New Research on Bullying & Harassment at Work - Toolkit Published: The Barriers to Returning to Work Post-Bullying

The Government is being called on to do more to help victims of bullying and harassment at work. Just Fight On! have published a Return to Work Toolkit looking at the barriers to returning to work after being bullied and harassed at work, including some shocking findings. This is the first assessment of what happens post-workplace bullying in the world.

Key Findings

Our assessment of bullying and harassment and it's impact looked at the cost to the individuals affected, to employers and the Government.

Of the 65 UK based respondents to the questionnaire, 34 had been on Incapacity Benefit [IB] for more than a month - so far. Of those, 47% had been on IB for than 2 years and 18% for more than 4 years. 70% of respondents felt the harassment had a severe impact on their mental health.

45% of respondents felt the harassment had a severe impact on their physical health.

Our findings showed that the mechanisms currently in place to deal with bullying and harassment are not working. Two thirds of respondents said their employer had a policy on bullying and harassment, however 100% said it was not effective. Every respondent who spoke to the harasser was not satisfied with the outcome;

90% of those who made an informal complaint were not satisfied with the outcome; nor were 95% of those who made a formal grievance. 84% of those who sought union representation were not satisfied. [We have been through this before, i.e. the inaction and/or the less than satisfactory stance of our academic union. Please read here and here.]

Specific feedback that features in the Toolkit identifies a major lack of understanding, a failure to take bullying seriously and little support and help available to get people back to work.

Jo Anne Brown, Chair of JFO and the Toolkit developer commented "There is a lack of support and help to enable people to get back to work after being bullied. People who are harassed find themselves without a job, without their health and discriminated against when trying to find employment because they are seen as 'trouble-makers'. The Government need to urgently look at dedicating resources to help people affected by workplace bullying; they would save the benefits paid to people who become unemployed or too ill to work and stop huge amounts of income tax being lost."

96% of respondents believed the following outcomes to their employment was directly related to the harassment.

24% resigned

16% were sacked

9% were ill-health retired

A further 3% were retired early

The questionnaire found significant barriers to returning to work because of bad references, finding it difficult to explain to potential employers gaps on their CV, that they had left their job because of harassment and a perception that employers view people with a history of mental illness as a liability.

56% of respondents worked for the public sector and 29% the private sector. Two thirds of respondents were in a manager/senior role or professional occupation; almost two thirds were earning more than £25,000 per annum and more than a third earned over £40,000.

Conclusion

Our conclusion is that the cost of employees becoming unemployed or too ill to work because of bullying and harassment and the associated health care costs is considerable and one that cannot be ignored. Tackling bullying and harassment needs all parties to be involved if it is to be effective and this is the same to enable an effective return to work. The resources needed to effectively reduce time out of work would bring a significant saving through the provision of dedicated help and support in getting people back to work...

Statistics and facts

It is estimated that bullying and harassment contributes towards 18 million lost working days every year [TUC] and costs the UK economy £2 billion per annum [CIPD]. There is currently no funding for dedicated help, advice or support to enable victims of bullying to return to work, some of whom have lost their jobs, been on long-term incapacity benefit or seeking to return to their existing employment after significant periods of sick leave...

About Just Fight On!

JFO is a not for profit organisation operating the Centre Against Workplace Bullying UK to help victims of bullying and harassment at work. They provide advice, support and training. Website: http://www.jfo.org.uk

Non-disclosure and hidden discrimination in Higher Education - UK

Findings from an anonymised survey of staff working in ten Higher Education Institutions explored patterns of non-disclosure, showed that staff attitudes to working in HE vary and that harassment is a serious issue to tackle. Equal opportunities training can have the most positive impact on staff perceptions of equal opportunities.

'...The reasons why people chose not to answer one question in a questionnaire, while answering another, is complex. Factors such as fatigue towards the end of a form feature highly. All these questions appeared together towards the end of the questionnaire. However, a final question about union membership which followed these questions had a response rate of over 98 per cent. The complexity of the question may also be a factor. On the other hand, a reasonably complex question on ethnicity also attracted a response rate of 98 per cent.

