Via:ini.wa.gov
What is workplace bullying and who is affected?
Workplace bullying
refers to repeated, unreasonable actions of individuals (or a group) directed towards an employee (or a group of employees), which is intended to intimidate and creates a risk to the health and safety of the employee(s).
Workplace bullying
Bullying is different from aggression. Whereas aggression may involve a single act, bullying involves repeated attacks against the target, creating an
One study from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that a quarter of the 516 private and public companies studied reported some occurrence of bullying in the preceding year.
often involves an abuse or misuse of power. Bullying includes behavior that intimidates, degrades, offends, or humiliates a worker, often in front of others. Bullying behavior creates feelings of defenselessness in the target and undermines an individual’s right to dignity at work. on-going pattern of behavior. “Tough” or “demanding” bosses are not necessarily bullies, as long as their primary motivation is to obtain the best performance by setting high expectations. Many bullying situations involve employees bullying their peers, rather than a supervisor bullying an employee.
Examples of bullying:
What is Corporate/Institutional Bullying?
Corporate/institutional bullying
Corporate/institutional bullying
- Placing unreasonable expectations on employees, where failure to meet those expectations means making life unpleasant (or dismissing) anyone who objects.
- Dismissing employees suffering from stress as “weak” while completely ignoring or denying potential work-related causes of the stress. And/or
- Encouraging employees to fabricate complaints about colleagues with promises of promotion or threats of discipline.
Signs of corporate and institutional bullying include:
- Failure to meet organizational goals.
- Increased frequencies of grievances, resignations, and requests for transfers.
- Increased absence due to sickness. And
- Increased disciplinary actions.
If you are aware of bullying in the workplace and do not take action, then you are accepting a share of the responsibility for any future abuses. This means that witnesses of bullying behavior should be encouraged to report any such incidences. Individuals are less likely to engage in antisocial behavior when it is understood that the organization does not tolerate such behavior and that the perpetrator is likely to be punished.
can manifest itself in different ways: occurs when bullying is entrenched in an organization and becomes accepted as part of the workplace culture.
Factors that Increase the Risk for Bullying Behavior:
How Bullying Affects People:
Victims of bullying experience significant physical and mental health problems:
- High stress; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Financial problems due to absence
- Reduced self-esteem.
- Musculoskeletal problems.
- Phobias.
- Sleep disturbances.
- Increased depression/self-blame.
- Digestive problems.
How Bullying Affects Organizations:
Each of the individual consequences listed above can be very costly for the organization. Costs of bullying generally fall into three categories:
2
1. Replacing staff members that leave as a result of being bullied.
2. Work effort being displaced as staff cope with bullying incidents (i.e., effort being directed away from work productivity and towards coping).
3. Costs associated with investigations of ill treatment and potential legal action.
Bullies do not run good organizations; staff turnover and sick leave will be high while morale and productivity will be low. Stress, depression and physical health problems result in time away from work that is costly in terms of workers’ compensation and lost productivity.
The health problems experienced by victims of bullying result in a sense of helplessness and negative emotional states among employee(s). Low self-esteem and a negative organizational climate suppress creativity and hamper employees’ abilities to respond to difficult situations or challenging goals.
The breakdown of trust in a bullying environment may mean that employees will fail to contribute their best work, do not give extra ideas for improvement, do not provide feedback on failures and may be less honest about performance.
Bullying is Different from Harassment
Harassment is one type of illegal discrimination and is defined as offensive and unwelcome conduct, serious enough to adversely affect the terms and conditions of a person’s employment, which occurs because of the person’s protected class, and can be imputed to the employer. Protected classes in employment are race/color, creed (religion), national origin, sex, marital status, disability, HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C status, sexual orientation/gender identity, and honorably discharged veteran and military status.
An example of
Bullying also differs from
If you believe that you are being harassed or retaliated against for making a discrimination complaint, you should immediately contact the Washington State Human Rights Commission (1-800-233-3247,
harassment could be when an employee tells racist jokes and refers to a particular co-worker or group of co-workers by using racial slurs, and after a complaint, the employer does nothing to stop the behavior. Another example of harassment could be a male manager who makes unwelcome sexual suggestions to a female employee and touches her inappropriately. retaliation, which occurs after a person makes a complaint of illegal discrimination, and is then the subject of an adverse employment action or subjected to harassment because he or she made the complaint, http://www.hum.wa.gov).
