BULLIES ARE BAD FOR BUSINESS!

A workplace bully negatively affects everyone. Workplace Bullies are always bad for business. The workplace bully is around because the company condones and rewards him or her. According to Sarah Tracy, director of the Project for Wellness and Work-Life at Arizona State University, "There are a number of workplace cultures that encourage bullying because of high levels of competition." However, that's not the only reason for workplace bullying. It's also a pretext for all types of workplace discrimination. Hello, I’m Yancey with vivid memories of Darrell towering over us in the fourth grade! He would line us up every morning and take our lunch money.

I remember going home and crying to my mother about it thinking I was going get empathy. She "cleaned my clock" and said "Don’t you let that boy take your lunch money. I’ll call your teacher to make sure". Now I was in a real jam. I had to decide who I was most afraid of Darrell or mom. Well the next morning I stood my ground, fought and got beat up, but kept my lunch money. After that I never had any more problems with Darrell. Standing up to bullies in the workplace can be just as frightening for some bully victims. Bullying on the job can take many forms. These can include…

psychological abuse
physical abuse
emotional abuse
verbal and non verbal abuse

The bully may attempt to manipulate or destroy the victims work product. According to Wikipedia, workplace bullying, “is the tendency of individuals or groups to use persistent aggressive or unreasonable behavior against a co-worker”. I would have to expand on that definition because I have personally witnessed employees bullying other employees, customers, vendors, visitors and other interested parties as well! I have also several individuals attempt to bully me on the job. Bullies unfortunately, are a part of society in general. A lot of times office bullies use or pervert their power in the workplace. The bully tactics include 
degrading, humiliating, insulting, affronting and intimidating the “target” of their abuse.

Many times this behavior is done in front of witnesses designed to destroys an individuals self esteem. In a bullying workplace trust is nonexistent especially when management allows or approves it. When employees or supervisors are aware of workplace bullying and do nothing to correct it they share in the negative consequences. Witnesses should be empowered to report such behavior and organizations must punish the “bully”. Unfortunately, the office bully is often the supervisor or manager. When there is an environment of distrust in the workplace, employees may not be willing to do their best and moral will be low. Studies show about a third of American workers have been exposed to workplace bullies!

My first day in local government as an IT (information technology) professional was a dazzling display of workplace bullying. The supervisor after my orientation made this statement. “_____ is going to be training you. He’s upset because I got this job and he didn’t.” I thought that was a very curious statement for him to make. He then told me to go take a seat in the work area with this individual to start my training. From that point on for fully nine months I was exposed to behaviors like this. “Excuse me __________, what does this system message mean?” The individual sitting four feet from me ignored me as if I didn’t exist.

A female co-worker said, “He does that to me all the time.” Have you told the supervisor about this, I asked. She said the supervisor was aware of it. The female coworker had been employed there about three months before I got there. The department bully did everything he could to hinder our training and development. When the female co-worker and I would in essence train ourselves the bully would make loud comments to make us look stupid or incompetent. When asked about a specific job task he yelled, “That’s really complicated computer stuff, you wouldn’t understand it!” The bully, a white male made that statement to a person of a different ethnicity. Now the bully had crossed over into ethnic harassment territory. Again when management was given notice it did nothing to correct the situation.

I was thoroughly mystified at the blatant level of arrogant indifference management displayed in response to this employee. I was to learn later, the employee had a history of bullying individuals in and outside the department. These included other employees, managers, vendors, sales people and elected officials. Remember, I’m talking about the local government of a mid-sized U.S. city! Never in my previous thirty plus years in the American workplace have I ever experienced and witnessed a greater example of what a bully in the workplace looks like! According to some researchers the following are most common tactics used by bullies in the workplace...

falsely accusing the target(s) of workplace mistakes
the silent treatment
yell at the target(s) with the intent to intimidate
make insults based on race, gender, disability, national origin,etc.
characterize the target as incompetent or unintelligent
trivialize the target(s) work product
demean the target(s) in front of others

The bully in my former workplace has displayed all of these tactics and more!

Bullies come in all shapes and sizes in the workplace. In my opinion the greater the insecurity the greater the need for control. "workplace terrorists", my name for them, are all about control. They come in four basic types:

yellers - This kind of bully has to always talk over or down to the target(s).

blockers - This type is great for slamming or trying to destroy the good work product of the target. He or she will also seek to undermine the reputation of the target as well.

backstabbers - This classic office bully works in the shadows spreading ugly rumors, gossip and setting up traps against the target.

nitpickers -  This bully loves to find fault with everything the target does no matter how trivial. This type of bully will have negative criticism with any ideas the target suggests.

