Workplace Incivility Rises, at $2B/Day Cost

Instances of incivility at work in the U.S. rose 21.5% in the first quarter as compared to Q1 2024, according to the SHRM Civility Index.
The current index score is 48.8, marking a 6.5-point increase since the Q1 2024 findings.
That is the second-highest recorded score since tracking began, according to the human resources industry group.
The collective daily loss to businesses from reduced productivity and absenteeism due to incivility, as calculated by the index authors, is more than $2.1 billion.
At the start of 2024, SHRM launched the Civility Index to gauge the current climate of civility across
the U.S.
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The current backlog in appeals of OSHA decisions is not likely to be solved anytime soon as the three-person Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) has been without a quorum since 2023.
“The lack of any progress to even get these cases heard leaves businesses and workers in limbo while also undermining OSHA’s investigatory and enforcement authority — that is, to the extent that OSHA is still operating at all,” wrote KJ Boyle, a senior researcher at The Revolving Door Project.
OSHRC is responsible for handling appeals of citations and penalties issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The panel now has 31 cases pending commission review, the oldest of which was directed to the commission on October 21, 2021, and concerning citations originally issued in 2018.
While President Trump has only nominated Jonathan Snare as a commissioner, that leaves two seats vacant.
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National Farm Safety and Health Week this year is focusing on life and death precautions affecting the agriculture sector.
While overall fatal occupational injuries decreased slightly in 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 5.38 percent increase in deaths within agriculture-related industries from 2022 to 2023.
Fall harvest time can be one of the busiest and most dangerous seasons of the year for the agriculture industry.
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