Bullying at work - we are all responsible

Can we stop bullying at work?

Friday was Stop Bullying at Work day in the UK, and I attended (and spoke at) a conference at our local healthcare NHS Trust.

One of the definitions of bullying at work is 'repeated less favourable treatment of an individual by one or more people in the workplace', and it was helpful to discuss this definition with staff. There was a comment, for example, that a ‘one-off’ situation can be so extremely upsetting that it stays with you for months. I acknowledged this but we then discussed the view that the person doing the upsetting was like this with everyone else, and therefore the bullying could be classed as repetitive. The atmosphere that this behaviour creates means that the individual who experienced a ‘one off’ knows that this is likely to re-occur.

These definitions are important for two reasons. Firstly, because the word bullying can be misused, sometimes on purpose to cause problems, and this in itself creates a bad atmosphere. We need to have a shared definition to allow us to talk about the problem and ensure we are discussing the same thing – again bad feelings can result if we are talking at cross-purposes. Secondly, because if bullying gets very bad, the legal eagles will get involved, and they will need to be sure that they can give evidence of bullying as it is legally defined.

We then talked about the problems that bullying creates for the individuals involved, including those watching. Although the business case tends to focus on poor performance and loss of productivity due to illness and turnover, I do believe that the moral case should be of prime importance. Employers are in my view morally obliged to ensure that staff can work in safe environments – ideally people should enjoy their work but I realise this is not always possible, but at least they should feel they are supported to be as productive as possible.

In the health sector most people are involved in the work because they want to make a difference and help other people – to try to do this in an atmosphere of fear and/or anxiety is against all the values we stand for. Of course, patients also bully staff, and that is also the responsibility of the employer to sort.

People who experience bullying from any source experience anxiety, irritability, depression, poor concentration, and a loss of self confidence. More serious physical and behavioural symptoms caused by stress include panic attacks, aggression, increased drug consumption and eventually for some attempts to commit suicide. Those who can leave their job, for those who cannot, it is a nightmare.

We all have a responsibility to stop bullying. Watching something going on without saying something (either through a conspiracy of silence or because one believes ‘that is how it is around here’) suits the bully and sometimes the organisation (although it is a very short-sighted view). Bullies can actually be worse off themselves if allowed to get away with it, as by the time it does get reported it can be so serious they will be taken to court, lose their jobs and so on. The cost to the organisation is multi-faceted, not just financial but reputation and staff morale.

There are many reasons why bullying happens. We have moved from the focus on the bully themselves (bad behaviour/personality) and the victim (must be doing something or be that type of person that gets picked on), to understanding the systems and cultures that allow or even encourage bullying to take place. Although bullying can be due to individual differences, discrimination, and power struggles, it is usually supported by systems and procedures. Overwork, organisational change, poor communication, and a culture of silence or ‘bullying is just getting things done’, can all increase the risk of bullying. Discrimination and prejudice can also make things worse, though there are often situations too where white middle class male bullies white middle class male – we all differ in so many ways it is best not to oversimplify! Organisations need to do more to ensure that procedures are robust, staff know what to do, feel safe reporting bullying, and understand that it is unacceptable. At the same time training should be done to ensure staff and managers understand what bullying is (versus being told to do your job), and how to manage conflict to stop the problem before it escalates. Diversity training can often help if issues are down to poor understanding of difference. Writing down incidents can give people a bit of a sense of control back to the situation, and can be used as evidence if things do escalate. However, the real key is to try to be open and explain when things are done that upset you, as often bullying is done in ignorance. If a bully is doing it on purpose, particularly when it is your manager or a group of co-workers (mobbing) then it gets very difficult to tell them the problem. That is when a listening ear (plus a formal procedure for raising issues) can be so very helpful.

Bullying at work is a sad fact of life for some people, but it is not inevitable and we should all take responsibility for reducing the level of bullying that goes on. As that famous saying goes ‘bad things happen when good people stand by and do nothing’.

So if you see bullying, experience bullying, or even wonder yourself whether you may be bullying – don’t just stand there – stop it!