The content of these questions is important and several of these questions are likely to be considered inappropriate or intrusive by at least some respondents. Most respondents answered the questions on gender and on ethnic background (99 and 98 per cent respectively). Seven per cent of respondents chose not to answer the question regarding religion and belief, while 6 per cent chose not to answer the question on sexual orientation...

Seventeen per cent of respondents reported in the survey that they had personally experienced harassment within the previous 12 months. The incidence of harassment did not vary significantly across the institutions in the sample, ranging from 12 per cent to 22 per cent. The most common form of harassment experienced was unwelcome comments, while the second most common form was verbal assault. Table 6.1 shows the nature and source of harassment, presented as a proportion of respondents who indicated that they had experienced harassment. Of the 17 per cent of respondents who had experienced harassment, 37 per cent had experienced harassment in the form of unwelcome comments from colleagues. Percentages add up to considerably more than 100 per cent because some individuals may have experienced more than one type of harassment, or been harassed by seniors, colleagues and students...

Findings show that:

• Female and minority ethnic respondents are significantly more likely to be employed on temporary or fixed contracts.
  
  
• The average full-time equivalent salary for male respondents was £32,324, compared with £24,696 for female respondents.
  
  
• Not surprisingly, those on a permanent contract earn a significantly higher salary than those on a temporary contract (average full-time equivalent £29,274 compared with £24,472).
  
  
• The average salary for female respondents was consistently lower, across the different occupational groups, than for male respondents. This pattern is consistent irrespective of the type of employment contract.
  
  
• The average salary for white respondents was £28,342, while the average for minority ethnic respondents was £21,473. Almost a quarter of the small number of minority ethnic respondents earned less than £14,000. The small number of minority ethnic respondents in academic occupations earn significantly less than their white counterparts.
  
  
• A similar pattern to that found for gender seemed to emerge for minority ethnic respondents. Numbers in subgroups are however too small to draw any conclusion. This would need checking with a larger sample, as it may indicate that minority ethnic staff may earn consistently less than their white counterparts across all occupations, and the effect may be compounded for female minority ethnic respondents.
  
  
• Staff attitudes about working in HE are associated with the extent to which their institution cares for them, the support they get from colleagues and managers, and the extent to which they are being developed. Job satisfaction is related to the way staff performance is managed, the level of autonomy and communication, and the amount of stress experienced.
  
  
• Academic participants are the most dissatisfied with the amount of stress they experience. Research participants are more satisfied with their level of autonomy compared with academic participants. Respondents from manual occupations are the least satisfied with the level of autonomy in their job.
  
  
• Administrative and clerical and manual participants who are males are less positive about the extent to which they are being developed compared with their female counterparts. Male manual respondents are also dissatisfied with most aspects of job satisfaction including the way their performance is managed.
  
  
• Respondents with a self-identified disability report higher levels of stress; and, together with those with health problems, are less positive about all aspects of working for their HEI.
  
  
• Those respondents who care for an adult are less satisfied with their level of autonomy and the amount of stress they experience.
  
  
• Seventeen per cent of respondents have personally experienced some form of harassment at work. This is more likely to involve unwelcome comments and verbal assault from senior colleagues, and abusive emails and offensive jokes from colleagues.
  
  
• Incidents of harassment are unlikely to be reported, and those who report them are unlikely to be satisfied with the response of their HEI.
  
  
• Non-academic respondents in technical and manual occupations are more likely to experience harassment at work.
  
  
• Respondents in the middle age group, those who declare a disability or health issue, and respondents with caring responsibilities for children and adults are more likely to experience harassment at work.'

Complete report available online by HEFCE.

Corrosive Leadership (Or Bullying by Another Name): A Corollary of the Corporatised Academy?

'The literature reveals that the incidence of bullying is increasing in corporate workplaces everywhere. While the data is scant, it suggests that bullying in universities is also on the increase. Interviews with Australian academics support this finding. It is argued that the trend has to be understood in light of the pathology of corporatisation, which is designed to make academics do more with less. The focus on productivity parallels the harassment to which workers in the private sector may be subjected in the hope that they will work harder and maximise profits. Avenues of redress are considered which show that dignitary harms remain inchoate as legal harms. While common law and anti-discrimination legislation regimes may occasionally offer a remedy to targeted individuals, it is averred that these avenues are incapable of addressing the causative political factors that induce corrosive leadership...

