Bullying in the Workplace - an Overview
Bullying in the workplace has been described as more costly and destructive to organisations than all other types of work-related stress put together (1).
Intensifying the issue of bullying in the workplace is the confusion around what constitutes bullying, resulting in bullying often going unreported by staff members (2), and organisations not appropriately preventing or managing bullying behaviours. |
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Workplace Bullying - A Definition
Workplace bullying is defined as “repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed towards a person or group of persons at a workplace, which creates a risk to health and safety.” (3) Like other forms of discrimination in the workplace, intention is irrelevant. Bullying can take place at any time when employees are engaged in work related activities, including work social events. Bullying can also take many forms including verbal, physical by letter, email, or text message.
Workplace bullying can be obvious and aggressive, for example (4):
- behaviour or language that frightens, humiliates, belittles or degrades
- loud verbal criticism
- encouragement to other workers to participate in bullying behaviour
- malicious rumours, gossip, or innuendo
Workplace bullying can also be subtle and can include behaviour such as:
- deliberate exclusion of a worker from normal workplace activities
- interference with personal property or work equipment
- intimidation by inappropriate personal comment, belittling opinions or unjustified criticism
- offensive jokes, whether by spoken word or email
Behaviour that treats some employees less favourably is also classed as bullying and can incorporate assignment of meaningless tasks to a worker, deliberately changing work arrangements to inconvenience a worker, unreasonably blocking promotion, training, development or other work opportunities and removal of areas of responsibility without cause.
Bullying by managers and/or supervisors can take the form of excessive or unreasonable work scrutiny, inappropriate or unreasonable criticism of someone’s work or behaviour, constant or inappropriate change or setting of impossible deadlines, tasks or targets along with taking no action to address legitimate grievances (5).
Costs to Organisations
Researchers estimate that one in four employees is likely to encounter repeated bullying at some time in their working lives. They suggest that workplace bullying costs Australian businesses between $17 billion and $36 billion each year(6). Most of these costs are unaccounted for by organisations and not readily attributed to bullying. Hidden costs may include high levels of absenteeism resulting in lost productivity, a breakdown of teams and work relationships along with poor public image of the organisation, which is likely to impact on recruitment.
The direct costs of bullying as a workplace hazard include those associated with counselling, mediation and support. Around 20% of worker’s compensation claims were caused by bullying in the workplace, resulting in increased worker’s compensation premiums and litigation costs.
Prevention and Management
WorkCover outlines that “bullying can happen in any workplace and is best dealt with by taking steps to prevent it long before it becomes a risk to workers’ health and safety”. Employers are responsible for managing bullying and must have current policies and procedures to manage and mitigate the risks of bullying in the workplace. Codes of behaviour and policy guidelines must be made known to all staff, applied consistently, and reviewed regularly. In years to come, employers will find it extremely difficult to defend claims of workplace bullying if they have not developed and appropriately implemented a workplace bullying policy within their organisation (7).
Consultation with a legal professional is recommended in order to prevent and manage bullying in the workplace. Other useful resources may include:
From a Human Resources perspective, organisations can proactively identify risks and manage bullying in the workplace by conducting regular employee opinion surveys, conducting structured, formal exit interviews and actioning legitimate grievances through the collection and management of data.
Organisations driving proactive detection and management of bullying behaviours have a better chance of reducing the impact on employees and the associated organisational costs. For more information on how your organisation can obtain meaningful employee opinion data and conduct structured, effective exit interviews, please contact Narelle Hess, Consulting Psychologist, Challenge Consulting nhess@chall.com.au or visit our website www.challengeconsulting.com.au
[Author: Narelle Hess, B App. Sci (Hon) Psych, M Psych (Org)]
Disclaimer: Challenge Consulting recommends that organisations consult a legal professional for best practice advice on how to manage bullying in the workplace. Challenge Consulting accepts no responsibility for action taken in relation to the information provided in this article.
1 - Safety WA: West Australian Journal of Occupational Safety and Health, Workplace Bullying - a costly infliction: One in four workers affected, IFAP, March 2007.
2 - WorkCover NSW, Preventing and dealing with workplace bullying, 2008.
3 - Comcare, Bullying in the workplace: A guide to prevention for managers and supervisors, 2007
4 - WorkCover NSW, Preventing and dealing with workplace bullying, 2008.
5 - Law Society of New South Wales, Prevention of workplace bullying: A tool for change to the legal workplace, 2004.
6 - Griffith University Academics, The costs of workplace bullying, HR Monthly, February 2002.
7 - Cornwall Stodart Lawyers, Are you preventing workplace bullying. Available at: http://www.cornwalls.com.au/article_wpbullying.htm
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