‘Minor slights have big consequences’: New research reveals how minor workplace slights can undermine morale and performance
A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is putting a spotlight on the outsized impact of minor workplace slights.
The research, which examined the effects on employee morale when managers failed to deliver expected birthday cards and gifts on time, found that even small lapses can lead to a 50 per cent increase in employee absenteeism and a notable drop in productivity.
For Sandy Hershcovis, senior associate dean of research and professor of organizational behaviour and human resources at the University of Calgary, these findings echo years of research on workplace incivility.
“Minor slights have big consequences,” says Hershcovis, pointing to her own research which compared small acts of incivility in the workplace to more overt forms of mistreatment including bullying.
“I found that the magnitude of consequences was the same on a range of outcomes, including job satisfaction, turnover intentions and employee well-being. What feels trivial to one person can feel disproportionately larger to those on the receiving end.”
The ripple effect of incivility in the workplace
The consequences of small slights don’t stop with the individual. Hershcovis warns that due to the perception of rudeness or incivility as being inconsequential, the behaviour can have ripple effects throughout the whole organization.
“There is plenty of evidence that even low-level incivility at work takes a real toll. People disengage, their commitment drops, performance suffers and many start thinking about leaving,” she says.
Hershcovis also adds that just witnessing rudeness against a co-worker can have negative impacts on other employees not directly involved: “In other words, incivility spreads. When organizations brush off small slights as ‘no big deal,’ they end up paying the price in morale, productivity and talent.”
Context matters with recognition
However, context matters when measuring employee morale, according to Seth Spain, associate professor of management at Concordia University, who points out that in the study, the birthday card and gift were a formal company policy, which may have amplified the perceived slight:
“The act of the failure to give the card on time might communicate something more … it might not be perceived as minor, because this is something that's supposed to happen within this company.”
Spain adds that several factors can impact how employees receive negative or positive feedback, including external factors such as economic uncertainty, and lack of clarity in one’s role at work or job expectations.
“When expectations are unclear, anything that's a negative signal is pretty strong,” he says.
“We're dealing with … a universe of political, economic and financial uncertainty. If you have a negative interpersonal interaction, it has a bigger impact under those circumstances on your satisfaction, your attitudes towards your job, than a similarly scaled positive interaction … the size of the responses are not matched.”
What this means is that if an employee is feeling stress or uncertainty, whether due to financial instability or lack of clarity at work, they will be more likely to react negatively to what might otherwise be perceived as a “small slight.”
Employee recognition must be meaningful, personal
When it comes to recognition, Spain is skeptical of one-size-fits-all approaches, especially those that are mandated such as in the NBER working paper ("The Lower Boundary of Workplace Mistreatment: Do Small Slights Matter?")
Rather, he explains that recognition is most effective when it is authentic and tied to meaningful accomplishments or milestones.
“I don't think there's anything wrong with managers or other employees deciding to celebrate each other's birthdays, that's perfectly reasonable, but I think mandating it creates a situation that doesn't have to be there,” he says.
“You have to meet the expectations for it to have any positive impacts. And if you fail to meet them, I think it's more likely to make people unhappy rather than pleased.”
The most impactful recognition is often the simplest, he adds – as well as being personal enough to name the recipients in front of their peers.
Spotting the signs and building better habits
Recognizing when a team is not receiving adequate recognition from their manager can be challenging, but the warning signs are often visible in employee behaviour and team dynamics.
Hershcovis notes that changes in employee behaviour can signal when a manager is falling short.
“For example, a normally engaged employee becoming quiet in meetings, less collaborative or more withdrawn” she says, adding that declining participation in meetings and increased absenteeism can also indicate that employees are not feeling seen or valued, even if no one is directly voicing complaints.
Spain adds that internal transfers are another signal that employees aren’t feeling valued on their teams.
“If people leave the company, that’s saying more about their economic conditions, but if somebody wants to transfer, that's probably directed at the manager or a supervisor,” he explains.
“If you're going to recognize people, I think it should be for very clear things. It gives people targets, it communicates what your expectations are … these sorts of highly generalized ones are going to cause more problems than they solve, because they just muddy expectations as opposed to clarifying.”
Importance of belonging and timely acknowledgment
The NBER study found that when the slight is addressed – such as when the belated gift is finally delivered – employee performance returns to normal. Hershcovis says this demonstrates just how nuanced recognition is, and how important it is to act quickly to repair small breaches of trust.
She also emphasizes that the psychological impact of small slights is rooted in our need for belonging.
“Even subtle slights send powerful social signals: you don’t matter here, or you don’t belong. Over time, those signals erode trust, motivation and connection to the team,” Hershcovis says.
“Psychologically, people start to withdraw, they protect themselves by disengaging. So, what looks like a small moment of rudeness can actually trigger a cascade of emotional and behavioural consequences that undermine morale and performance.”
For organizations looking to get recognition right, Hershcovis suggests making it a deliberate habit – rather than a quarterly box-tick in a performance review, she says, managers should make recognition a part of daily leadership duties.
“Managers are busy and often forget to engage in small acts of recognition,” she says.
“It might feel strange to schedule something so personal, but for task-oriented managers, these relational habits often need deliberate practice. Over time, it builds ‘muscle memory’ around recognition and helps make appreciation part of everyday leadership.”
