Rudeness affects everyone's productivity

HR pros know dealing with an office jerk makes it harder to get work done. But a new study suggests that even witnessing rude behavior toward someone else can hurt workers’ productivity.
The study, conducted by professors from the University of Southern California and the University of Florida, was published in the May edition of Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
Students were put into two groups and given problem solving activities. In the first group, a student arrived late and was hit with a barrage of criticism from the team leader before being kicked out.
The student arrived late to the second group’s meeting, too, but was simply dismissed without being insulted.
The results: The second group was much more productive, creative and better at solving the problems.
“Here we see that just one incident affects productivity,” said the study’s researchers.
Sounds like another reason for HR to take a stand against workplace jerks.