Powerful line managers, whose role it is to exhort greater productivity from these unruly units, have made themselves indispensable in the transformation of universities as producers and facilitators of the new economy. Hence, the corporatised university, with its over-zealous managerialism, competition for resources and eviscerated notion of academic freedom, is likely to represent an ongoing source of grievance about workplace aggression. A formal avenue of redress will have to be devised to placate this dissonance. However, rather than relying on a traditional model of linear causality, which focuses on linking ‘victim’ and wrongdoer, a new remedial model would be better off addressing the political environment that has engendered the harm. A single-minded focus on psychopathic managers absolves corporations, including universities, from responsibility for the fear, the insecurity and the relentless pressure to be evermore productive that the market message induces.'

Margaret Thornton, Australian Journal of Labour Law, 2004 - Complete paper available online as pdf file.

Never Surrender

"Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself." - Harvey Fierstein

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." - Dale Carnegie

Resisting Unfair Dismissal

You've just been dismissed - unfairly. Perhaps it was because you spoke out about problems at work. Perhaps it was discrimination. Perhaps you were the target of envious co-workers. Perhaps the boss just didn't like you. What should you do? If you go to court, you may receive some compensation, but you probably won't get your job back. Even if you do, it can be pretty unpleasant if you have the same boss. If you obtain compensation, it usually won't be very much. There's another option: campaigning. To understand how it works, it helps to examine the dynamics of public indignation. Think of a really serious injustice, such as torture, genocide or shooting of peaceful protesters. Many people feel indignant about such actions.

Perpetrators typically use five methods to reduce the indignation. (1) Cover-up: the action is hidden. Torture is almost always carried out in secrecy. (2) Devaluation of the victim: if the victim is thought to be dangerous, inferior or worthless, then what's done to them doesn't seem so bad. That's why enemies are labelled as ruthless, subhuman and terrorists. (3) Reinterpretation: a different explanation is given for the action, making it seem more acceptable, or blaming someone else. The protesters might be called dangerous and threatening. Or shooting them might be claimed to be an accident, or the action of "rogue" elements. (4) Official channels: experts, formal inquiries or courts are used to give a stamp of approval to what happened. Justice appears to be done, but actually isn't. For example, an inquiry into prison abuse might take months or years and lead to minor penalties against a few scapegoats. Meanwhile, public anger dies down and the system remains in place. (5) Intimidation and bribery: victims and witnesses are threatened or given incentives to keep quiet and not oppose what happened. Witnesses to a brutal assault might be threatened that they could be next.

Powerful groups regularly use these five techniques to reduce indignation. The Nazis used them in its genocide of the Jews. The US government used them during the Vietnam war. The Indonesian government used them to manage responses to massacres in East Timor. Unfair dismissal is not nearly as drastic as genocide, but the dynamics of indignation are quite similar. Employers regularly use these same five methods in unfair dismissal.

(1) Cover-up. The person dismissed knows what happened, but others are kept in the dark. No announcement may be made. Settlements often involve a silencing clause. When the dismissal is public, often the reasons are covered up. Files may be destroyed.
(2) Devaluation. The person dismissed is slandered as a poor performer, difficult personality or slacker. Rumours may be spread alleging theft, bullying or unsavoury sexual behaviour.
(3) Reinterpretation. The dismissal is said to be due to restructuring, redeployments, financial difficulties or some other pretext. Alternatively, the dismissal may be justified as due to the victim's failures.
(4) Official channels. Dismissed workers are advised to go to tribunals, ombudsmen, courts, or any of a host of other agencies that supposedly offer justice. Seldom do these address the source of injustice in the workplace.
(5) Intimidation and bribery. Workers may be reluctant to oppose a dismissal because they will receive a poor reference or be sued for defamation. Co-workers may support management in the hope of retaining their own jobs, a form of implicit bribery.

Increasing indignation

To increase indignation from unfair dismissal, you need to challenge the five methods. Here's the general approach. (1) Expose what happened. (2) Validate the person, by showing their good performance, loyalty, honesty and other positive traits. (3) Interpret the dismissal as unfair, and counter the official explanations. (4) Either avoid official channels or use them as tools in exposing the unfairness. (5) Refuse to be intimidated or bribed, and expose intimidation and bribery.

