New Report Finds the Cost of Workplace Injustice Due to Employee Turnover and Disengagement Totals $914.7 Billion for US Employers

By Business Wire Last updated Jun 10, 2024

The State of Workplace Injustice Report Reveals Pervasiveness and Impact of Injustice on Our Workforce

The State of Workplace Injustice Report, commissioned by Anton Gunn and 937 Strategy Group, was released today, showing that despite the high rates of workplace injustice in the past year (66% of participants experienced injustice) and its significant impact, an alarming amount of employers (83%) took no action when their employees experienced injustice. This quantitative and qualitative study provides in-depth analysis on the prevalence of various forms of workplace mistreatment and bystander behavior in the workplace, the impact mistreatment has on employees and associated costs to organizations, and the prevalence of reporting workplace mistreatment and associated responses from organizations.

“I commissioned this report as a wakeup call to organizations that workplace injustice is preventable and must be addressed in order to improve employee wellbeing and ultimately, drive productivity and success for employers.”

While the American workplace has changed drastically in the past 30 years, leaders and managers have continued to create work environments that rob employees of dignity, respect, and equity when it comes to promotions, pay raises, and other opportunities based on job performance in the workplace. Regarding the prevalence of workplace injustice, key findings from The State of Workplace Injustice Report include:

66% of participants experienced workplace injustice in the past year and 23% experienced it monthly.
83% of employers took no action when employees experienced injustice. Among the employees who did report, 92% did not experience a positive outcome after reporting.
Undermining and harassment were linked to significant financial impacts, contributing to 12% of turnover intentions, which translates to $24.6 million in costs for a 5,000-person organization.

The workplace outcomes impacted by injustice include disengagement (when employees mentally, emotionally, and behaviorally quit on their job), turnover intention and counterproductive workplace behavior (delaying work, using sick days, breaking rules). The report broke down the categories of mistreatment and most notably found that bystander behavior and undermining account for 42% of counterproductive workplace behavior. Injustice experiences of workplace abuse and undermining account for a total of 26% of workplace disengagement.

The report investigates the financial impact of injustice for organizations and the US economy, finding that American employers are losing a staggering $777.9 billion due to employee disengagement, with an additional $136.8 billion directly attributable to turnover tied to workplace injustices – totaling over $914.7 billion as the cost of toxic workplaces.

“From working hard to improve the experience of federal employees during my time as a presidential appointee for the Obama Administration to my work as chief diversity officer at a large healthcare organization, now as a strategic advisor, I’ve seen the negative impact of these report findings across industries,” said Anton Gunn, CEO of 937 Strategy Group. “I commissioned this report as a wakeup call to organizations that workplace injustice is preventable and must be addressed in order to improve employee wellbeing and ultimately, drive productivity and success for employers.”

The study closes with research-based, tangible recommendations for organizations to maximize reporting and increase organizational action when injustice is reported.

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