A well-known 150-year-old company with $10.3 billion in annual revenue is suffering the effects of workplace incivility and the failure to hold leaders accountable for it.
A former employee recorded a vice president at The Campbell’s Co. in an angry, expletive-filled tirade during which he not only disparaged Campbell’s Soup, but he called the company’s customers “poor people” and its Indian workers “idiots.” After the employee revealed the leader’s behavior to his supervisor, he was fired. Now, he’s gone public with the incident and is suing Campbell’s.
How much will this incident cost Campbell’s? The final toll from the lawsuit, brand reputation damage, turnover and productivity remains to be seen. But it’s undoubtedly significant. A 2020 study showed that non-compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission policies cost businesses an estimated $1.6 billion annually, a number that’s likely grown since then.
While The Campbell Co.’s brush with incivility and its associated costs are playing out in public, there are many more daily acts of incivility that go unreported. The SHRM Q3 2025 Civility Index reports that 74% of surveyed U.S. workers said they had experienced or witnessed acts of incivility over the last month.
Understanding civility and incivility
What is civility, and what counts as incivility? Webster’s dictionary defines civility as “politeness; courtesy” and incivility as “rudeness; discourtesy,” but it’s come to mean more, especially in the workplace.
“Civility is more than just being polite,” said Sandy Harvey, president and founder of Exodus Consulting Group, during an October 2025 Corp! magazine diversity event panel. “Civility is about building a foundation of trust, inclusion and psychological safety that allows people and performance to survive,” she said.
Civility is also not about “being nice,” according to Marvin Figaro, a panelist at the Corp! event and director of DEI strategic partnerships at Kelly, a multinational staffing company. “It’s not about being nice; it’s about being kind,” he said. Where being nice might mean avoiding disagreements, civility requires being honest during disagreements and interacting with kindness.
“It’s really about being respectful and respect in action,” said Megan Johnson, another panelist at the event and the Corporate Responsibility Program Manager Sr – Opportunity & Inclusion at Flagstar Bank. “It’s ensuring that people have the psychological safety to bring up issues when they occur.”
What then, is incivility? A February 2024 Forbes magazine article puts it this way: “Incivility has typically been defined as rudeness or disrespect. It varies in terms of how obvious or subtle the behaviors are.”
Examples of workplace incivility include yelling at someone, verbal insults, ignoring others, taking credit for someone else’s work, giving dirty looks in a meeting, failing to pay attention when someone is speaking and spreading false rumors.
Civility, workplace culture and performance
Beyond the significant legal costs of workplace incivility, why should companies strive to create a civil workplace? In short, because civility breeds inclusion and belonging, which are paramount to employee engagement, productivity and performance.
“In today’s evolving work environment where collaboration, innovation and wellbeing are essential, fostering a culture of respect isn’t optional; it’s critical,” Harvey said.
Figaro noted that, unless workers feel safe from incivility, they’re unlikely to be engaged and even less likely to put in extra effort.
“Discretionary effort is where you get innovation and growth,” he said. “Some of the hidden costs of incivility are going to determine the organizations that continue to grow and thrive and innovate, and the ones that either remain stagnant or cease to exist.”
Incivility also degrades recruitment, Figaro said. “If you want to get the best talent that’s going to drive innovation … the generations coming behind us are not dealing with that.”
Under the umbrella of civility are inclusion and belonging. Johnson explained that belonging is the ultimate goal, but it involves sustained effort. “Inclusion is you want to have a seat at the table,” she said. “Belonging is you sit down; you get comfortable; you take off your coat and get to be your true self. That takes a lot of communication; it takes a lot of ongoing work.”
Risks and costs of incivility
“Your biggest risks are legal when you are tolerating incivility in the workplace,” said Michelle Crocket, a panelist at the Corp! event, and a labor and employment attorney for the Honigman law firm. “When organizations allow disrespectful behavior to permeate throughout the organization, that’s the culture you’re creating, so it’s ripe for legal claims to be launched against you.”
One major cost of incivility is lost productivity. The SHRM Q3 2025 Civility Index quantifies that cost as:
- An average 35 minutes in lost work time per act of incivility, as reported by survey respondents, which translates to a loss of $18.67 per uncivil act considering the $32 per hour average wage of respondents.
- A collective loss of more than $1.3 billion per day in reduced productivity, based on the estimated 70.6 million daily uncivil experiences.
Acts of incivility also lead to absences. In the SHRM Civility Index, respondents reported intentionally staying away from work an average of 0.7 days over the past month to avoid incivility. Those workers who said they personally experienced or witnessed incivility at work said they took an average of 1.7 days off work in the past month due to incivility.
Using the $32 per hour average wage of respondents, incivility results in U.S. companies collectively losing more than $824 million per day due to absenteeism caused by incivility.
Companies might also save money if they created more civil workplaces. About a third of workers surveyed in the SHRM Civility Index report said they would take a pay cut if it meant they could eliminate the incivility they experience at work. Those respondents said they would accept a reduction of just over 10%, on average, which translates to an average annual pay reduction of $6,768, based on respondents’ annual income.
“If you’re tolerating incivility, the cost in real dollars is incredible,” Figaro said during the panel discussion. “If I were to take a poll of this room, your turnover is probably 30%, and if it’s not, kudos to you. You’re doing a fantastic job. Turnover is expensive.”
