Is workplace bullying busting your bottom line?
Bullying at work costs organisations in terms of productivity, absenteeism
and turnover. It impacts on the well-being of individuals causing stress,
anxiety and uncertainty. Some targets go on to develop depression, and
may contemplate suicide.
On the eve of Safe Work Australia Week (Oct 21-27), growing attention
should be paid to workplace bullying as an occupational health and safety issue.
Recent claims of bullying in the NSW health system have drawn attention to
the issue, but the reports are likely to underestimate the frequency of
bullying behaviour. Recent studies undertaken in Australia and other
developed countries show that fear of reprisal or payback is a major reason
why targets of workplace bullying behaviour don’t report it. It has been
found that 40% of workplace bullying goes unreported.
Dr Anne Wyatt, Director of Beyond Bullying and Visiting Fellow at the School
of Safety Science, UNSW, said “Workplace bullying behaviour presents a
serious hazard to health and well-being and should be managed like any
other risk”.
Workplace bullying can be encountered in any workplace, regardless of industry
or size. “It doesn’t matter if you’re working in an office, a building site, or a
manufacturing plant, workplace bullying behaviours can still be present, and
must be identified, assessed and controlled” said Dr. Carlo Caponecchia,
Associate Lecturer at the School of Safety Science, UNSW. “It would be a
mistake to dismiss it as not occurring in your workplace – bullying can be very
subtle, hard to identify, and people often feel humiliated about saying something,
or they may be afraid of losing their job”.
Bullying behaviours include repeated undue criticism, assigning meaningless
tasks, yelling and abuse, setting colleagues up to fail, and physical or social
isolation, to name a few. In terms of management, it is important to be clear
about what behaviours can and what behaviours cannot be classified as bullying.
Organisations need to implement strategies that make people, as targets or
witnesses, feel safe about reporting bullying behaviours, and know that
something meaningful will be done about them.
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