Here Today but Not Gone Tomorrow: Incivility Affects After-Work and Next-Day Recovery

This study examined the relation between daily incivility and afterwork recovery, hypothesizing that workplace incivility would have a negative effect on situational wellbeing, afterwork recovery experiences (psychological detachment and relaxation) and next-morning recovery level. Daily surveys were completed on 5 consecutive workdays by 175 employees in the legal industry. Multilevel analyses controlling for the daily number of hours worked showed that day-level incivility was negatively related to afterwork situational wellbeing and psychological detachment, but not to relaxation. Incivility experienced on 1 day also predicted recovery level the following morning. Results emphasize the ongoing impact of rudeness and disrespect in the workplace on employee wellbeing and offer an explanation for the long-term negative outcomes of what is typically thought of as a less severe workplace stressor.