It's extremely helpful to write a short summary about what happened, giving the facts and revealing the injustice. You need to obtain documents that show what happened, such as records about your good performance or documents revealing prejudice. Get help from sympathisers to make your summary clear to outsiders and absolutely accurate. Avoid speculation and avoid abuse or attacks. Just give the facts and let readers come to their own conclusions.

When you've checked everything many times, you're ready to show the summary to others who might be sympathetic. Start small and build up. Show it to some co-workers or friends. Revise the summary if necessary. Then gradually show it to more people. You could email it to other workers. Or you could produce a leaflet and stand outside the workplace distributing it. Send it to the employer's clients.

The next step up is publicity to the wider community. Sometimes the media will be interested. There are also newsletters and email lists. You might set up a website. The key is to expose the injustice to people who will be receptive.

The employer may try to discredit you, so you need to be prepared. Have documents showing your good performance. Have others vouch for you and stand up for you. You also need to behave in an exemplary fashion. If you shout, swear, abuse others, don't do your work or dress poorly, it will be easier for others to blame you for your misfortune. You need to behave as if you're the best worker on earth. Of course it's hard and unfair, and you're under incredible stress. Do as well as you can, and trust that others will see the unfairness in the way you're treated.

In your conversations, your written summary and other communications, emphasise what's unfair about the dismissal. If you were sacked for speaking out, show double standards: point to other workers with the same performance, who didn't speak out and weren't sacked. If you were dismissed in violation of the rules, point that out.

Rather than rushing to tribunals or courts for vindication, use them only with care. Check out what happened to others, similar to you, who used the same tribunal or court. Find out how much effort and money is required, and estimate your chance of success. Find out the likely delay and what you're likely to receive at the end. Remember that if a court rules against you, it will make the dismissal seem more legitimate, even if it was unfair in practice.

Sometimes you can use official channels as part of your campaign. You can ask supporters to attend hearings, or circulate email updates about proceedings. You can post your submissions on a website. Alternatively, you can avoid official channels altogether. Often that's the best option.

If you are threatened, you need to make a careful decision: proceed or acquiesce. If you decide to proceed, try to collect evidence of threats, attacks and bribes. Expose these too.

Mobilise support

Your campaign will be much more powerful if others are willing to join in. If other workers have been dismissed at the same time, try to join forces with them. Try to find others, including co-workers and friends, who will help. If many people join the campaign, it will greatly increase your chance of having an impact.

If your union is willing to support you, that's a tremendous advantage. But sometimes you may need to proceed on your own. If so, make absolutely sure you're prepared and able to follow through. Sometimes it's safer to go quietly and survive.

If you're successful, lots of people will hear about your dismissal and believe that you've been wronged. If there's enough disturbance from your dismissal, the employer will regret doing it. In other words, firing you will backfire on the employer. What happens next depends a lot on the case. If there's enough public pressure, you might get your job back. More likely, you will be offered a bigger compensation package. Or the employer may tough out the uproar.

Even if you don't obtain compensation, a good campaign will damage the reputation and undermine the authority of the employer. You will thus obtain "punitive justice." That can be quite satisfying! Finally, and not least, you will gain greater credibility and self-respect.

Probably the biggest benefit will be for those who remain on the job. The employer will be more reluctant to dismiss them, in fear of another backfire. Your efforts will help prevent further injustice.

Deterrence

If you're prepared to take action against unfair dismissal, then you're less likely to be dismissed in the first place. Employers dislike bad publicity. They hate organised campaigns that might hurt their business. So here are some ways to prevent dismissal by good preparation.

• Collect lots of information about your own good performance. Keep copies in safe places. If you plan to act against corruption or bad practices, collect extensive information to back up your claims.
  
  
• Develop your skills in speaking and writing. Know how to talk with others. Learn how to write persuasive accounts, how to prepare a leaflet, how to run a publicity campaign and how to set up a website - or have reliable friends willing to assist.
  