Bullying,
on the other hand, is often directed at someone a bully feels threatened by. The target often doesn’t even realize when they are being bullied because the behavior is covert, through trivial criticisms and isolating actions that occur behind closed doors. While harassment is illegal; bullying in the workplace is not.
What Can be Done About Bullying?
Bullying in general is NOT illegal in the U.S. unless it involves harassment based on race/color, creed (religion), national origin, sex, age (40+), disability, HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C status and, in Washington State, on marital status, sexual orientation/gender identity, honorably discharged veteran and military status or retaliation for filing a whisleblower complaint with the Washington State Auditor (RCW 49.60).
3
However, here is what you can do about bullying:
Employees:
Regain control by:
- Recognizing that you are being bullied.
- Realizing that you are NOT the source of the problem. And
- Recognizing that bullying is about control, and therefore has nothing to do with your performance.
Take action by:
- Keeping a diary detailing the nature of the bullying (e.g., dates, times, places, what was said or done and who was present). And
- Obtaining copies of harassing / bullying paper trails; hold onto copies of documents that contradict the bully’s accusations against you (e.g., time sheets, audit reports, etc.).
Other actions:
- Expect the bully to deny and perhaps misconstrue your accusations; have a witness with you during any meetings with the bully; report the behavior to an appropriate person.
- Contact the Washington State Employee Assistance Program, (
http://www.dop.wa.gov/eap) for guidance on dealing with the issue.
Employers:
Create a zero tolerance anti-bullying policy. This policy should be part of the wider commitment to a safe and healthful working environment and should involve the appropriate Human Resources representative.
When witnessed or reported, the bullying behavior should be addressed IMMEDIATELY.
If bullying is entrenched in the organization, complaints need to be taken seriously and investigated promptly. Reassignment of those involved may be necessary (with an “innocent until proven guilty” approach).
Structure the work environment to incorporate a sense of autonomy, individual challenge/mastery, and clarity of task expectations for employees – Include employees in decision-making processes.
Hold awareness campaigns for EVERYONE on what bullying is. Encourage reporting.
Ensure management has an active part in the staff they supervise, rather than being far removed from them.
Encourage open door policies.
Investigate the extent and nature of the problem. Conduct attitude surveys.
Improve management’s ability and sensitivity towards dealing with and responding to conflicts.
Establish an independent contact for employees (e.g., HR contact). And
Have a demonstrated commitment “from the top” about what is and is not acceptable behavior.
See the example
Workplace Bullying Policy at the end of this document. 4
Other Resources & Contacts:
The Washington State Employee Assistance Program (
Olympia (360) 753-3260
Seattle (206) 281-6315
Spokane (509) 482-3686.
The Australian government has put together a publication on “Advice to Supervisors on Bullying in the Workplace” that includes useful resources for employers, including a checklist to assess whether you have a bully-free workplace. Use this checklist to see whether you are being bullied or have a bullying workplace:
http://www.dop.wa.gov/Employees/EmployeeAssistanceProgram/) has representatives that are available to help state workers with personal or work-related problems that may be impacting your work performance. EAP services are only available to state employees and are confidential, voluntary, free of charge, and accessible. EAP representatives can be reached at these offices:
http://www.defence.gov.au/fr/issues/
AdviceonBullying.doc.
References:
The following websites/organizations have put together valuable information that includes definitions and facts about bullying in the workplace:
- Key Elements of New York City’s Workplace Violence Law Fact Sheet
Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Health Care & Social Service Workers:
Dealing with Workplace Violence: A Guide for Government Agency Planners:
Article distinguishing bullying from harassment: Bullying at Work Can Have Legal, Financial Penalties:
NIOSH Update: Most Workplace Bullying is Worker to Worker:
- Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute, Bellingham, Washington:
- Advice for Employers on Workplace Bullying:
: http://www.pef.org/stopworkplaceviolence/. http://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3148/osha3148.html. http://www.opm.gov/Employment_and_Benefits/WorkLife/OfficialDocuments/handbooksguides/WorkplaceViolence/full.pdf. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5292/is_20080825/ai_n28118867. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/updates/upd-07-28-04.html. http://www.bullyinginstitute.org/. http://www.defence.gov.au/fr/issues/AdviceonBullying.doc.
http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/WorkSafe/Content/Safety_Topics/Bullying/Violence_in_the_workplace.html
.
