Analysis: businesses who are firm about bullying and follow through on complaints can benefit themselves, their organisations and their employees
Workplace bullying is in the news once again. The UK's deputy prime minister Dominic Raab was forced to resign after an inquiry confirmed multiple incidents of bullying on his part. Raab is in good company: bullying and other types of abusive behaviour are widely reported in government and private industry.
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From RTÉ News, British deputy prime minister Dominic Raab resigns over bullying findings
Our understanding of bullying is evolving. Until recently, most discussions of bullying had focused on schools and playgrounds. For example, in Ireland, there are some excellent anti-bullying initiatives, but they almost always focus on children.
In recent years, discussions of bullying have expanded to cover cyberbullying and the use of social media to harass and bully vulnerable individuals. Like discussions of bullying in the schoolyard, most discussions of cyberbullying also focus on children, perhaps for good reason. A majority of students in recent surveys report experiencing abuse through social media, and cyberbullying is increasingly recognised as a significant factor in youth suicide.
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From RTÉ Brainstorm, how workplace bullying costs Ireland €239 million every year
But bullying does not stop in the schoolyard or the playground an dbullying in the workplace is now seen as an important threat to the health and welfare of workers. Employees who have experienced bullying in the workplace report higher levels of stress, gastrointestinal disorders, elevated blood pressure, mood disorders, self-harming behaviour, and eating disorders. In the US, reductions in productivity and increases in turnover that result from workplace bullying are thought to cost organisations over $300 billion and the figure in Ireland is estimated to be around €239 million a year.
Workplace bullying is defined as a pattern of repeated behaviour that unreasonably intimidates, offends, degrades, or humiliates a worker. It is important to distinguish bullying from other negative events that might occur in the workplace. An employee who received an accurate but negative performance review or who is inadvertently offended by a stray comment has not been bullied. The two key factors that distinguish bullying from other forms of negative behaviour are that bullying persists and that it cannot reasonably be blamed on the behaviour of the individuals who are the targets of bullying.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's The Business, how does an organisation get rid of a toxic culture in the workplace?
Examples of workplace bullying include:
- Intimidating or undermining employees by demeaning their work
- Isolating employees from opportunities, information and interaction with others.
- Giving impossible deadlines, creating undue pressure and stress and overworking employees
- Giving constant and unfair criticism
- Making unreasonable demands
- Yelling, screaming, and swearing
- Sending aggressive emails or notes
- Deliberately insulting others
- Stealing credit for other employees' work
Bullies can include superiors, peers and even subordinates. While they are likely to be men, and their targets are often women, bullying can be an equal opportunity offense and there are many cases in which women bully men in the workplace.
What explains bullying? Behaviour in organisations is often explained in terms of a combination of personal and situational factors. To be sure, personal factors can contribute to bullying (bullies are often described as insecure), but in this case, situational factors seem to dominate.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, workplace psychologist Sinead Brady on when you should leave a toxic work environment
To put things simply, people engage in bullying because it works. Bullies obtain power and domination over their targets in organisations in large part because nobody stops them. One bullying expert has noted that 68% of executives identify bullying as a serious problem in their organisations, but only 5.5 % actively do anything about it.
It is not at all uncommon for organisations (especially in high-pressure environments) to develop cultures in which abusive behaviour is tolerated, and sometimes even expected. Too many managers and executives think that yelling at subordinates constitutes leadership. There are too many organisations in which employees who complain about bullying become targets for further abuse. For example, civil servants who raised complaints about Dominic Raab’s behaviour were criticised by his supporters as snowflakes who could not hack a demanding environment.
There is no simple solution to bullying, but the approach that is most likely to succeed is one that focuses on building strong norms that discourage bullying and that encourage both targets and onlookers to report bullying.
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From RTÉ Brainstorm, there's a reason why such unloveable toxic workplace characters as slackers, bullies and self-promoters want to go back to the office
There is an old saying that 'a fish rots from the head' which applies strongly to bullying in organisatons. If top leadership engages in, dismisses, ignores or tolerates bullying, the organisation is in deep trouble, and increasingly, trouble with the law. In Ireland, the Code of Practice for Employers and Employees on the Prevention and Resolution of Bullying at Work requires employers to take reasonable steps to prevent bullying in the workplace, have an anti-bullying policy for dealing with complaints of bullying and assess the risks of bullying in their organization.
In other countries (especially the US), organisations that fail to respond adequately to complaints of bullying are at risk of substantial fines and lawsuits. Business leaders who set firm expectations about bullying and who follow through if complaints are raised can benefit themselves, their organisations, and their employees. Bullying is bad for business!
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
