Stop Workplace Bullying There is no excuse for workplace abuse! A group of workers may mob against a fellow What is Workplace Bullying? worker on the same power-level. Workplace bullying refers to repeated, A group of employees and supervisor(s) may unreasonable actions of individuals (or a group) mob against a subordinate employee or even directed towards an employee (or a group of another supervisor on the same or different employees), which are intended to intimidate, power-level. degrade, humiliate or undermine, or which create a risk to the health or safety of the employee(s). Bullying behavior creates feelings Five categories of bullying of defenselessness and injustice in the target and Threat to professional status: Belittling someone’s undermines an individual’s right to dignity at work. opinion, public humiliation, professional humiliation, accusation of lack of effort and Who can be a workplace bully? unwanted or invalid criticism. Workplace bullying often involves an abuse or Threat to personal standing: Name calling, misuse of power, but can reach across all levels of insults, teasing, sexual comments, racial, ethnic or power in the workplace. socioeconomic slurs. Abusive supervision: Occurs when supervisors Isolation: Denying development opportunities, engage in the sustained display of abusive behavior withholding training, withholding critical towards staff. information, ignoring attempts at conversation, exclusion or social isolation. Same level or horizontal bullying: Abusive behavior that is displayed towards an individual on the same Destabilization: Failure to give credit when power level, such as coworker-to-coworker conflict. due, assigning meaningless tasks, removing responsibility or assigning tasks beneath Mobbing: The first thought that may come to professional level. mind when you hear the term mobbing is a horde of people with pitchforks and torches. In the Overwork: Excessive monitoring or micro- workplace, mobbing occurs when abusive behaviors managing, undue pressure to produce work, giving stem from a group of individuals targeting one impossible deadlines, unnecessary disruptions and individual across any power-level. For example: work overload. A group of subordinate employees may mob against a supervisor. SSafetHy & HeAalth AsRsessmPent & Research for Prevention Corporate or institutional bullying Musculoskeletal pain explained Sleep and digestive disturbances Increased depression/self-blame Corporate/institutional bullying occurs when bullying is entrenched in an organization and Family tension becomes accepted as part of the workplace culture. High stress, post-traumatic stress disorder It can occur in different ways: Financial problems due to absence or job loss Placing unreasonable expectations on Protecting yourself with safe work practices employees, where failure to meet those expectations means making life unpleasant (or dismissing) anyone who objects. How bullying affects organizations Labeling employees suffering from stress as Each of the individual consequences listed above can “weak” while completely ignoring or denying be very costly for the organization. Costs of bullying potential work-related causes of the stress. generally fall into four categories: Encouraging employees to fabricate complaints 1. Replacing staff members who leave as a result of about colleagues with promises of promotion or being bullied, lost productivity and the cost of threats of discipline. training new employees. Signs of corporate and institutional bullying include: 2. Work effort being redirected away from productivity towards coping with bullying incidents. Failure to meet organizational goals. 3. Costs associated with investigations of ill Increased frequencies of grievances, resignations treatment, potential legal action, and lower quality and requests for transfers. of work due to emotional strain of bullying. Increased absence due to sickness. 4. Cost of vicarious stress effects on bystanders of Increased disciplinary action. bullying in the workplace, such as absenteeism, staff turnover, mental distraction and fear of Factors that increase the risk for interaction with the bully. bullying behavior Bullying vs. Workplace Harassment Significant organizational change, such as major internal restructuring or technological changes. Harassment is a type of illegal discrimination defined as offensive and unwelcome conduct, serious Worker characteristics, including age, gender, race enough to adversely affect the terms and conditions and ethnicity, parental status or inexperience, of a person’s employment, which occurs because of such as being an apprentice or trainee. the person’s protected class. Workplace relationships, which might include inadequate information flow between Protected classes in employment are race/color, organizational levels and lack of employee creed (religion), national origin, sex, marital participation in decisions. status, disability, HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C status, sexual orientation/gender identity, and honorably Work systems, such as a lack of policies about discharged veteran and military status. behavior, high rate and intensity of work, staff shortages, interpersonal conflict, organizational An example of harassment could be when an constraints, role ambiguity and role conflict. employee tells racist jokes and refers to a particular co-worker or group of co-workers by using racial How bullying affects people slurs, and after a complaint, the employer does nothing to stop the behavior. Another example of Bullying can cause emotional and physical harassment could be a male manager who makes consequences that include: unwelcome sexual suggestions to a female employee Reduced self-esteem and touches her inappropriately. Work withdrawal, sick days Bullying also differs from retaliation, which the bully’s accusations against you (e.g., time occurs after a person makes a complaint of illegal sheets, audit reports, etc.). discrimination, and is then the subject of an adverse employment action or subjected to harassment Other actions: because he or she made the complaint. Expect the bully to deny and perhaps Bullying, on the other hand, is often directed at misconstrue your accusations; have a witness someone a bully feels threatened by. The target often with you during any meetings with the bully; doesn’t even realize when they are being bullied and report the behavior to an appropriate person. because the behavior is covert, through trivial For state employees: contact the Washington criticisms and isolating actions that occur behind State Employee Assistance Program closed doors. While harassment is illegal, bullying in (www.hr.wa.gov/EAP) for guidance on dealing the workplace is not. with the issue. If you believe that you are being harassed or If you are an employer: retaliated against for making a discrimination complaint, you should immediately contact the Create a zero tolerance anti-bullying policy. This Washington State Human Rights Commission policy should be part of the wider commitment (1-800-233-3247, www.hum.wa.gov). to a safe and healthful working environment and should have the full support of top management. Address the bullying behavior IMMEDIATELY What Can Be Done About Bullying? when it is witnessed or reported. At the first sign of conflict check if your company Take complaints seriously and respond has a workplace violence program or a code of promptly. Reassign the bully, if necessary. conduct that addresses psychological intimidation Clarify task expectations for employees, and aggression that is not based on a protected supervisors and managers. Structure the characteristic. It can be useful to talk to the aggressor work environment to incorporate a sense of if you are comfortable with that. The person may autonomy, individual challenge/mastery and deny the aggression, but you have let them know that professional development. you are aware and consider it unprofessional. Or talk with someone you absolutely trust in the workplace Include employees in decision-making processes. that can advise you and advocate for you while Hold awareness campaigns for EVERYONE on keeping your situation confidential. what bullying is. Encourage reporting. What can you do about bullying? Ensure management is engaged with staff they supervise. If you are an employee, regain control: Encourage open door policies. Recognize that you are being bullied. Investigate the extent and nature of the problem. Realize that you are NOT the source of Conduct employee attitude surveys. the problem. Improve management’s ability and sensitivity Recognize that bullying is about control, towards dealing with and responding to conflicts. and therefore has nothing to do with your performance. Establish an independent contact for employees, such as a designated human resources contact Take action: who is trained on conflict management, confidentiality and ethics. Keep a diary detailing the nature of the bullying (e.g., dates, times, places, what was said or done Provide training on respectful communication, and who was present). handling conflict and building strong relationships at work. Obtain copies of harassing/bullying paper trails; hold onto copies of documents that contradict SHARP — Research for Safe Work This document was produced by the Safety and Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP) Program, a research program within the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. SHARP’s researchers and scientists partner