Guide for Employees on Workplace Bullying:
http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/WorkSafe/PDF/Guidance_notes/Dealing_with%20bullying_english.pdf. 5
Research References:
Public Personnel Management, Vol. 30, pp. 269-285. Counterproductive Work Behavior: Investigations of Actors and Targets (pp. 151-174), American Psychological Association: Washington, DC. Counterproductive Work Behavior: Investigations of Actors and Targets (pp. 201-235), American Psychological Association: Washington, DC. Counterproductive Work Behavior: Investigations of Actors and Targets (pp. 271-296), American Psychological Association: Washington, DC. Human Relations, Vol. 56, pp. 1213-1232. 6
SHARP
– Research for Safe Work
This report was produced by the Safety & Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP) Program – An independent research program within the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. SHARP’s researchers and scientists partner with business and labor to identify industry-wide hazards and then develop sensible, effective solutions to eliminate those hazards.
If you have questions about this report or the SHARP program, please contact us at:
SHARP
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.
PO Box 44330
Olympia, WA 98504-4330
Tel. (888) 66-SHARP (toll-free)
Fax (360) 902-5672
Check out our website at:
SHARP@Lni.wa.gov.
http://www.Lni.wa.gov/Safety/Research
.
Phone Number: ______________________________________________________
Example Workplace Bullying Policy
http://www.sangrea.net/bully/policy.php
.
Company X
Workplace bullying is behavior that harms, intimidates, offends, degrades or humiliates an employee, possibly in front of other employees, clients, or customers. Workplace bullying may cause the loss of trained and talented employees, reduce productivity and morale and create legal risks.
considers workplace bullying unacceptable and will not tolerate it under any circumstances.
Company X
believes all employees should be able to work in an environment free of bullying. Managers and supervisors must ensure employees are not bullied.
Company X
has grievance and investigation procedures to deal with workplace bullying. Any reports of workplace bullying will be treated seriously and investigated promptly, confidentially and impartially.
Company X
Disciplinary action will be taken against anyone who bullies a co-employee. Discipline may involve a warning, transfer, counseling, demotion or dismissal, depending on the circumstances.
The contact person for bullying at this workplace is:
Name: _____________________________________________________________
encourages all employees to report workplace bullying. Managers and supervisors must ensure employees who make complaints, or witnesses, are not victimized. 8
Workplace bullying
refers to repeated, unreasonable actions of individuals (or a group) directed towards an employee (or a group of employees), which is intended to intimidate and creates a risk to the health and safety of the employee(s).
Workplace bullying
Bullying is different from aggression. Whereas aggression may involve a single act, bullying involves repeated attacks against the target, creating an
One study from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that a quarter of the 516 private and public companies studied reported some occurrence of bullying in the preceding year.
often involves an abuse or misuse of power. Bullying includes behavior that intimidates, degrades, offends, or humiliates a worker, often in front of others. Bullying behavior creates feelings of defenselessness in the target and undermines an individual’s right to dignity at work. on-going pattern of behavior. “Tough” or “demanding” bosses are not necessarily bullies, as long as their primary motivation is to obtain the best performance by setting high expectations. Many bullying situations involve employees bullying their peers, rather than a supervisor bullying an employee.
Examples of bullying:
What is Corporate/Institutional Bullying?
Corporate/institutional bullying
Corporate/institutional bullying
- Placing unreasonable expectations on employees, where failure to meet those expectations means making life unpleasant (or dismissing) anyone who objects.
- Dismissing employees suffering from stress as “weak” while completely ignoring or denying potential work-related causes of the stress. And/or
- Encouraging employees to fabricate complaints about colleagues with promises of promotion or threats of discipline.
