Bullying in the Workplace The Reality and The Solution

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself.”Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself. - Harvey S. Firestone

Forms of Bullying Source: Corporate bullying This type of bullying in the workplace occurs when the employer abuses employees knowing that people will be afraid to stand up to them for fear of losing their job. Instances of corporate bullying are: * Forcing employees to work more than 60/70 hours on a regular basis, indicating to those that refuse there are plenty of people out there who would work those hours given the chance. * Denies employees annual leave or sick leave to which they are entitled to. * Sees any employee as weak or inadequate if they are prone to stress, while denying and refusing to take responsibility that they are a cause of the stress. * Encourages an employee usually with promises of promotion or threats of disciplinary action to make complaints about colleagues. Client bullying This type of bullying occurs when employees are being bullied by those they serve for example a teacher being bullied by pupils, nurses and care takers being bullied by those they take care of or shop staff being bullied by customers. Secondary bullying This type of bullying usually is unwittingly done and often occurs when bullying is rife in the workplace and the general behaviour of all employees decreases to the point when they start turning on others

Forms of Bullying Gang bullying Gang bullying is often predominant in cooperate bullying and bullies will work in a gang to accomplish what they want to achieve. A common tactic used by gang bullying is telling everyone a different story, usually about what each have said about the person to get them against each other. Gang bullying is also called mobbing and usually involves victimization and scapegoating Vicarious bullying is where two parties are encouraged to engage in adversarial interaction or conflict. Similar to gang bullying, although the bully may or may not be directly connected with either of the two parties. One party becomes the bully's instrument of harassment and is deceived and manipulated into bullying the other party. An example of vicarious bullying is where the serial bully creates conflict between employer and employee, participating occasionally to stoke the conflict, but rarely taking an active part in the conflict themselves. Regulation bullying is where a serial bully forces their target to comply with rules, regulations, procedures or laws regardless of their appropriateness, applicability or necessity. Legal bullying - the bringing of a vexatious legal action to control and punish a person - is one of the nastiest forms of bullying. Residual bullying is the bullying of all kinds that continues after the serial bully has left. Like recruits like and like promotes like, therefore the serial bully bequeaths a dysfunctional environment to those who are left. This can last for years. It is thought that the majority of all cases reported of bullying in the workplace are done by managers or supervisors and that bullying is more wide spread than documented, the main reason for bullying in the workplace not being reported is fear of losing the job and further victimization.

Examples Spreading malicious rumours, gossip, or innuendo that is not true Excluding or isolating someone socially Intimidating a person Undermining or deliberately impeding a person’s work Physically abusing or threatening abuse

Examples Removing areas of responsibilities without cause Constantly changing work guidelines Establishing impossible deadlines that will set up the individual to fail Withholding necessary information or purposefully giving the wrong information

Examples Making jokes that are obviously offensive by spoken word or Intruding on a person’s privacy by pestering, spying, or stalking Assigning unreasonable duties or workload which are unfavourable to one person (creating unnecessary pressure)

Examples Underwork, creating a feeling of uselessness Yelling or using profanity Criticizing a person persistently or constantly Belittling a person’s opinions Unwarranted or undeserved punishment

Examples Blocking applications for training, leave, or promotion Tampering with a person’s personal belongings or work equipment

Bullying Statistics SOURCE: Bullying in the workplace varies from country to country, in Norway 5% of the workforce admit to being bullied while in the UK and USA 20% of the workforce say they have encountered bullying in the workplace. 1 in 30 workers are serial bullies. Bullying can continue for years. 84% of workers at some time in their life encounter intimidating behaviour. 73% of the workforce are unhappy and say the workplace is oppressive. 65% of the workforce won’t speak up out of fear. 43% felt a great deal of pressure especially when it came to meeting unrealistic targets. 40% of the workforce say they have encountered abusive language. 38% of the workforce have been on the receiving end of hurtful jokes or have been the victim of pranks. 23% have come across threatening behaviour in the workplace. 15% have been on the receiving end of a physical assault. 66% of the bullies encountered within the workplace were managers or supervisors.

Setting up a bully-free workplace Source : Educate staff on bullying in the workplace (through PD initiative) Train staff on how to deal with workplace bullying Hang anti-bullying posters in staff room Have the staff sign an anti-bullying pledge Department Head’s and Administrators need to be approachable Do activities that promote staff unity (ex: staff retreats) Have teachers start an anti-bullying campaign Administrators should address workplace bullying at the first staff meeting in September (and remind staff about the issue throughout the school year).

DO Encourage everyone at the workplace to act in a respectful and professional manner towards others. Have a workplace policy that includes a reporting system. Educate everyone that bullying is a serious matter.

DO Try to work out solutions before the situation gets serious or out of control. Educate everyone about what bullying is, and to whom they can go for help. Treat all complaints seriously, and deal with complaints promptly and confidentially.

DO Train managers and supervisors in how to deal with complaints and potential situations. Encourage them to address situations promptly, whether or not a formal complaint has been filed. Have an impartial third party help with a resolution if necessary.

DO NOT Ignore any potential problems. Delay resolution. Act as soon as possible