Having a reputation for an uncivil workplace is also expensive, and the effects are far-reaching, Figaro noted.
“People talk, and it’s great when you’re in an employer’s market, but that pendulum swings,” he said. “When people have the opportunity to vote with their feet, they do, but not only them, the people in their network also vote with their feet.”
Scott Alan Davis, a Corp! event panelist and vice president of inclusion and economic development for SEEL, a Detroit-based firm that provides energy and sustainability management services, summed up the risks of incivility: “You don’t retain talent, you can’t attract talent, you don’t have an environment that fosters creativity or ingenuity or excellence. Those are huge risks in an economy that’s getting tighter.”
How civil are we?
Do we live in a civil society? Are our workplaces civil? The SHRM Civility Index suggests there’s room for improvement in society and the workplace. It reports a 48.5 out of 100 index, based on the incivility workers experienced or witnessed in their everyday lives, a slight increase in incivility compared to Q2 2025’s 47.3. The index for incivility witnessed or experienced at work alone was 39, compared to the previous quarter’s 38.8.
Of the U.S. workers surveyed who said they’ve personally experienced or witnessed incivility in their everyday lives, more than half (51%) said at least one of the uncivil acts they observed occurred while they were at work. This trend remains consistent with Q2 2025 results, in which 53% of workers cited experiencing or witnessing incivility at work.
Sentiment about incivility in society remained consistent with that of the previous quarter, with 63% of Q3 survey respondents saying people in society today are very uncivil (7%), uncivil (24%) or slightly uncivil (32%). Only 37% said people are slightly civil (23%), civil (12%) or very civil (2%).
For Q3 2025, political viewpoint differences were the top contributor to incivility in daily life, at 49%, followed by differences in opinion on social issues (44%) and racial or ethnic differences (42%). One contributor listed for the first time this year, concerns about the U.S. immigration policy, came in at 39% as the fourth biggest contributor to incivility in society.
For incivility in the workplace, the causes were similar. Top contributors were political viewpoint differences (41%), racial or ethnic differences (40%), differences in opinion on social issues (37%) and age or generational differences (37%). Immigration policy came in fifth at 34%.
Leadership’s handling of incivility is also at issue. The Q3 2025 report showed that 44% of employees felt their manager could have done more to prevent incivility, down just one percentage point from the previous quarter. Asked whether their manager ignored uncivil acts, 35% agreed or strongly agreed, down from 40% in Q2. Only 20% of respondents said they agreed or strongly agreed that their manager actively guides employees through acts of incivility, down 8 percentage points from Q2.
Emotional intelligence, self-awareness
Harvey stressed the importance of emotional intelligence and self-awareness in promoting civility, and Davis echoed her sentiment.
“Less than 4% of people globally are self-aware, but they say they are,” said Davis. “So, the likelihood of getting smacked in line at the grocery store is high, because people don’t know their triggers. We don’t acknowledge our traumas. That spills over into the workplace.”
Davis acknowledged the challenge of creating civil workplaces in a world where self-awareness is lacking. “We don’t live in a civil society anymore,” he said. “So how do you create spaces in the workplace that are civil?”
Another unique challenge in today’s society is our multi-generational workforce, Davis pointed out. “This the first time that we’ve had five generations in the workplace at the same time,” he said. “That’s five different viewpoints, five different interpretations of things.”
Fostering civility in the workplace
Given the challenges, how can businesses foster civility in the workplace? Here are some ideas from the experts:
• Incorporate civility into formal policies and enforce them. Crocket noted that company policies against incivility and specific codes of conduct are concrete ways to foster workplace civility. The second piece to that is consistently enforcing those policies, she said. “That sets expectations for what organizations will and will not allow.”
You can remind people in informal discussions about these policies, and then require everyone to comply, stressing that whether they agree with the policies is irrelevant, Crocket said. “It shouldn’t be a surprise when you enforce the code of conduct.”
• Make civility part of the culture. Figaro noted that organizations typically have clear culture expectations for performance. For example, there may be an expectation that employees work extra hours to meet a deadline. Why not make civility another part of the culture that’s clearly defined? “Hold teammates accountable, just like you would for performance,” Figaro advised. Keep in mind, he said, that not all leaders have the tools they need to foster civility, inclusion and belonging, so put training and processes in place for them to learn.
• Ask leaders to model civility, inclusion and belonging. Johnson, who works with business leaders on DEI initiatives, advised calling on leaders to reflect on themselves. One DEI strategy she’s employed is showing leaders organizational charts with pictures of their employees and asking them to reflect on the diversity of their teams. “You can’t expect your team members to do it if you’re not doing it too,” she said. “You can’t just throw values and culture up on the wall and expect it to spread. The easiest path to do it is to do it yourself.”
Davis noted the importance of meeting leaders where they are. “Every senior leader isn’t the same,” he said. “Know what’s important to them and then make them understand that you value what’s important to them. Present to them in a way that they’ll receive it.”
• Provide conflict resolution and civility training, but don’t stop there. Education and training are important, but they need to go hand in hand with accountability and continued conversations about civil behavior. “Hold people accountable to what they do after training,” said Harvey. “Just training isn’t enough.”
