The Effects of Poor Communication In the Workplace [2024]

Poor communication never just affects one person. Obviously, it impedes that one person’s ability to do their job and do it well. But it’s a bigger problem than that.

When signs of poor communication in the workplace are left unchecked, the consequences can spill over into the lives of the colleagues, leaders, and customers that person works with every day.

To give you a better sense of just how damaging poor communication in the workplace can be, here are some truly eye-opening statistics and research findings on the topic.

Effects of Poor Communication on Individuals

On an individual level, poor communication compromises one’s ability to fulfill their mandate, be productive, build healthy working relationships, collaborate with others, and so much more. In fact, nearly 9 in 10 workers believe that ineffective communication affects them to some degree at work. Here is a look at some of the specific effects poor communication has on individuals at all levels.

• Decreases Productivity: In a survey of 1,000 employed Americans, almost half (49%) reported that poor communication negatively affects their productivity. - Forbes
• Increases Stress: Stress is the most-cited outcome of poor communication among workers, with 50% reporting that it increases how stressed they feel. - Grammarly
• Impedes One’s Ability to Do Their Job: 63% of people have wanted to quit because poor communication in their workplace interfered with their ability to do their job. - Dynamic Signal
• Negatively Impacts Collaboration: 42% of respondents say that poor communication negatively impacts cross-functional collaboration among colleagues, teams, and departments in the workplace. - Forbes
• Wastes Time: 68% of people say they’ve wasted time at work as a result of internal communication issues. - Project.co
• Decreases Job Satisfaction: Poor communication lowers employee confidence (30%), decreases job satisfaction (34%), and pushes employees to consider looking for a new job (22%). - Grammarly
• Compromises Morale: 33% of HR managers believe poor communication is at the center of most employee morale problems. - Accountemps
• Negatively Impacts Engagement: More than a third of leaders (37%) admit that they feel uncomfortable giving feedback to employees if they believe that person would respond in a negative way. This is concerning given that a direct correlation has been found between employees who averaged in the bottom 25th percentile in terms of organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and desire to stay and those who ranked their leaders lowest at providing quality feedback. - Harvard Business Review
• Causes Mistakes and Errors: Poor communication can cause individuals to misunderstand instructions, expectations, or requirements, which in turn can lead to unnecessary mistakes or errors. For example, in the medical field, an estimated 80% of serious medical errors are as a result of miscommunication. - National Library of Medicin

Effects of Poor Communication on Customers

If you thought poor communication only affected those within an organization, think again. Without the proper tools, training, and support, employees may lack the communication skills they need to effectively communicate with their customers, thus leading to a poor customer experience.

• When asked what makes for a poor customer experience, 53% of people said unclear communication. - Tolero
• More than two-thirds of people say poor communication has led them to stop dealing with a company and move to a competitor. - Project.co
• 30% of people have had a poor customer experience as a result of poor communication. - Project.co

Effects of Poor Communication on the Bottomline

All of the effects of poor communication in the workplace that we’ve covered thus far come at a cost to an organization. In fact, research has been conducted that shows the exact monetary cost. Needless to say, this should make you think twice about overlooking the signs of poor communication.

• Leaders estimate that their teams lose an entire workday (7.47 hours) each week to poor communication - or approximately $12,506 per employee every year. - Grammarly
• The cost of poor communication adds up to over $15,000 per employee and over $2 trillion total across the US every year. - Axios
• 1 in 3 employees estimate that their inability to speak up in a crucial moment has cost their organization at least $25,000. Those crucial moments include when someone is not pulling their weight, performs below the expected standard, shows disrespect, doesn’t follow proper protocol, or when there is confusion on who owns a decision. - Crucial Learning
• 18% of US workers say poor communication has led to the loss of a sale, nearly a third (30%) of which were valued between US$100,000 and US$999,999. - The Economist