We all have been here at one time or another. Maybe it happened in primary or elementary school. Maybe junior high. Maybe high school – maybe even college. We get pushed off the swings. We get our shoulder bumped while walking down the hall. We get into a staring contest with someone we just don’t like – maybe a Draco Malfoy type.
Maybe we were the instigator, maybe we were the victim, maybe we were a bystander. Either way, in some way or another, we have probably all been witness to some form of bullying or violence. However, it seems that while bullying – as debilitating and harmful it can be in childhood – could be part of a phase, in some professional workplaces, the concept of bullying is still alive and well. This can be especially true in high-demand, high-stress environments.
[Image from Wikipedia via a Creative Commons license]Workplace bullying and violence have become a major factor in worker turnover, especially in Canada, where 75 percent of labor-union members have said they have been victimized by workplace bullying.
Rarely an issue?
There are some of us who probably do not see bullying as a huge issue – it’s just isolated and seems to be limited to a couple of workers who just don’t get along. But how about this: Canada is one of the top three countries in the world for incidence of workplace bullying and violence, and in a recent poll of Canadian labor unions, 75 percent of those union members said they had been victimized by workplace bullying and/or violence while on the job.
You still think bullying is not a big deal? OK, so maybe bullying as you might remember it on the playground isn’t very prevalent in the workplace. As people have matured, the definition has evolved, to be sure.
Workplace bullying, defined
Bullying has matured as it moved from the playground to the workplace. For grown-ups, bullying is defined as any words or actions that intend to make a worker feel shame or worthless or incompetent. The victim sometimes may fear of his or her safety, though that is not necessarily a component.
The bullying could be mental, social, physical or emotional in nature, and no matter what form it takes, it can disrupt morale in an entire workplace – even if it seems the bullying is isolated to just a couple of people. And if the bullying is not handled in a timely fashion, it could erode trust between the workers and supervisors or management. And you know what? The No. 1 reason cited for workers leaving their jobs is usually workplace bullying or an otherwise toxic working environment. And if you are a supervisor, do you notice the expense of money and time it takes to replace workers who leave? Workplace bullying and violence can be one of those hidden costs that could be very expensive for companies if there is high turnover due to unchecked workplace violence or bullying.
Workplace violence
Bullying is one thing – violence is something else entirely. Violence in the workplace is definied as any aggression by one worker toward another – whether it’s physical, verbal, emotional, etc. Not all, but some bullies take their bullying to a violent stage, and many times they are savvy enough to know how to play the game and they’ll be known for being able to shut it off as they might get caught. But then, as they play the game, the victim might crack and the violence may beget more violence as the victim retaliates because the pepetrator gets away with his actions.
If you are a supervisor, are you keeping tabs on the energy in your office? Are you noticing a high level of turnover in your company in general, or in a specific department? Are you a worker who is in a toxic environment – maybe you have not witnessed bullying, but you might notice some tension in the office and your fear that the negativity or stress will boil over?
Take a couple days to assess your workplace – maybe even pull some workers aside for quick meetings one-on-one and give them the freedom to speak – and also observe your workers in their environments and see if you can spot risks of a toxic workplace. In my next post, I’ll address some steps that can be done to address this very sensitive but costly problem and how to punch it in the nose – just like you would a bully.
We mean this metaphorically, of course.