Civility at Work: Why Respect Pays Off for People and Organisations

Workplace civility has shifted from being seen as basic good manners to being understood as a key factor in organisational success. Research continues to show that everyday respect, active listening, and professional courtesy are not simply about being nice. They help create healthier, more effective, and more resilient teams.

Across industries, from hospitals to corporate offices, structured civility programmes have improved wellbeing, teamwork, and even financial performance - I’ve seen it in action. It’s why I created Civility Builds Excellence, alongside Civility Saves Lives pioneer Chris Turner.

Need more convincing? Here’s a list of evidence-based applications of civility in the workplace, and the impact it has. 

Civility Boosts Team Morale and Engagement

One of the most studied initiatives is the Veterans Health Administration’s Civility, Respect, and Engagement in the Workplace (CREW) programme. It involves small-group discussions and peer-led sessions designed to improve communication and build stronger professional relationships.

Evaluations of CREW show clear gains: teams report more respectful behaviour, stronger interpersonal relationships, and higher engagement scores. When civility becomes part of the everyday culture, people feel supported and more willing to work together across roles. Respect, it turns out, lays the groundwork for teams to perform at their best.

Lower Burnout and Greater Resilience

In high-pressure fields such as healthcare, civility plays a protective role. Controlled studies of civility interventions have found reductions in emotional exhaustion and psychological distress, along with improvements in teamwork - and patient experience.

The reason is simple. When people are treated with respect, they spend less energy dealing with tension and more on their core work. Over time this preserves capacity, morale, and mental health.

The Creativity and Performance Dividend

Christine Porath and her colleagues examined how civility, and its absence, ripple through organisations. Even small acts of rudeness can distract people, reduce creativity, and make them less willing to help others. By contrast, workplaces that model and expect civility see boosts in problem-solving, innovation, and discretionary effort.

A respectful climate frees up mental energy. Instead of protecting themselves from negative behaviour, employees can focus on complex thinking and productive work.

Respect Helps Retention

Civility also influences whether people stay or leave. Employees who feel respected by their leaders are more engaged and more likely to remain with their organisation. A lack of respect, even in workplaces that offer competitive pay and benefits, is a common reason for disengagement and turnover.

Evidence from Systematic Reviews

Recent systematic reviews bring these findings together. They consistently link civility with improved wellbeing, engagement, and organisational performance. These reviews also highlight that the best results come from comprehensive approaches. Skills training, leadership example, and structural support all work together to make civility stick. Quick, one-off workshops are not enough.

Making Civility Stick: Practical Takeaways

If you want to strengthen civility in your organisation, research points to four practical steps:

1. Go beyond workshops. Training matters, but behaviour changes when leaders model civility and norms are built into everyday routines.

2. Adopt a structured programme. CREW’s success comes from regular, peer-led sessions that develop shared language and habits over time.

3. Measure progress. Track civility climate, engagement, burnout, absence, and turnover intentions. This shows what is changing and reinforces the business case.

4. Protect cognitive bandwidth. Small lapses in civility can disrupt focus and problem solving. Safeguarding respectful norms protects productivity.

The Bottom Line

Respect is not a soft value, it’s a driver of performance. Organisations that build civility into daily interactions see improvements in morale, resilience, creativity, and retention. When people feel respected, they do better work, collaborate more effectively, and are more likely to stay.

Civility is often described as the social glue that helps organisations operate at their best. In a time of hybrid work, rapid change, and competing priorities, that glue has never been more important.

You can find out more about our workplace civility programme here, find a free introduction to civility on my online learning platform, or start the full online civility course. 

If you’d like to put civility training into practice at your organisation, or you have any questions, feel free to get in touch. Our online course is available for anyone to buy, and we also offer corporate discounts if you’d like to provide access for your staff. When you’re ready to take the next steps, we can offer facilitation for in-house civility training, or deliver the training ourselves.