Signs of corporate and institutional bullying include:
- Failure to meet organizational goals.
- Increased frequencies of grievances, resignations, and requests for transfers.
- Increased absence due to sickness. And
- Increased disciplinary actions.
If you are aware of bullying in the workplace and do not take action, then you are accepting a share of the responsibility for any future abuses. This means that witnesses of bullying behavior should be encouraged to report any such incidences. Individuals are less likely to engage in antisocial behavior when it is understood that the organization does not tolerate such behavior and that the perpetrator is likely to be punished.
can manifest itself in different ways: occurs when bullying is entrenched in an organization and becomes accepted as part of the workplace culture.
Factors that Increase the Risk for Bullying Behavior:
How Bullying Affects People:
Victims of bullying experience significant physical and mental health problems:
- High stress; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Financial problems due to absence
- Reduced self-esteem.
- Musculoskeletal problems.
- Phobias.
- Sleep disturbances.
- Increased depression/self-blame.
- Digestive problems.
How Bullying Affects Organizations:
Each of the individual consequences listed above can be very costly for the organization. Costs of bullying generally fall into three categories:
2
1. Replacing staff members that leave as a result of being bullied.
2. Work effort being displaced as staff cope with bullying incidents (i.e., effort being directed away from work productivity and towards coping).
3. Costs associated with investigations of ill treatment and potential legal action.
Bullies do not run good organizations; staff turnover and sick leave will be high while morale and productivity will be low. Stress, depression and physical health problems result in time away from work that is costly in terms of workers’ compensation and lost productivity.
The health problems experienced by victims of bullying result in a sense of helplessness and negative emotional states among employee(s). Low self-esteem and a negative organizational climate suppress creativity and hamper employees’ abilities to respond to difficult situations or challenging goals.
The breakdown of trust in a bullying environment may mean that employees will fail to contribute their best work, do not give extra ideas for improvement, do not provide feedback on failures and may be less honest about performance.
Bullying is Different from Harassment
Harassment is one type of illegal discrimination and is defined as offensive and unwelcome conduct, serious enough to adversely affect the terms and conditions of a person’s employment, which occurs because of the person’s protected class, and can be imputed to the employer. Protected classes in employment are race/color, creed (religion), national origin, sex, marital status, disability, HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C status, sexual orientation/gender identity, and honorably discharged veteran and military status.
An example of
Bullying also differs from
If you believe that you are being harassed or retaliated against for making a discrimination complaint, you should immediately contact the Washington State Human Rights Commission (1-800-233-3247,
harassment could be when an employee tells racist jokes and refers to a particular co-worker or group of co-workers by using racial slurs, and after a complaint, the employer does nothing to stop the behavior. Another example of harassment could be a male manager who makes unwelcome sexual suggestions to a female employee and touches her inappropriately. retaliation, which occurs after a person makes a complaint of illegal discrimination, and is then the subject of an adverse employment action or subjected to harassment because he or she made the complaint, http://www.hum.wa.gov).
Bullying,
on the other hand, is often directed at someone a bully feels threatened by. The target often doesn’t even realize when they are being bullied because the behavior is covert, through trivial criticisms and isolating actions that occur behind closed doors. While harassment is illegal; bullying in the workplace is not.
What Can be Done About Bullying?
Bullying in general is NOT illegal in the U.S. unless it involves harassment based on race/color, creed (religion), national origin, sex, age (40+), disability, HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C status and, in Washington State, on marital status, sexual orientation/gender identity, honorably discharged veteran and military status or retaliation for filing a whisleblower complaint with the Washington State Auditor (RCW 49.60).
3
However, here is what you can do about bullying:
Employees:
Regain control by:
- Recognizing that you are being bullied.
- Realizing that you are NOT the source of the problem. And
- Recognizing that bullying is about control, and therefore has nothing to do with your performance.
Take action by:
- Keeping a diary detailing the nature of the bullying (e.g., dates, times, places, what was said or done and who was present). And
- Obtaining copies of harassing / bullying paper trails; hold onto copies of documents that contradict the bully’s accusations against you (e.g., time sheets, audit reports, etc.).
