Research has shown that a lack of respect is having a specific and damaging effect on our working lives. A survey of more than 1,000 UK workers found that common courtesies, such as saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you” and punctuality are being abandoned. For the communication professionals amongst us, the findings are even more telling. More than 50% of the employees surveyed said face-to-face meetings are shunned in favour of group e-mails and a significant proportion of e-mails are being sent to staff without proper thought as to who requires the information. Further, whilst over-use of communication tools is a major gripe, not responding to e-mails and phone calls were also a major bug-bear. The survey backs up our findings in this month’s ‘Guru’ feature, which demonstrates how leadership (good or bad) can affect the external and internal perception of the entire organisation.