  
• Avoid doing things that can be used against you. If you spend much of your time bad-mouthing others, getting others to do your work, and claiming credit for what you didn't do, you can't expect support when the crunch comes. Have others help you gain insight into being collegial, collaborative, approachable and civil.
  
  
• Be prepared to survive. You may need financial reserves. You will need psychological toughness. You need exercise and good diet to maintain your health. You need supportive relationships. When you come under attack, you may need all your reserves: financial, psychological, physical and interpersonal. If you're living on the edge, you're more vulnerable.
  
  
• Build alliances: there is great strength in collective action. If you have a decent union, join it and be active.
  
  
• Develop options. Find out about other potential jobs. Think about a career change. Consider downshifting to a less costly lifestyle. Sometimes it's better to walk away from a stressful job. If you have such options, you're actually in a stronger position to campaign against an unfair dismissal.
  
  
• Be prepared to resist. Many workers learn to be subordinate and can't bring themselves to resist even the worst abuse. When dismissed, they do just what the boss wants: leave quietly, perhaps with token compensation. If you're known as a resister, you're less likely to be targeted.
  
  Help others. If you assist other workers who come under attack, you develop useful insights and skills - and others are more likely to help you should you need it.
  

Brian Martin (Whistleblowers Australia). Brian Martin is international director of Whistleblowers Australia, associate professor at Wollongong University, and on the international council of FtC. Email: bmartin@uow.edu.au. He thanks Sharon Callaghan, Truda Gray, Yasmin Rittau, Jeff Schmidt, Kylie Smith and Ian Watson for helpful comments.

China university sacks dean after blog rant - breaking the hidden rules

A prestigious Chinese university has fired one of its deans days after he complained about being sidelined for bold remarks on academic freedom and berated the country's higher education woes on the Internet.

Zhang Ming, dean of political sciences at Renmin University of China, posted articles detailing a row with his superior and attacking the "bureaucratization of Chinese colleges" on his well-read blog last week. Zhang was formally stripped of his post on Friday, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Monday.

"They told me that I should be punished for... breaking the hidden rules," the 50-year-old was quoted as saying.

Zhang remained a professor at the university and was likely to be able to continue teaching, the report said. Zhang said in a March 12 blog post that he had irritated his superior last year by telling the media that the university had withheld some dissertation subsidies from graduate students.

The superior was also angry at Zhang for speaking up for a colleague he believed was wronged by a reviewing panel whose members were selected for their official ranks instead of academic achievement, Zhang added.

The university confirmed his dismissal as dean on its Web site, but denied the allegations Zhang made on his blog. The Communist Party has kept a close watch on the Chinese intelligentsia since coming to power in 1949, by setting up party committees in all academic and educational institutions. Controls have eased since market reforms began in the 1980s, but unorthodox studies or teachings are still frowned upon.

"Universities have become an officialdom ... The over-intervention and manipulation of academia by power definitely fetters its growth," Zhang was quoted as saying.

"How is China's academia doing now? Does anybody overseas read papers written by Chinese scholars? Plagiarism and theft are rampant ... Obedient kids are being taught to be minions."

Renmin University's School of International Studies, which administers Zhang's department, dismissed his blog posts as "lies" which had "brought great pressure to the school," "victimized its faculty" and "damaged its reputation."

"Any organization has this or that problem with varying degrees. Professor Zhang made a precedent in China by whipping up the internal problem in the media," read two rare open letters on the school's Web site.

From: Scientific American.com

Effects of Psychological Harassment

'Individual Effects

Many studies show that psychological harassment has extremely negative effects for individuals. Generally, there are three individual consequences. The first effect is a deterioration of the victim’s physical and mental health (McCarthy, et al. 1995, 1998, 2001, Leymann 1996b, Ayoko, et al. 2003, Di Martino, et al. 2003, Einarsen & Mikkelsen 2003, Djurkovic, et al. 2004, Matthiesen & Einarsen 2004, Nielsen, et al. 2004).

Typically, research points to increased stress levels and reduced physical and psychological wellbeing, with the most frequently identified negative health related outcomes including: anxiety, depression, psychosomatic symptoms (hostility, hyper sensibility, loss of memory and feelings of victimisation), aggression, fear and mistrust, cognitive effects (such as, inability to concentrate, or think clearly, and reduced problem solving capacity), isolation, loneliness, deterioration of relationships, chronic fatigue and sleep problems.

