I was in Winnipeg last month at the Safety Services Manitoba SAFE Work Conference and was struck by how warmly I was received, even though it was minus 15 degrees outside! Over the course of two days, I had some in-depth conversations with a great number of attendees. It’s amazing how many people are willing to stop by your booth and share their workplace stories with you when they see your display for “Workplace Violence Prevention.”

A theme started to take shape early on the first day; there are a lot of people working in very challenging workplace cultures. By the end of the second day, four different people had described their “toxic work environments,” and other attendees had detailed stories of intimidation, bullying, demeaning behavior, disrespect, being degraded—and there was even a death threat thrown in for good measure. I could feel for these sufferers!   

One of the first questions I asked people was about their organizations’ policies and procedures. Everyone I talked to told me that their organization had policies and procedures in place addressing these behaviors; they just weren’t followed. That was a major red flag.  

Why are policies and procedures so important? They establish a baseline of behaviors so every employee knows what behaviors are acceptable. A review of what is acceptable and not acceptable should be addressed so everyone is on the same page. Inappropriate behavior survives only in workplaces that tolerate it.

Policies and procedures don’t make people change their behaviors; it’s up to each of us to be responsible for our own behaviors. But, having policies and procedures that are followed and enforced communicates throughout the organization what behaviors are acceptable in the workplace. No one should have to work in a “toxic work environment.”

CPI can certainly help with a customized training solution that helps your organization promote respectful interactions between coworkers and customers, but creating a respectful workplace culture could be as simple as dusting off those policies and procedures your organization already has in place and abiding by them. Either way, we’re here to help.

Does your organization use policies and procedures to maintain a respectful workplace culture? Let us know. I’d love to hear stories with more positive experiences the next time I visit Winnipeg, only I wouldn’t mind if it was about 80 degrees warmer!