Politeness could be costing businesses money

Research released today reveals that over politeness in the workplace could be detrimental to Plymouth businesses.

The research conducted by online expenses management provider, webexpenses, found that a staggering 82% of office-based business managers claim that being too polite could be costing their organisation money.

When asked if they were too polite when managing difficult situations at work, two thirds of respondents (74%) said that they were. In addition, as many as 22% of managers said that they have not challenged the people they manage about taking too long on their lunch break, with a further 41% saying that they hadn’t challenged people coming into work late. What’s more 15% said that they hadn’t challenged a fraudulent expenses claim.

The top reasons given by respondents as to why they hadn’t challenged wrongdoing in the workplace were due to managers not wanting to upset anyone (9%); not feeling comfortable having difficult conversations with employees (9%); and not wanting to appear rude (14%) – all of these symptomatic of over politeness in the workplace.

Adam Reynolds, CEO of webexpenses, comments: "The findings of our research clearly show that stereotypical British politeness is having an increasingly detrimental effect on the nation’s businesses. The reluctance of Plymouth managers to challenge their employees over simple discrepancies and a failure to observe simple workplace protocol could be costing these organisations considerable amounts of money and time. For instance, when looking at expense claims our research revealed that over 22% of managers in Plymouth feel ‘awkward’ or wouldn’t know how to deal with a person who has made a fraudulent claim expenses claim in the workplace.

“Our aim at webexpenses is to arm those overseeing company expenses with clear visibility of their company’s finance function, so that company expenses can be managed effectively. What’s more our software also has the ability to incorporate company expenses policy reminders for all users across an organisation – these helping businesses to minimise the risk of fraudulent and inaccurate claims. We’d strongly encourage all Plymouth businesses to make the most of the tools now available to them to help boost their company’s bottom line.”

The research also revealed that it’s not only their own staff that Plymouth business managers are avoiding having awkward conversations with. Showing over politeness to customers/clients is also costing Plymouth businesses time and money with 7% of those questioned saying that they have not challenged a client over late payment, with a further 18% saying that they have avoided having difficult conversations about doing work they are not being paid for.

To find out more information about webexpenses visit: www.webexpenses.com