Workplace bullying not only affects the targets, but also their colleagues or other bystanders. According to different studies (Einarsen & Mikkelsen 2003), witnesses of bullying reported more mental stress reactions than workers who had not witnessed anyone being bullied in their department. Witnesses may also suffer due to a real, or perceived, inability to help the target.

In the most severe cases of bullying, victims have frequently been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD (Leymann & Gustafsson 1996, Matthiesen & Einarsen 2004, Nielsen, et al. 2004, Tehrani 2004). The PTSD diagnosis refers to a constellation of stress symptoms typically exhibited by victims of exceptionally traumatic events.

The hallmark symptoms of PTSD are reexperiencing, avoidance numbing and arousal. First, the trauma is relived through repeated, insistent and painful memories of the event(s) or in recurring nightmares. Also, the victims may experience an intense psychological discomfort and/or react physically when exposed to reminders of the trauma.

Second, victims with PTSD tend to avoid stimuli related to the traumatic situation(s) and exhibit a general numbing of responsiveness. For instance, they may have problems remembering the actual event(s) or may exhibit a reduced interest in activities they used to enjoy. Often they feel detached from others.

A third symptom is hyper arousal. This may be manifested in, for example, sleeping problems, concentration difficulties, highly tense and irritable behaviour, as well as in exaggerated reactions to unexpected stimuli (Einarsen & Mikkelsen 2003). Some authors (Leymann 1996a, Hirigoyen 2001) have claimed work harassment to be a major cause of suicide. Psychological harassment may also have wider ramifications beyond those directly involved. Research has shown that witnessing violence may lead to fear of future violent incidents and as such has similar negative effects as being personally assaulted or attacked (Di Martino, et al. 2003).

The second effect of psychological harassment is the economic consequence for the victim. A loss of income is often real. Harassment may generate coping strategies and health effects which can develop into sickness absence, a lessening of productivity, a reduction of performance, resignation from the organisation, and work incapacity because of a loss of self confidence. Hirigoyen (2001) notes that in 36 per cent of the cases, the victim leaves the firm. In 20 per cent of the reported cases, the person is laid off, in nine per cent of the cases, the departure is negotiated, in seven per cent of the cases, the person resigns and in one per cent of the cases, the person is put in anticipated retirement.

In addition to this loss of incomes, the victim may have medical expenses, psychotherapeutic spending and fees of lawyers. According to Hirigoyen (2001), 30 per cent of the victims stopped working due to illness, disability, or are made redundant for medical inaptitude. In 66 per cent of the cases, the victim is actually excluded from the work world.

The third effect of bullying is the family and social implications. The results of exposure to psychological harassment are likely to affect several important spheres of life, for example, relationship with family or friends, leisure activities, household duties or sex life (Einarsen & Mikkelsen 2003). Di Martino, et al. (2003) report that in a German national study of bullying, a total of 20 per cent of the sample reported conflicts with partners or family, with eight point one per cent eventually leading to a separation from their spouse. Research shows that all of these individual effects are dependent on various variables such as severity and duration of harassment, coping strategy of the victim, coping strategy of the organisation, characteristics of the victim (sensitivity, education and experience). These effects create many costs for the organisation.'

Poilpot-Rocaboy, G. (2006). Bullying in the Workplace: A Proposed Model for Understanding the Psychological Harassment Process, Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 14(2), 1-17.

Complete paper available online.
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Can somebody please forward the above to Sally Hunt?

Despair

Bullying happens because silent witnesses allow it to happen - they are some of the main perpetrators of this abuse... they creep around in silence watching the bully at work...like Andrew in my university... like Carol... like Elaine... like.... (pseudonyms)

Bullying happens because it is condoned by UCU...

Sally Hunt refuses to name workplace bullying yet she wants to lead a union whose members are bullied relentlessly as Petra Boynton and others discovered in 2005 - bullying is rife in universities...

...we saw a photograph of Sally in the Times Higher this week (16/3/07)- alone and sitting on a step- against the background of what?

