by HSEI Training
Workplace bullying can come in all shapes and sizes, and frequently workers will claim bullying arising from repeated indirect behaviours, such as:
deliberately or maliciously overloading a person with work or not providing enough work
unreasonably setting timelines that are difficult to achieve or constantly changing deadlines
setting tasks that are unreasonably below or beyond a person’s skill level;
deliberately excluding, isolating or marginalising a person from normal work activities, e.g. excluding a worker from meetings or functions that everyone else attends
withholding information that is vital for effective work performance
deliberately denying access to information, consultation or resources
deliberately changing work arrangements such as rosters and leave to inconvenience a particular worker or workers, and
unfair treatment in relation to accessing workplace entitlements, e.g. leave or training
As well as creating a health and safety risk, these behaviours can result in costs to your business through:
increased absenteeism
reduced productivity
high staff turnover, and
legal ramifications
Legal ramifications can include:
penalties for breaching local health and safety legislation
claims under the Canadian Labour Code (Canada), Occupational Safety and Health Act (US) or the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (US), and
claims for workers’ compensation or negligence
A bullying situation may also breach other laws including anti-discrimination, anti-vilification and equal opportunity legislation.
How to determine if bullying is a problem
To help you identify whether bullying is a problem in your workplace, you should do the following:
Talk to your workers to find out if bullying is occurring or if there are unreasonable behaviours or situations likely to increase the risk of bullying. If your workers seem hesitant to talk, you can try using anonymous methods to obtain information, e.g. anonymous surveys or a suggestion box
Monitor patterns of absenteeism, sick leave, staff turnover, grievances, injury reports and other such records to establish any regular patterns or sudden unexplained changes that could indicate that there is a bullying problem in your workplace
Keep an eye out for any changes in relationships between workers, customers and managers
Seek feedback when workers leave the business by holding exit interviews
Seek feedback about workplace behaviours from managers and supervisors, or any other relevant parties
Consider ways to make reporting bullying easy for those who may not wish to discuss the situation with those connected with the business or who want to remain anonymous, e.g. using a whistleblower hotline service so that workers can report bullying to a party not associated with the business
Importantly, you should watch out for what may appear to be good-natured joking, or teasing of young, vulnerable workers, particularly if several people are involved
Interested in Knowing More?
For in-depth advice about workplace harassment, please contact one of our expert team today. https://www.hseigroup.com/contact.