Other actions:
- Expect the bully to deny and perhaps misconstrue your accusations; have a witness with you during any meetings with the bully; report the behavior to an appropriate person.
- Contact the Washington State Employee Assistance Program, (
http://www.dop.wa.gov/eap) for guidance on dealing with the issue.
Employers:
Create a zero tolerance anti-bullying policy. This policy should be part of the wider commitment to a safe and healthful working environment and should involve the appropriate Human Resources representative.
When witnessed or reported, the bullying behavior should be addressed IMMEDIATELY.
If bullying is entrenched in the organization, complaints need to be taken seriously and investigated promptly. Reassignment of those involved may be necessary (with an “innocent until proven guilty” approach).
Structure the work environment to incorporate a sense of autonomy, individual challenge/mastery, and clarity of task expectations for employees – Include employees in decision-making processes.
Hold awareness campaigns for EVERYONE on what bullying is. Encourage reporting.
Ensure management has an active part in the staff they supervise, rather than being far removed from them.
Encourage open door policies.
Investigate the extent and nature of the problem. Conduct attitude surveys.
Improve management’s ability and sensitivity towards dealing with and responding to conflicts.
Establish an independent contact for employees (e.g., HR contact). And
Have a demonstrated commitment “from the top” about what is and is not acceptable behavior.
See the example
Workplace Bullying Policy at the end of this document. 4
Other Resources & Contacts:
The Washington State Employee Assistance Program (
Olympia (360) 753-3260
Seattle (206) 281-6315
Spokane (509) 482-3686.
The Australian government has put together a publication on “Advice to Supervisors on Bullying in the Workplace” that includes useful resources for employers, including a checklist to assess whether you have a bully-free workplace. Use this checklist to see whether you are being bullied or have a bullying workplace:
http://www.dop.wa.gov/Employees/EmployeeAssistanceProgram/) has representatives that are available to help state workers with personal or work-related problems that may be impacting your work performance. EAP services are only available to state employees and are confidential, voluntary, free of charge, and accessible. EAP representatives can be reached at these offices:
http://www.defence.gov.au/fr/issues/
AdviceonBullying.doc.
References:
The following websites/organizations have put together valuable information that includes definitions and facts about bullying in the workplace:
- Key Elements of New York City’s Workplace Violence Law Fact Sheet
Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Health Care & Social Service Workers:
Dealing with Workplace Violence: A Guide for Government Agency Planners:
Article distinguishing bullying from harassment: Bullying at Work Can Have Legal, Financial Penalties:
NIOSH Update: Most Workplace Bullying is Worker to Worker:
- Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute, Bellingham, Washington:
- Advice for Employers on Workplace Bullying:
: http://www.pef.org/stopworkplaceviolence/. http://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3148/osha3148.html. http://www.opm.gov/Employment_and_Benefits/WorkLife/OfficialDocuments/handbooksguides/WorkplaceViolence/full.pdf. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5292/is_20080825/ai_n28118867. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/updates/upd-07-28-04.html. http://www.bullyinginstitute.org/. http://www.defence.gov.au/fr/issues/AdviceonBullying.doc.
http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/WorkSafe/Content/Safety_Topics/Bullying/Violence_in_the_workplace.html
.
Guide for Employees on Workplace Bullying:
http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/WorkSafe/PDF/Guidance_notes/Dealing_with%20bullying_english.pdf. 5
Research References:
Public Personnel Management, Vol. 30, pp. 269-285. Counterproductive Work Behavior: Investigations of Actors and Targets (pp. 151-174), American Psychological Association: Washington, DC. Counterproductive Work Behavior: Investigations of Actors and Targets (pp. 201-235), American Psychological Association: Washington, DC. Counterproductive Work Behavior: Investigations of Actors and Targets (pp. 271-296), American Psychological Association: Washington, DC. Human Relations, Vol. 56, pp. 1213-1232. 6
SHARP
– Research for Safe Work
This report was produced by the Safety & Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP) Program – An independent research program within the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. SHARP’s researchers and scientists partner with business and labor to identify industry-wide hazards and then develop sensible, effective solutions to eliminate those hazards.