...this is a picture of our leader...this is how she allows herself to be presented... turn over the page of your Times Higher ...look at Wendy Piatt - director-general of the Russell group of universities - 'the woman marshalling fire power for the intellectual battles ahead'... we need someone like this... where is she sitting... what image does this create... how do we read this picture...

...a shame that tackling work place bullying doesn't feature in Wendy's list of things that she wants to address...

Bullies are sad people - they bully because they know they can get away with it... we don't need to see photographs of these sad people on here...

...universites that tolerate bullying need help...

...people who bully need help...

...silent witnesses need....

Aphra Behn

Beware the workplace bully

'Many of us have been in the situation where we've been brimming with great ideas but are constantly thwarted by a boss who ignores us, is threatened by us, or uses our ideas without giving us credit.

This can be extremely frustrating - and worse - it could make us lose confidence and feel ineffective. But how do we get our bright ideas past a 'bad' boss? Management consultant and author of Workplace Bullying Andrea Needham, says what to do depends on what type of bad boss you have.

Needham says there are three types of bad bosses: The workplace bully. The incompetent boss. The boss who is driven by his or her ego.

The most common type of bad boss in New Zealand is the incompetent boss, Needham says. This is the person who has been promoted beyond his or her capability (often referred to as the Peter Principle). "More than 50 per cent of bad managers are not bullies - they're sad, scared people," she says. "This boss is terrified of the employee."

He or she doesn't want someone else to shine and when approached with an idea is likely to pretend to be interested but then do nothing about it. He may say: 'That's a great idea,' but the body language will say something else. This boss has probably been promoted through the old boy's network. It's someone who didn't make waves and new ideas are about making waves."He sends mixed messages. If you push him, he will retreat and treat you as if you don't know anything. There's no substance to this manager and he or she is very difficult to deal with," she says.

A boss with plenty of substance, but who is also difficult to deal with is the workplace bully. Needham explains that the workplace bully is a narcissistic psychopath who will encourage you to bring your ideas forward, but will never give you credit for them. "This boss will definitely encourage you to come up with ideas, and will bring them to life, and that's fine if you're prepared to get no credit for them," Needham says.

The bully also puts you down behind your back to try to discredit you - so no one would imagine that you would come up with any good ideas at all. "The bully is easier to recognise than the others. He will use your idea, take it forward and take responsibility for it. He's not afraid and if confronted will give you a half-dressed excuse."

But how to deal with these bosses - how do you get your ideas implemented and credited to you? Needham has one word: Network. "Networking is the key. This is establishing your own credibility and knowledge base. Get to know people in the organisation, trust your own instincts and present a nice, friendly way of doing things."

When the workplace bully puts you down behind your back, networking can be critical. "Build networks otherwise you're another face in the crowd. It helps you ensure you have credibility, no matter what your boss says about you. Your networks will start arguing for your ideas to go forward."

Needham says that when dealing with the incompetent boss it's a good idea to get other employees or bosses in the organisation to advocate on your behalf. "This is not about kissing up to people. It's about building good, solid realationships."

She recommends if, for example, you have a friend in a different department, you can ask him to fly your idea with his boss. This could eradicate the problem of your boss. "It's sensible to create strong networks in and outside of your organisation. If you feel you need to change jobs, you can use your outside sources to find out about a job you're applying for."

Having a good network is like having an extended family in a business sense, Needham says."Use them like they use you. Be interested in others. People with corresponding and opposite strengths can help you."

The third type of bad boss that Needham mentions is the one with the ego."This boss's ego is so big, he or she doesn't believe the minions will come up with anything interesting." This boss thinks he or she is superior to everyone else, but is often "not overly smart." The superiortity is usually self appointed. Sometimes it's good breeding that gives him or her that attitude, sometimes it's an highly-rated education.

"He thinks he's truly above the rest of us. His elitism is ingrained and he's both pompous and arrogant. He often has friends in high places and is most often condescending and patronising with his employees."

