In many ways your work colleagues are your customers, and you need to give them a reason to want to work with you every day. When it comes to respect, you reap what you sow. Expecting anyone to respect you when you’re disrespecting them is an exercise in futility.

Bad behavior can cut your company’s innovation effort and productivity. A survey of nearly 800 managers and employees across seventeen industries conducted by Christine Pearson and Christine Porath revealed that employees who felt disrespected intentionally decreased the time they spent at work. Thirty-eight percent said they deliberately decreased the quality of their work, 66% reported their performance declined, and 78% said their commitment to the organization had declined.

Under such circumstances, no one is going to be doing much innovating!

Bad behavior can cost your company big money. For example, sexual harassment was once common in the American workplace, but no longer! Women (and some men, too) are now coming forward and suing their employers. The judgments can be huge. In 2012, a federal jury in California awarded Ani Chopourian $168 million, one of the largest judgments in US history for a single victim of workplace sexual harassment. During the trial, the former physician’s assistant at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento asserted she had filed multiple complaints during her two-year tenure, all of which were ignored. As the Los Angeles Times reported, the complaints included an allegation that one surgeon would greet her each morning by saying, “I’m horny,” before slapping her bottom.

The numbers don’t lie. Talk to people respectfully and they’ll look forward to coming to work every day. And when an employee files a grievance, take it seriously.

Innovation Leaders Know…

Remember that just in the past few years, standards have changed massively. What you may have thought was appropriate when you first began your career may no longer be acceptable in a work environment. Don’t be one of those dinosaurs who’s hauled into court and says, “Judge, what’s the big deal? This is just how we talk.” Meanwhile, the plaintiff’s lawyer is portraying you as being not much better than Attila the Hun. If you’re unsure of the new rules of the workplace, hire a professional human resources consultant, or sign up for sensitivity training. It will be much cheaper than defending yourself against a lawsuit and possibly losing your job.

What you say and how you say it are equally important. Your tone matters! There’s a reason why innovation leaders avoid sarcasm and double-entrendres: they are distracting, open to misinterpretation, and often counteract your number one mission, which is to inspire your people to go the extra mile to find innovative solutions to tough problems.