If you have questions about this report or the SHARP program, please contact us at:
SHARP
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.
PO Box 44330
Olympia, WA 98504-4330
Tel. (888) 66-SHARP (toll-free)
Fax (360) 902-5672
Check out our website at:
SHARP@Lni.wa.gov.
http://www.Lni.wa.gov/Safety/Research
.
Phone Number: ______________________________________________________
Example Workplace Bullying Policy
http://www.sangrea.net/bully/policy.php
.
Company X
Workplace bullying is behavior that harms, intimidates, offends, degrades or humiliates an employee, possibly in front of other employees, clients, or customers. Workplace bullying may cause the loss of trained and talented employees, reduce productivity and morale and create legal risks.
considers workplace bullying unacceptable and will not tolerate it under any circumstances.
Company X
believes all employees should be able to work in an environment free of bullying. Managers and supervisors must ensure employees are not bullied.
Company X
has grievance and investigation procedures to deal with workplace bullying. Any reports of workplace bullying will be treated seriously and investigated promptly, confidentially and impartially.
Company X
Disciplinary action will be taken against anyone who bullies a co-employee. Discipline may involve a warning, transfer, counseling, demotion or dismissal, depending on the circumstances.
The contact person for bullying at this workplace is:
Name: _____________________________________________________________
encourages all employees to report workplace bullying. Managers and supervisors must ensure employees who make complaints, or witnesses, are not victimized. 8
Workplace bullying
refers to repeated, unreasonable actions of individuals (or a group) directed towards an employee (or a group of employees), which is intended to intimidate and creates a risk to the health and safety of the employee(s).
Workplace bullying
Bullying is different from aggression. Whereas aggression may involve a single act, bullying involves repeated attacks against the target, creating an
One study from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that a quarter of the 516 private and public companies studied reported some occurrence of bullying in the preceding year.
often involves an abuse or misuse of power. Bullying includes behavior that intimidates, degrades, offends, or humiliates a worker, often in front of others. Bullying behavior creates feelings of defenselessness in the target and undermines an individual’s right to dignity at work. on-going pattern of behavior. “Tough” or “demanding” bosses are not necessarily bullies, as long as their primary motivation is to obtain the best performance by setting high expectations. Many bullying situations involve employees bullying their peers, rather than a supervisor bullying an employee.
Examples of bullying:
What is Corporate/Institutional Bullying?
Corporate/institutional bullying
Corporate/institutional bullying
- Placing unreasonable expectations on employees, where failure to meet those expectations means making life unpleasant (or dismissing) anyone who objects.
- Dismissing employees suffering from stress as “weak” while completely ignoring or denying potential work-related causes of the stress. And/or
- Encouraging employees to fabricate complaints about colleagues with promises of promotion or threats of discipline.
Signs of corporate and institutional bullying include:
- Failure to meet organizational goals.
- Increased frequencies of grievances, resignations, and requests for transfers.
- Increased absence due to sickness. And
- Increased disciplinary actions.
If you are aware of bullying in the workplace and do not take action, then you are accepting a share of the responsibility for any future abuses. This means that witnesses of bullying behavior should be encouraged to report any such incidences. Individuals are less likely to engage in antisocial behavior when it is understood that the organization does not tolerate such behavior and that the perpetrator is likely to be punished.
can manifest itself in different ways: occurs when bullying is entrenched in an organization and becomes accepted as part of the workplace culture.
Factors that Increase the Risk for Bullying Behavior:
How Bullying Affects People:
Victims of bullying experience significant physical and mental health problems:
- High stress; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Financial problems due to absence
- Reduced self-esteem.
- Musculoskeletal problems.
- Phobias.
- Sleep disturbances.
- Increased depression/self-blame.
- Digestive problems.
How Bullying Affects Organizations:
Each of the individual consequences listed above can be very costly for the organization. Costs of bullying generally fall into three categories:
2
1. Replacing staff members that leave as a result of being bullied.
2. Work effort being displaced as staff cope with bullying incidents (i.e., effort being directed away from work productivity and towards coping).
