said. “Because passive email incivility is rooted in ambiguity, organizations need to educate employees. Incivility training and electronic media norms training have both demonstrated success in reducing workplace incivility and establishing organizational norms.”

Employers may want to maintain a formal, confidential process to ensure that rude behavior is investigated carefully and confidentially by HR.

Pearce suggested that employers consider asking employees about rudeness via surveys. “Instead of just asking workers if they like their job or the usual stuff, it might be a good idea to ask them if they’ve experienced rude behavior from a co-worker or a supervisor,” she said.

And managers should also be made aware of how others may perceive their own emails. “With all of the demands on managers, it’s easy to be rushed and send an email that you may see as just emphasizing the importance of an issue in a clear and concise way, but could be perceived by the recipients as rude,” Pearce said.

Porath recommended that managers deliver stressful information over more “richer forums,” such as Zoom, so misunderstandings can be mitigated. “Delivering a message that might elicit a negative response in person or over Zoom can help convey the desired tone and nonverbal cues to soften the message,” she said.

She also advised employers to offer coaching on how to appropriately provide and receive feedback, with an emphasis on virtual forums.

“If at all possible, bring your distributed teams together in person to help build connections and relationships,” she said. “That connection will provide more grace in interpreting virtual communications.”