Companies are increasingly embracing return-to-office (RTO) mandates, but new SHRM research and data reveal an unexpected consequence of those mandates. The incidence of uncivil acts occurring in the workplace is substantially higher for employees whose employers have issued RTO mandates. According to the SHRM Q1 2025 Civility Index, employees at companies with RTO mandates reported 63% more acts of workplace incivility than employees without company RTO mandates. Likewise, employers who issued RTO mandates within the last year reported an average of 0.9 acts of incivility per day in their workplaces, which is more than twice the amount of 0.36 per day reported by employers with no recent RTO mandate.
The employees returning to the office likely are experiencing a significant interruption in their daily routines. They are also likely to encounter more people and more opportunities for incivility than they did when working remotely. While the incivility level may be temporarily higher due to the transition from working remotely to working in the office, it may also indicate in-person work dynamics.
SHRM reports that about 20% of U.S. employees said that over the past year their employers issued an RTO mandate requiring them to work in the office more often, even daily. Given the level of incivility, which SHRM measured as 48.8 out of 100, the second-highest level Civility Index ever measured, employers should consider better supporting employees as they return to the office to preserve employee trust and morale.
SHRM's Civility Index, which the company conducts every quarter, hit an all-time high score of 49.7 out of 100, with 0 indicating no incivility ever occurs and 100 indicating that incivility almost always occurs in 2024 Q4 during the presidential election. 2025 Q1 score has fallen only slightly below that level.
Despite the slight progress over the last quarter, the Civility Index results show that political differences continue to fuel incivility. Other relevant factors include social issues, racial or ethnic differences, the presidential inauguration, and age or generational factors. About four of ten respondents to the Civility Index identified the presidential inauguration in January 2025 as a factor contributing to incivility.
Another company, Resume Now, produced data showing that over half of workers actively avoid coworkers with opposing views. These wide differences in political opinions make productive work difficult, at best. Furthermore, SHRM research also shows that almost three-quarters of surveyed workers think managers or supervisors could have taken more steps to prevent incivility in the workplace.
SHRM recommends employers focus on providing opportunities for workers to express themselves, offering conflict resolution training, modeling respectful dialogue, and removing any political bias from the decision-making process. In addition, SHRM expects incivility will continue to cause high costs for employers of more than $2.1 million per day in reduced employee productivity and absenteeism.
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