According to a 2019 American Management Association article, toxic office politics costs US companies $100 billion annually. That is a lot of money. It makes it clear that effectively addressing toxic office politics is not just a nice thing to do, but a necessity. Getting those costs under control could determine whether a company makes a profit or even stays in business.
A lot of business expenses are labor costs. That is why many companies are looking for ways to automate processes, But for the time being, humans will be the primary source of productivity in most business, educational, and government sectors.
At the micro-level many might feel that tolerating a degree of toxic office politics is acceptable. If toxic behavior in a workplace is left unchecked, it will spread and pollute the culture. Some managers are uncomfortable confronting bad actors. The reason that it’s only one or two people. However, when good employees watch bad employees perform poorly without consequences and receive the same percent pay increase the mortar between the building blocks of the organization (mission, goals, and values) start to deteriorate. In many cases, good employees drop their performance to the level that is tolerated. Good employees with high integrity won’t lower their performance but will leave the organization. Employees who can’t leave could lose motivation and become less productive. This is a popular comment on social media: People don’t leave bad jobs; they leave because of bad bosses. Good leadership is the answer. $100 billion, what’s your company’s share in terms of turnover, absenteeism, and subpar performance?