Workplace bullying may be something that your organization has not worried about before, or it may be all too familiar. Bullying can occur in any organization, no matter the industry or size, for-profit, or nonprofit, including family-owned businesses. This includes remote workers or telecommuting workers. Bullying will disconnect your culture from your organization’s top priorities, including but not limited to organizational growth, employee engagement, and customer experience. It is not just about the legal risks to the organization, although that is undoubtedly a concern.
According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, their recent polling found 27% of employees reported that they were currently being bullied in the workplace or had been previously. That raises the question. What is the percentage of those who witness the bullying? What is the impact on them? Left unchecked bullying will disconnect your culture from your priorities and send potential growth into a tailspin.
What can an organization do to prevent such abusive and bullying conduct in their workplace? First, learn how to recognize workplace bullying.
Think of bullying like poison in the “well” of workplace culture. Workplace bullying creates an environment of fear and intimidation. Bullied employees will become disengaged and likely leave the organization, creating high turnover. Even if they choose to stay, the employees will likely decide to avoid dealing with bullying behavior and have more absences lowering productivity. What about employees who witness bullying in the workplace? They leave their jobs taking with them their knowledge and experience.
What can an organization do to prevent such abusive and bullying conduct in their workplace? First, learn how to recognize workplace bullying and then create policies designed to prevent it.
What is Bullying?
Workplace bullying is not always as overt and obvious as yelling. Workplace bullying can be subtle but equally devastating. Bullying behaviors include
- Social isolation
- Unfounded rumors
- Unwarranted criticism or blame
- Treating the person differently
- Gossiping about them behind their backs
Many employees don’t understand the seriousness of these behaviors or that these behaviors are abusive. They may attempt to handle it on their own without involving management, but this is rarely successful.
Attempting to curtail some of the thoughtless, but perhaps not malicious, teasing that occurs can feel like an attempt to “sanitize” your workplace culture. It is not necessary to stifle the unique characteristics of your workplace culture, but conversations must be had to ensure that employees understand the difference between friendly banter and abuse. Below are some helpful questions to consider.
Does your workplace culture:
- Nurture rapport and camaraderie among employees, including those who work remotely?
- Welcome the opinions of all employees and consider each employee a valuable member of the organization of equal merit?
- React to complaints appropriately, ethically, quickly, and thoroughly?
- Display demonstrative leadership from the top down that affirms the value of all employees and reinforces the expectation that all should be treated with respect.
After you have corrected any existing problems, you have identified, develop, and implement a zero-tolerance workplace bullying policy to prevent future problems. Featured this policy in the employee handbook.
Respect In the Workplace Starts With Me training.
Having a policy written in the employee handbook is not enough. Train all employees to identify bullying behaviors and understand what resources and what recourse are available to them. They should also know what your organization expects and what the consequences are for violations of these policies.
Employees generally turn to their immediate supervisor first. This means supervisors should receive additional training to help them to react appropriately to such complaints. For example, Respect In the Workplace Starts With Me training for supervisors.
When a complaint is received, every individual involved should proceed with care. A thorough, unbiased investigation must be conducted. Organizations that address complaints of harassment or bullying right away send a message to every employee what they can expect and what is expected of them. Documentation is essential to every step of the process and may be invaluable should the handling of the situation be challenged. Learning to recognize bullying in the workplace is the first step to preventing it.