3. Costs associated with investigations of ill treatment and potential legal action.
Bullies do not run good organizations; staff turnover and sick leave will be high while morale and productivity will be low. Stress, depression and physical health problems result in time away from work that is costly in terms of workers’ compensation and lost productivity.
The health problems experienced by victims of bullying result in a sense of helplessness and negative emotional states among employee(s). Low self-esteem and a negative organizational climate suppress creativity and hamper employees’ abilities to respond to difficult situations or challenging goals.
The breakdown of trust in a bullying environment may mean that employees will fail to contribute their best work, do not give extra ideas for improvement, do not provide feedback on failures and may be less honest about performance.
Bullying is Different from Harassment
Harassment is one type of illegal discrimination and is defined as offensive and unwelcome conduct, serious enough to adversely affect the terms and conditions of a person’s employment, which occurs because of the person’s protected class, and can be imputed to the employer. Protected classes in employment are race/color, creed (religion), national origin, sex, marital status, disability, HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C status, sexual orientation/gender identity, and honorably discharged veteran and military status.
An example of
Bullying also differs from
If you believe that you are being harassed or retaliated against for making a discrimination complaint, you should immediately contact the Washington State Human Rights Commission (1-800-233-3247,
harassment could be when an employee tells racist jokes and refers to a particular co-worker or group of co-workers by using racial slurs, and after a complaint, the employer does nothing to stop the behavior. Another example of harassment could be a male manager who makes unwelcome sexual suggestions to a female employee and touches her inappropriately. retaliation, which occurs after a person makes a complaint of illegal discrimination, and is then the subject of an adverse employment action or subjected to harassment because he or she made the complaint, http://www.hum.wa.gov).
Bullying,
on the other hand, is often directed at someone a bully feels threatened by. The target often doesn’t even realize when they are being bullied because the behavior is covert, through trivial criticisms and isolating actions that occur behind closed doors. While harassment is illegal; bullying in the workplace is not.
What Can be Done About Bullying?
Bullying in general is NOT illegal in the U.S. unless it involves harassment based on race/color, creed (religion), national origin, sex, age (40+), disability, HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C status and, in Washington State, on marital status, sexual orientation/gender identity, honorably discharged veteran and military status or retaliation for filing a whisleblower complaint with the Washington State Auditor (RCW 49.60).
3
However, here is what you can do about bullying:
Employees:
Regain control by:
- Recognizing that you are being bullied.
- Realizing that you are NOT the source of the problem. And
- Recognizing that bullying is about control, and therefore has nothing to do with your performance.
Take action by:
- Keeping a diary detailing the nature of the bullying (e.g., dates, times, places, what was said or done and who was present). And
- Obtaining copies of harassing / bullying paper trails; hold onto copies of documents that contradict the bully’s accusations against you (e.g., time sheets, audit reports, etc.).
Other actions:
- Expect the bully to deny and perhaps misconstrue your accusations; have a witness with you during any meetings with the bully; report the behavior to an appropriate person.
- Contact the Washington State Employee Assistance Program, (
http://www.dop.wa.gov/eap) for guidance on dealing with the issue.
Employers:
Create a zero tolerance anti-bullying policy. This policy should be part of the wider commitment to a safe and healthful working environment and should involve the appropriate Human Resources representative.
When witnessed or reported, the bullying behavior should be addressed IMMEDIATELY.
If bullying is entrenched in the organization, complaints need to be taken seriously and investigated promptly. Reassignment of those involved may be necessary (with an “innocent until proven guilty” approach).
Structure the work environment to incorporate a sense of autonomy, individual challenge/mastery, and clarity of task expectations for employees – Include employees in decision-making processes.
Hold awareness campaigns for EVERYONE on what bullying is. Encourage reporting.
Ensure management has an active part in the staff they supervise, rather than being far removed from them.
Encourage open door policies.
Investigate the extent and nature of the problem. Conduct attitude surveys.
Improve management’s ability and sensitivity towards dealing with and responding to conflicts.
Establish an independent contact for employees (e.g., HR contact). And
Have a demonstrated commitment “from the top” about what is and is not acceptable behavior.
