May 2006 ISSUE
BACKGROUNDER
Workplace is No Place for Bullies
Is the day of the workplace bully drawing to a close? A number of organizations say it should be — and your company can help by developing fair, clear policies.
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Editor’s Note: Nancy Toth, MA, Manager, Professional Development & Human Resources, contributed the introduction that begins below. The article that follows comes to us from the Canada Safety Council. A second instalment will appear in the June edition of The PEGG.
Introduction
People often forget that workplace violence is a critical part of any good health
and safety program. Bullying is increasingly drawing attention in the media as
incidents multiply in schools — and in the workplace, too.
We periodically feature PEGG articles on health and safety. It’s part of a health and safety partnership we have with Alberta Human Resources and Employment. We also do it, however, because we believe the subject is a part of our — and therefore your — public safety responsibility in professional self regulation.
Make no mistake about it: bullying is a health and safety issue. Like any other form of abuse, bullying can best be prevented by getting it out into the light of day — by identifying the profile of the bully and by naming some of the behaviours.
The Canadian Initiative on Workplace Violence helps protect employees from all forms of damaging behaviours from other employees. Bullying and intimidation are responsible for many physical and psychological ills, which often lead to medical attention, medication, counselling and, in the worst cases, even suicide.
Bullying is “offensive behaviour through vindictive, cruel, malicious remarks and attempts to humiliate and undermine an individual or groups of individuals.” Attacks are typically unpredictable, irrational and unwanted. Employees bully and intimidate to gain power over their fellow employees. These attacks demoralize employees and cause them to become depressed, to be unable to work productively and, most often, to leave.
You are likely bullying when you
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Diminish someone’s self-respect with remarks and innuendos
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Shout or speak in a demeaning and disrespectful tone
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Verbally attack someone in front of others
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Insist that things always be done your way.
An employer’s obligation to maintain a safe and healthy place for employees includes psychological safety as well as physical safety. A respectful workplace usually leads to high morale, high productivity and high retention.
Bullying Unmasked
Employers are beginning to take steps to make bullying as unthinkable as sexual
harassment or drunkenness in the workplace.
Schoolyard bullying — the torment of one child by another — is often compared to workplace bullying. Both types represent a grab for control by an insecure, inadequate person, an exercise of power through the humiliation of the target. School bullies, if reinforced by cheering classmates, fearful teachers or ignoring administrators, grow up to be dominating adults.
That means that when they join the workforce, they continue to bully others.
Psychological Violence
A 1999 International Labour Organi-zation report on workplace violence emphasized
that physical and emotional violence is one of the most serious problems facing
the workplace in the new millennium. The ILO definition of workplace violence
includes bullying:
“any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work. These behaviours would originate from customers, co-workers at any level of the organization. This definition would include all forms or harassment, bullying, intimidation, physical threats/assaults, robbery and other intrusive behaviours.”
The Canadian Union of Public Employees’ National Health and Safety Survey of Aggression Against Staff, published in January 1994, mentions verbal aggression and harassment in its definition of violence:
“any incident in which an employee is abused, threatened or assaulted during the course of his/her employment. This includes the application of force, threats with or without weapons, severe verbal abuse and persistent sexual and racial harassment.”
Bullying (general harassment) is far more prevalent than other destructive behaviours covered by legislation, such as sexual harassment and racial discrimination.
A Canadian survey on workplace violence found that physical violence is often reported from outside sources, such as customers, students and patients. Psychological violence is more often reported from within the organization. A U.S. study estimates one in five American workers has experienced destructive bullying in the past year.
Workplace Policies Needed
On April 6, 1999, a former employee of OC Transpo in Ottawa went on a shooting
rampage that left four employees dead, then took his own life. The killer had
himself been the victim of workplace harassment.
Among the recommendations of a coroner’s inquest was that the definition of workplace violence should include not only physical violence but also psychological violence such as bullying, mobbing, teasing, ridicule or any other act or words that could psychologically hurt or isolate a person in the workplace.
No jurisdiction in Canada requires employers to have a workplace violence prevention program. For that reason, the OC Transpo jury recommended that federal and provincial governments enact legislation to prevent workplace violence and that employers develop policies to address violence and harassment.
Perpetrators and Targets
Over 80 per cent of bullies are bosses and some are co-workers. A minority bully
their higher-ups. A bully is equally likely to be a man as a woman.
The common stereotype of a bullied person is someone who is weak, an oddball or a loner. On the contrary, the target chosen by an adult bully will very often be a capable, dedicated staff member, well liked by co-workers.
Bullies are most likely to pick on people with an ability to cooperate and a non-confrontational interpersonal style. The bully considers their capability a threat and determines to cut them down.
Profile of a Bully
Adult bullies, like their schoolyard counterparts, tend to be insecure people
with poor or non-existent social skills and little empathy. They turn this insecurity
outwards, finding satisfaction in their ability to attack and diminish the capable
people around them.
A workplace bully subjects the target to unjustified criticism and trivial fault-finding. In addition, he or she humiliates the target, especially in front of others, and ignores, overrules, isolates and excludes the target.
If the bully is the target’s superior, he or she may
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Set the target up for failure by setting unrealistic goals or deadlines, or denying necessary information and resources
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Overload the target with work
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Take all work away
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Replace proper work with demeaning jobs
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Increase responsibility while removing authority.
Regardless of specific tactics, this intimidation is driven by the bully’s need to control others.
The Burden of Bullying
Bullied employees waste between 10 and 52 per cent of their work time. Research
shows they spend time defending themselves and networking for support, thinking
about the situation, being demotivated and stressed — not to mention taking
sick leave due to stress-related illnesses.
Bullies poison their working environment with low morale, fear, anger and depression. The employer pays for this in lost efficiency, absenteeism, high staff turnover, severance packages and lawsuits. In extreme cases, a violent incident may be the tragic outcome.
The target’s family and friends also suffer the results of daily stress and eventual breakdown. Marriages suffer or are destroyed under the pressure of the target’s anxiety and anger. Friendships cool because the bullied employee becomes obsessive.
Our health care system ends up repairing the damage: visits to the doctor for symptoms of stress, prescriptions for antidepressants, and long-term counselling or psychiatric care. In this sense, we all pay.
Prevention
Workplace bullies create a tremendous liability for the employer by causing stress-related
health and safety problems, and driving good employees out of the organization.
The business case for strict anti-bullying policies is compelling. Potential benefits include a more peaceful and productive workplace, with better decision making, less time lost to sick leave or self-defensive paperwork, higher staff retention, and a lower risk of legal action.
What Should You Do?
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Identify bullying in your staff handbook as unacceptable behaviour
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Establish proper systems for investigating, recording and dealing with conflict.
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Investigate complaints quickly, while maintaining discretion and confidentiality and protecting the rights of all individuals involved.
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Understand fully any incidence of bullying and take the problem seriously at all levels.
Organizations that manage people well outperform those that don’t by
30 to 40 per cent. Development of strong interpersonal skills at all levels is
fundamental to good management and a healthy workplace.
There is no place for bullies in a well-run organization.
MORE INFO
Canadian Initiative on Workplace Violence
Visit www.workplaceviolence.ca/prevent/bullying.html
Canada Safety Council
Visit www.safety-council.org