EAP programs provide individuals with counseling, support and stress management solutions. Remind employees about your organization’s Employee Assistance Program and how to access these services.Many workers feel ashamed or embarrassed about being targets of workplace bullying and are afraid to report incidents. Foster a positive and supportive work culture so employees that have been bullied feel safe raising incidents with their supervisors or Human Resource specialists.This team could be internal-made up of employees and supervisors trained in conflict resolution-or could be a neutral third party, like professional workplace mediation consultants. Consider a workplace mediation team for incidents involving employees with a clear power imbalance (such as supervisors and those they supervise) to ensure all parties are treated fairly.Disciplining bullying by those you supervise.Identifying and responding to bullying by a coworker or supervisor.Resolving conflict in a respectful and productive manner.Maintaining a civil and pleasant work environment.Provide employee and management training programs on workplace aggression.Include a “zero-tolerance” policy toward aggressive behaviors.(To view a sample anti-bullying workplace policy, check out the Resources section below.).Include procedures for responding to and reporting bullying.Be clearly written and shared with all employees.Develop guidelines identifying acceptable company standards of conduct that defines bullying and the consequences.If the phrase “survival of the fittest” describes your company’s culture, it’s probably time to adopt a new approach. Don’t normalize bad behavior by dismissing it as “healthy aggression” or competitiveness between coworkers.Being dismissive and unsupportive only exacerbates the problem. Acknowledge that workplace bullying exists, is real, and is a problem.2 Rather than turning a blind eye, employers should adopt these strategies to effectively stop workplace bullying: 10,15,16,17 Despite its cost, employers can take action to stop workplace bullying. 14Įffective Ways to Eliminate Workplace Bullyingīullying is a manageable problem. Nearly 18 million work days are lost each year to workplace bullying.Workplace bullying costs businesses approximately $14,000 per employee in lost job performance.This results from lost productivity, employee turnover, healthcare insurance claims, worker’s compensation disputes, employee recruitment and retraining, and litigation. Bullying results in companies losing more than $250 million every year.These factors seriously impact a business’s bottom line in multiple ways. People who work in hostile environments are more likely to leave the company, be absent from work, and feel dissatisfied with their job. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.Individuals targeted for mistreatment at work can experience increased rates of: 8,9,10
![bullying on the job bullying on the job](https://www.cielhr.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/bullying.jpg)
Hostility at work is often a significant source of physical and emotional stress, leading to higher healthcare costs and absenteeism. Workplace bullying can harm a company's reputation, weaken employee morale, and strain finances.
![bullying on the job bullying on the job](http://mediationworks2.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/workplace_bullying23.jpg)
Cursing at, threatening, or humiliating others.Giving a coworker constant and unwarranted criticism.Intentionally sabotaging or undermining a coworker’s performance.Here are common examples of workplace bullying: 3 1,2 Perpetrators are usually male (70%) and in supervisory positions (61%), while 60% of targets are women. Between 15-19% of working adults are victims of workplace bullying. These acts often happen in person but also can occur through email, text messaging, and social media. Workplace bullying involves multiple, repeated, intentional acts of aggression, hostility, social isolation, or disrespect. More and more adults report experiencing mistreatment and hostility at work, turning into a costly problem for employers. Bullying used to be considered issue mostly impacting children.