According to a recent survey from iHire, only 25% of employees trust HR to address toxic behaviors in the workplace. Moreover, approximately 65% of workers who reported harmful behaviors or incidents to HR, managers, or supervisors said their organization did nothing to address or mitigate the issues.
When asked which behaviors or incidents they’ve experienced or witnessed at their current or most recent job in the past year, respondents noted:
- favoritism or bias (51.8%);
- gossip (50%);
- dishonesty (39.4%);
- bullying or harassment (31.4%);
- discrimination (26.4%); and
- unethical or illegal activities (25.9%).
Of those who experienced or witnessed any of the above behaviors or incidents, 53% reported the behaviors to a manager, supervisor, or HR, and 36.7% did not report the behaviors.
Of those who did report, 65.2% said their organization did not do anything to resolve or address the issues, while 17% said their company did address or resolve the issue. Lastly, when asked if they trusted HR to address toxic behaviors within their current or most recent workplace, 45.9% of all employees surveyed said no, while 25% said yes, and 16.7% were unsure.
“It’s concerning that nearly half of workers don’t trust HR to address negative or toxic behaviors, including favoritism, bias, gossip, and dishonesty,” says Chrisanne Bowden, principal HR business partner at iHire. “To ensure a positive work environment where all employees can thrive, employers need to work with their HR teams, managers, and other leaders to enable a culture of trust, transparency, and communication with well-defined processes for mitigating conflict.”
