Has respect at work gone the way of the dinosaurs? A 2025 Gallup survey reported that a record low of 2 in 5 U.S. employees feel respected at work; put differently, 60% feel disrespected at work. One explanation for this decline may be the COVID rush to remote work, blending our personal and work personas, allowing an influx of unprofessional behaviors.
Many of us have read through social media comments, either because we want to read reactions or because we want to react. We often see individuals who are just trying to get under others' skins, a practice known as trolling. Webster's Dictionary defines trolling as “to antagonize (others) online by deliberately posting inflammatory, irrelevant, or offensive comments or other disruptive content”. Trolling can happen in real life as well; however, it has become synonymous with the comments and content used on social media sites. Before 2020, these types of behaviors were rarely seen in a physical office, as the accountability imposed by physical proximity to one’s coworkers often prevented it.
Then COVID hit. The pandemic sent many employees home, and much of the work world moved into a virtual space, where professional behavior began to change. Suddenly, we experienced virtual meetings with coworkers wearing their favorite sports hoodie with a pet on their laps. When the pandemic began, people were at home and getting used to using technology. This resulted in situations where people left their microphones on when singing a song, cameras showed a little too much, pets and children joined meetings unexpectedly, and yes, someone occasionally even turned into a cat without knowing how to remove the filter.
These situations seemed silly and were brushed off as part of the work-from-home learning curve, but another thing was changing as well: the way people were treating each other. Gone were the in-person meetings, where being civil and professional were a must, and so began the decline into virtual unprofessionalism.
A person working from home and comfortable with their surroundings may have allowed poor etiquette to slowly slip into their professional behavior. Examples may include using a vape pen on camera, saying something that may be considered offensive in a virtual meeting, a picture or artwork in view of the camera that isn’t suitable for work, being dismissive, dressing inappropriately and many, many others. Unchecked, unprofessionalism in hybrid and virtual workplaces leads to more occurrences of bad behavior.
Professionalism has not ended; it has evolved. The distinct line between “work mode” and “private mode” was previously identified by physical location, which provided cues to employees to help moderate their behavior. Now, hybrid employees may go into the office once or twice a week, and are only a few seconds from their home office, blurring that work/private line. Employers must guide employees on how to behave professionally in the virtual workplace.
Reminding coworkers that professionalism is still needed in the workplace can be tricky. While we may not want to be known as a person who does not like to have fun or is too strict, poor behavior in the workplace can create bigger issues, and it needs to be corrected before it worsens.