Opinion: Workplace bullying must be tackled

By Carlo Caponecchia

The reported suicide of a woman ambulance worker (Sydney Morning Herald,9 July 2008) after being bullied at work is, sadly, only the latest in a string of disturbing reports on the escalation of workplace bullying in Australia.

We're not alone in this: the 2008 international conference on workplace bullying in Montreal heard that it can occur in all industrial sectors across the world. Recent reports from NSW alone reveal bullying at all levels in the workplace, with cases involving nurses, public servants and even high-profile professionals and executives featuring in the news. 

Bullying may be happening in your workplace, but you may not know it. Many people feel humiliated about reporting it, don't know who to report it to, or don't think anything will be done.

To make things more complex, bullying often occurs in tandem with its cousins, harassment and violence. Harassment can be a single instance of offensive or humiliating behaviour, relevant to some characteristic of the individual, such as race or sex. Bullying, by contrast, is the repeated use of unreasonable behaviour, including things such as spreading malicious gossip, physical and social isolation of the target, undermining them, making undue public criticism and claiming others' work as one's own - to name just a few. It is done over time and frequently in subtle ways. Often, there is no proof and there are no witnesses.

Workplace bullying is a health and safety issue, and needs to be recognised as such. Occupational health and safety is not just about protecting workers from disease, but ensuring their well-being at work. Doing so is also in the best interest of the employer. The costs of prolonged litigation, should it get to that point, are extreme.

But it shouldn't just be about the fear of litigation. Bullied and harassed workers cannot perform at their best: absenteeism and turnover go up, satisfaction and commitment go down. For the target, bullying means anxiety, fear, depression and can lead to suicide.

Bullying and harassment, as activities that cause stress, firmly fit under the umbrella of hazards that need to be managed by organisations.

But the message is not getting through to employers: failing to adequately tackle workplace bullying means significantly greater costs for organisations through the workers compensation process, increased premiums, and damage to reputation. Stress claims in Australia account for only 7% of the total number of compensation claims but 27% of the total cost.

Government organisations that administrate workplace safety legislation, however, have begun to recognise bullying as an important issue. Hopefully, the Federal Government's plans to harmonise OHS legislation across the States will firmly and specifically address workplace bullying as an issue that affects many Australian workers and their families.

Meanwhile, solving workplace bullying is not just about weeding out the "bullies". Anyone is capable of using bullying behaviour and unfortunately some workplace cultures promote it. The person displaying bullying behaviour needs to be seen in the context of their organisation and the demands placed on them: competitiveness and increasing pressures on workers concerning working hours, deadlines and performance all have an impact.

This is not to shift all the blame onto organisations - but to highlight that we need to avoid always vilifying the "bully".

A balanced solution would involve strategies to make organisations resilient to bullying behaviour, rather than just busting the "bully" or attempting to rehabilitate the target. Post-crisis intervention - the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff - is not good enough when there are ample signs that bullying is likely to occur.

Similarly, preventing workplace bullying is not just about policy. Zero-tolerance policies are just window-dressing unless they are backed up with a genuine commitment to prevent problems them from occurring as well as to fix them when they occur.

That commitment needs to be communicated. At the very least, responsible organisations should be investing in training on bullying awareness and in developing innovative strategies to enable appropriate reporting.

Individuals who think they are being bullied should seek information, document the behaviour, and seek internal advice through their human resources or health and safety representatives.

Collectively, we all have a responsibility to raise awareness of this issue and make sure it is not ignored. Bullying can happen to anyone, regardless of race, gender or other personal characteristics. We must start seeing it as equally offensive as sexual harassment and discrimination. And then we have to challenge our employers, our governments, and our workmates to help build a solid fence at the top of the cliff.

Dr Carlo Caponecchia is a Lecturer in the School of Risk and Safety Sciences at the University of New South Wales.

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