How do you manage a workplace bully ?

JAMES ADONIS
September 15, 2009

Bullying in the workplace is on the increase.

When you think of health and safety at work, what probably crosses your
mind is the use of machinery, ergonomics, and adequate breaks. But a more
prevalent and dangerous beast is increasingly lurking in workplaces: the bully.

If you’ve got one in your team, it’s unlikely you know about it because to
your face they’re charming and delightful, but behind your back they torment
and torture, leaving co-workers affronted and afraid.

Workplace bullying is a repeated series of actions towards one or more
employees that’s sometimes aggressive, at other times manipulative, but
always causes distress and anxiety.

One particular study found that over 70 percent of employees admit to having
been bullied at some stage in the past. The problem is widespread and it’s
possible that your employees are next.

Often the bullying is just verbal. From insidious insults to humiliating sarcasm,
and from abusive language to public put-downs, the words are targeted with the
intention to hurt.

Occasionally, the bullying becomes more sinister where the bully will play
mind-games and intimidation to wrest control within the team. What causes the
most concern is that the majority of victims either don’t do anything about it or
they just find a job someplace else, leaving the bully to continue the damage.

The impact on the business is huge. Increased absenteeism is a certainty as
victims dread the thought of going to work where they’ll face the bully. The
effect it has on their health reduces their productivity, saps their energy, alters
their mood, and costs businesses a lot of money.

In fact, one study by Work Cover in the ACT found that workplace bullying costs
the Australian economy between $6 billion and $13 billion a year.

Pyscholigst Keryl Egan has dentified three types of bullies in the workplace.
The first are the accidental bullies, who respond demandingly and in a blunt
manner because they’re panicked, rushed, or stressed out.

The second are the narcissistic bullies, who crave power and will do anything to
get it no matter how destructive it is, and have little care for who gets burnt in
the process.

And the third are the serial bullies, who are almost impossible to cure because
they’re psychotic sociopaths with a relentless and fearless appetite to systemically
deceive and destroy.

There are also specific factors that might make your business more conducive
to workplace bullying. Sudden changes and instability, undefined work structures
and procedures, and insufficient levels of communication and direction, are all
a fertile breeding ground for a bully to emerge.

To eliminate bullying in your workplace, consider the following steps:

1.Openly state that your company will not condone bullying of any kind.
2.Have an anti-bullying policy written down as part of your employee handbook.
3.Prohibit actions like tantrums, screaming, and threats.
4. Make it easy for employees to complain if they’re the victim of a bully.
5. Frequently consult employees to see how they’re feeling about the workplace.
6. Look out for body language clues that might indicate an employee is a victim.
7. Be cognisant of a spike in absenteeism from an employee who’s rarely sick.
8. If you spot a bully, take action immediately. Don’t tolerate it even for a second.
9. When giving a bully feedback, focus on their behaviour, not their personality.
10. Make sure the bully understands the consequences if their behaviour continues.
11. Document all conversations, and if it doesn’t stop, consider serious penalties.
12. Remember to be the role model of how you’d like your employees to act.

Moving a bully from one team to another is not a solution, because the bully will
just find a new victim in the new surroundings. Instead, provide coaching, offer
counselling, issue written warnings, and eventually if there’s no improvement,
terminate the bully’s employment before other employee resignations take hold.

Keep in mind that workplace bullies are usually your best performers. They’re
clever, successful, and highly productive, so this might make you reluctant to
deal with their menacing ways.

But deal with it you must, or else it’ll have a larger financial impact on your
business down the track.

It’s important to note that as an employer, you have a legal duty of care to
protect your staff from hazards in the workplace. One particular hazard that
needs to be managed is the risk of staff suffering from an unsupervised workplace
bully.

As Edmund Burke famously said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil
is that good men do nothing."

Workplace bullying is a problem that can no longer be ignored.

WCV's: Then, why is it still being ignored?

Toxic Bosses are breaking the laws and getting away with it by not
re-employing the injured worker.