Needham says there's no real way past this boss. "Be prepared for a dull life. In this job you're simply funding your weekend. If you do what this boss wants, you'll get bones every now and then - he expects you to 'be good'." She says the only interest in staying with this boss is to observe human behaviour. If you want your ideas to fly, you have to find another job. Needham acknowledges that working for a bad boss can be debilitating for an employee. "You need to be self-aware and know your strengths. Market those strengths through networking. You're not skiting about yourself - if you don't believe in yourself and your strengths, no one else will."

An Auckland policy analysist (who doesn't want to be named) says he has experienced many bad bosses and divides those he's experienced into four.

* The egotistical, political, selfish ones: Pitch your ideas in terms of the benefits and kudos to the manager as much as in terms of the benefits to the organisation - accepting that they would later pass those ideas off as their own.

* The overworked manager (not necessarily a bad boss): Prepare yourself well and be primed to deliver the idea concisely and be out of the office in five minutes.

* The nasty, bullying ones: Set the scene by prefacing any meeting with a concise email outlining the core of the idea and covering all bases, and suggesting that you will talk later. Then prepare yourself to answer any awkward questions.

* The bosses that are not too smart: State the idea in the simplest possible terms.

"It's a great pity, but the truth is that often good people have to leave jobs that otherwise they would enjoy, simply because of poor management," he says, adding that people often don't think hard enough when making managerial appointments these days.'

By Val Leveson, from: nzherald.co.nz

What's the crime, Mr Wolf?

When bullies in the staffroom outnumber those in the playground, schools have to act fast. But many still deny there is a problem – especially when the bully is the headteacher or a senior manager. “Not enough employers are proactive about workplace bullying,” says Carole Spiers, founder of the Carole Spier’s Group, a stress management and well-being consultancy.

“They bury their heads in the sand and so the conspiracy of silence continues. The typical and easiest outcome is that the perpetrator stays put and the victim moves on. Then the bully’s reign of terror continues indefinitely.”

It is hard to measure the extent of workplace bullying in schools, partly because many victims keep it secret and partly because no single national organisation handles grievances. However, all the indicators point towards it becoming a dangerously prevalent trend.

Last year, 701 teachers contacted the Teacher Support Network about workplace bullying, discrimination or harassment from other adults. And research by the Ban Bullying at Work charity suggests one in five workers has been bullied in the past two years. Translated to schools, that equates to 100,000 bullied teachers.

The implications for teacher retention are colossal. Studies have consistently found that 25 per cent of those being bullied at work will quit – a further 20 per cent who witness bullying will also leave their jobs.

Samantha, a head of department from a secondary school in West Yorkshire, has left her job. “For a year I did not fully understand that I was being bullied,” she says. “When I did acknowledge it, it made me stressed. I was relatively new and had no one to talk with. The school had a polarised staff and it was hard to know who I could trust.”

After months of being repeatedly threatened with disciplinary procedures about a range of issues (including her absence following her partner’s death), being continually ignored by the head, having her workload increased despite pleas for support and being excluded from decisions that affected her, Samantha collapsed at school and was rushed to hospital.

Even then, the school rang her seven times in one hour the following day demanding she email in work. Just three weeks after her return, Samantha was experiencing severe headaches, panic attacks and neuralgia and was again rushed to hospital. She was signed off by her doctor and has now handed in her resignation.

The TES has spoken to several teachers who have had similar experiences. Many follow a familiar pattern. The victim is often unaware that they are being bullied, but then small incidents start to add up.

The bully may ignore victims, not consult them or become overtly critical. There are also frequent reports of ganging up and a sense of “them” turning against an increasingly isolated “you”. The inevitable result is a sense of disempowerment and decreasing self-esteem. Following a deterioration in mental and/or physical wellbeing, teachers attempt to talk to a non-bullying senior member of staff, who all too often tells them to “take no notice”. The next step is to turn to their union representative for help.

Fiona has been an Association of Teachers and Lecturers area representative for north-west greater London for almost nine years. She is supporting four teachers who are off work due to bullying-related stress, but is usually handling many more.

She says: “We know bullying is out there, but it can be difficult to identify and tackle. What may be unwarranted workplace bullying to one person is assertive management to another. In the majority of cases, the normal way out is for the victim to leave the school and perhaps the profession as well.”

By Hannah Frankel, Times Education Supplement, 15 March 2007