If you ask Derek Blasberg — besties with the A-list and virtually the most popular guy on Instagram — about what the secret to his success is, he’ll tell you straight. “If you want to be the person people want to have around,” he says, “don’t be a gossip, don’t be a dick, don’t be unkind, have fun, smile more than you frown, laugh more than you cry, that sort of stuff. Be nice.”
Turns out he’s right. According to a new study, being nice is one of the most important move you can make in your career.
Chris Rosen, a management professor at the University of Arkansas, had 70 employees answer questions and complete performance-based tasks three times a day for 10 consecutive workdays.
Rosen and his team found that when employees experienced rude behavior it increased their mental fatigue, which reduced their self-control and led them to act in a similar, uncivil manner later in the day.
Not only did the behavior have a contagious effect, it turns out that bad behavior is also bad for business. “Estimates are that workplace incivility has doubled over the past two decades and on average costs companies about $14,000 per employee annually because of loss of production and work time,” said Rosen.
In other not-so-surprising findings, researchers found that negative behavior happened more often in offices where workers do what is best for them and not best for the organization.
So to help combat this, researchers suggest that managers provide clear feedback to employees through day-to-day interactions and more formal evaluations.
And just be nice!
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