See the example
Workplace Bullying Policy at the end of this document. 4
Other Resources & Contacts:
The Washington State Employee Assistance Program (
Olympia (360) 753-3260
Seattle (206) 281-6315
Spokane (509) 482-3686.
The Australian government has put together a publication on “Advice to Supervisors on Bullying in the Workplace” that includes useful resources for employers, including a checklist to assess whether you have a bully-free workplace. Use this checklist to see whether you are being bullied or have a bullying workplace:
http://www.dop.wa.gov/Employees/EmployeeAssistanceProgram/) has representatives that are available to help state workers with personal or work-related problems that may be impacting your work performance. EAP services are only available to state employees and are confidential, voluntary, free of charge, and accessible. EAP representatives can be reached at these offices:
http://www.defence.gov.au/fr/issues/
AdviceonBullying.doc.
References:
The following websites/organizations have put together valuable information that includes definitions and facts about bullying in the workplace:
- Key Elements of New York City’s Workplace Violence Law Fact Sheet
Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Health Care & Social Service Workers:
Dealing with Workplace Violence: A Guide for Government Agency Planners:
Article distinguishing bullying from harassment: Bullying at Work Can Have Legal, Financial Penalties:
NIOSH Update: Most Workplace Bullying is Worker to Worker:
- Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute, Bellingham, Washington:
- Advice for Employers on Workplace Bullying:
: http://www.pef.org/stopworkplaceviolence/. http://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3148/osha3148.html. http://www.opm.gov/Employment_and_Benefits/WorkLife/OfficialDocuments/handbooksguides/WorkplaceViolence/full.pdf. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5292/is_20080825/ai_n28118867. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/updates/upd-07-28-04.html. http://www.bullyinginstitute.org/. http://www.defence.gov.au/fr/issues/AdviceonBullying.doc.
http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/WorkSafe/Content/Safety_Topics/Bullying/Violence_in_the_workplace.html
.
Guide for Employees on Workplace Bullying:
http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/WorkSafe/PDF/Guidance_notes/Dealing_with%20bullying_english.pdf. 5
Research References:
Public Personnel Management, Vol. 30, pp. 269-285. Counterproductive Work Behavior: Investigations of Actors and Targets (pp. 151-174), American Psychological Association: Washington, DC. Counterproductive Work Behavior: Investigations of Actors and Targets (pp. 201-235), American Psychological Association: Washington, DC. Counterproductive Work Behavior: Investigations of Actors and Targets (pp. 271-296), American Psychological Association: Washington, DC. Human Relations, Vol. 56, pp. 1213-1232. 6
SHARP
– Research for Safe Work
This report was produced by the Safety & Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP) Program – An independent research program within the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. SHARP’s researchers and scientists partner with business and labor to identify industry-wide hazards and then develop sensible, effective solutions to eliminate those hazards.
If you have questions about this report or the SHARP program, please contact us at:
SHARP
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.
PO Box 44330
Olympia, WA 98504-4330
Tel. (888) 66-SHARP (toll-free)
Fax (360) 902-5672
Check out our website at:
SHARP@Lni.wa.gov.
http://www.Lni.wa.gov/Safety/Research
.
Phone Number: ______________________________________________________
Example Workplace Bullying Policy
http://www.sangrea.net/bully/policy.php
.
Company X
Workplace bullying is behavior that harms, intimidates, offends, degrades or humiliates an employee, possibly in front of other employees, clients, or customers. Workplace bullying may cause the loss of trained and talented employees, reduce productivity and morale and create legal risks.
considers workplace bullying unacceptable and will not tolerate it under any circumstances.
Company X
believes all employees should be able to work in an environment free of bullying. Managers and supervisors must ensure employees are not bullied.
Company X
has grievance and investigation procedures to deal with workplace bullying. Any reports of workplace bullying will be treated seriously and investigated promptly, confidentially and impartially.
Company X
Disciplinary action will be taken against anyone who bullies a co-employee. Discipline may involve a warning, transfer, counseling, demotion or dismissal, depending on the circumstances.
The contact person for bullying at this workplace is:
Name: _____________________________________________________________
encourages all employees to report workplace bullying. Managers and supervisors must ensure employees who make complaints, or witnesses, are not victimized. 8
