New York - Get out of the way, road rage. Here comes desk rage.
Anger in the workplace - employees and employers who are
grumpy, insulting, short-tempered or worse - is shockingly
common and likely growing as Americans cope with woes of rising
costs, job uncertainty or overwhelming debt, experts say.
"It runs the gamut from just rudeness up to pretty extreme
abusive behaviors," said Paul Spector, professor of industrial
and organisational psychology at the University of South
Florida. "The severe cases of fatal violence get a lot of press
but in some ways this is more insidious because it affects
millions of people."
Nearly half of US workers report yelling and verbal abuse on the job, with roughly a quarter saying it has driven them to tears, research has shown.
Other research showed one-sixth of workers reported anger
at work has led to property damage, while a tenth reported
physical violence and fear their workplace might not be safe.
"It's a total disaster," said Anna Maravelas, author of
"How to Reduce Workplace Conflict and Stress." "Rudeness,
impatience, people being angry - we used to do that kind of
stuff at home but at work, we were professional. Now it's
almost becoming trendy to do it at work.
"It was something we did behind closed doors," she said.
"Now people are losing their sense of embarrassment over it."
Contemporary pressures such as rising fuel costs fan the
flames, said John Challenger, head of Chicago's Challenger,
Gray & Christmas workplace consultants.
"People are coming to work after a long commute, sitting in
traffic watching their discretionary income burn up. They're ready for a fight or just really upset," he said.
Added to that, he said, are financially strapped workers
having to cut back on paying for personal pastimes that might
serve as an antidote to work pressures.
Let off steam
"That means people come into work after a weekend and they
haven't been able to let off any steam," he said.
Spector said his research has found 2 percent to 3 percent
of people admit to pushing, slapping or hitting someone at
work. With roughly 100 million people in the US work force, he said, that's as many as 3 million people.
Maravelas said she conducted a seminar this week in rural
Iowa, where she asked participants if they thought anger was
increasing at their workplace.
Everyone raised their hands, she said, which is typically
the response she gets. She cited research showing 88 percent of
US employees think incivility is rising at work.
"Many of us sense we're losing ground economically and
socially. The safety net is unraveling. Hence, anxiety and
unease are skyrocketing," she said.
People reassure themselves by blaming others and "find
comfort in believing their suffering is caused by a callous,
incompetent or selfish organisation, leader, supplier, union or
regulatory body," she said.
The worst offenders are overachievers, said Rachelle
Canter, a workplace expert and social psychologist. "The usual
profile is Type A, really, really smart, with impossibly high
standards they set for themselves as well as for other people.
"They are so invested, I would say maybe over-invested, in
success and in everyone being every bit as driven as they are
that they just lose their sense of perspective, and they can
lash out at other people," said Canter, author of "Make the
Right Career Move."
But desk rage extends across industry and class lines, from
top white-collar jobs to gritty blue-collar work, and companies
pay dearly in terms of lost productivity, sagging morale and
higher absenteeism, Spector said.
The worst cases end in violence, he said.
"Somebody didn't just come to work one day and shoot
somebody," Spector said. "There's probably been a pattern of
less extreme behaviors leading up to it."
- Reuters