Respect in the workplace fosters collaboration, innovation, creativity, learning, communication and ongoing knowledge sharing. Employees who feel respected are more engaged, committed, loyal and motivated to contribute.

The Workplace Equity & Civility Initiative asks for a commitment from employers and employees to make workplaces more civil. A WE&CI is a significant step in rejecting the alarming and growing trend of normalizing bad behavior. And a WE&CI provides a more positive path to claim “we will try to do better and hold ourselves accountable” for our collective efforts to make our workplaces better and more collaborative.

The WE&CI is simple. It’s a pledge to do one’s best as an employer and employee – to commit to better behavior in the workplace by adopting and enforcing certain policies that will likely result in a more equitable workplace.

What can you do?

If you have not developed an internal WE&CI, you can do so formally. To create your own and help spread civility and equity, here are 10 tenets to borrow:

• Greet and acknowledge each other.
• Say please and thank you.
• Treat everyone with equality and with respect – no exceptions.
• Acknowledge the impact of your behavior.
• Welcome feedback from others.
• Be approachable.
• Be clear, honest and kind.
• Acknowledge the contribution of others.
• Be on time and respect each other’s time.
• Never turn a blind eye to incivility.

Are these or similar principles in place and practiced where you work? If not, what if you initiate a WE&CI and help spread equity and civility in your circle of influence? Let’s all do our part to increase kindness and professionalism at work.