Co-workers' negativity can affect employees' morale

Negativity usurps gossiping, laziness and passive-aggressiveness as the most detrimental trait that a co-worker is capable of exhibiting, according to a study.

The study found that about 80 percent of workers viewed negative attitude as extremely debilitating to team morale, Fox News reported.

1,000 executives and employees in multiple fields, including health care, retail, manufacturing, education and financial services, were surveyed for the study.

The research also showed that workers and management disagree on how to best handle these negative-minded employees.

More than 60 percent employees opted to confront toxic co-workers, but 78 percent said that their companies were somewhat tolerant of colleagues with negative attitudes.