There are consequences for organizations fostering a culture of workplace bullying. Several studies reveal that job bullying resulting in psychological, physical and emotional abuse happens in all types of companies and organizations. Employees who are targets of intense bullying can develop…

high levels of stress disorder
insomnia
strokes
migraine headaches
suicidal tendencies
low self esteem
depression
heightened risk of heart disease

A national poll conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute says 37 percent or 54 million American employees have or are being bullied in their employment. “Anything that affects 37 percent of the public is an epidemic. But, it’s a silent epidemic” according to Gary Namie Director of the Workplace Bullying Institute. Suzy Fox of Loyola of Chicago’s Institute of Human Resources and Employment Relations states, “since there aren’t laws to enforce anti-bullying workplaces, businesses should develop organizational policies that strictly outline behavior that is not acceptable in the office.” Fox further states, workplaces are “very similar to where we were with sexual harassment 15 years ago before there policies…and court decisions.”

Workplace bullying can also manifest into what's called "mobbing".  This form of bullying at work involves being bullied by two more people per attack. Employees who are subjected to witnessing a bully in action against a co-worker have increased levels of stress and low morale. Since there are no federal laws against workplace bullying many companies do little or nothing about. But, like sexual harassment handling bullies is getting more attention because it’s proving to be bad for business. Because there are no laws in place, there is no clear definition of what workplace bullying is. That means it can be hard to distinguish from other behaviors such as retaliation, sexual and racial harassment.

Harassment by definition is offensive or unwelcome conduct that adversely affects an individual’s condition of employment. Harassment is linked to individuals in a protected classes such as…

race (ethnicity)

national origin

gender

disability

religion

In my opinion, the lines are blurred in the absence of a legally defined law concerning bullying in the workplace. I have witnessed and experienced individuals on the job who have exhibited various forms of harassment.  How can harassment and hostility be directed toward any individual in the workplace and not also meet the standard for being a bully? Up to this point the federal government has no job bully laws. Businesses and organizations don’t have uninform policies to prevent and punish it. According to Wikipedia the U.S. has yet to pass comprehensive workplace bullying legislation nor has any state government. Legislatures in 29 states have introduced workplace anti-bullying bills in recent years, according to the Healthy Workplace Campaign.

Companies that have an environment encouraging bullying as an accepted business practice become corporate or institutional bullying. Some experts believe the constant growth of the economy over the last 20 years is partly to blame. Employers promoted individuals into management positions who were not qualified with no interpersonal skills or training because these jobs were hard to fill. Businesses that encourage bully bosses have high employee absenteeism and turnover. Research also shows increased levels of stress and sick leave taken. Who can blame them? There have been many instances when I didn’t want to go to work because of the bully in my workplace. I never allowed the individual to  intimidate me, however the workplace had a poisonous negative atmosphere that was nurtured and condoned by management. A bully boss is usually very aggressive and may use intimidating tactics such as…

temper tantrums
rant and rave
fire employees at the drop of a hat
violent physical attacks
throw objects
unjustified reprimands
negative evaluations or performance reviews

Many of these individuals are the owners and CEO’s of the business. That is why many of them stay around. Bully bosses will be friendly to the target in the beginning. However, once they have "figured out" the targets weaknesses then the attacks begin. The bully boss will influence co-workers against the target and find fault with everything the employee does. Co-workers the bully boss recruits start feeling empathy for the bully against the employee being bullied. That’s when it becomes “mobbing”. Targets of bullying or mobbing are typically employees who are an asset to the company. They usually have great attendance and do good work. That’s why it’s such a traumatic experience for them. The target has no idea why he/she is being attacked. The office bully is usually jealous, less qualified and insecure. Studies show that targets of bullying leave the company on average in about two years either by illness, quitting, "going off", being fired or suicide. 

Workplace bullying is not good business. Distinguishing a bully boss from tough high expectation managers is not easy. A tough boss has the intent of motivating the employee for top performance with appreciation. The bully boss seeks to methodically undermine, teardown, wear down and run off the target employee(s) thru exlpoitation. Why would any credible business or organization allow this? How To Handle Workplace Bullies? Since workplace bullying is not yet illegal, employees who are targets don’t have much protection. However, there are some things you can do. 

Learn more about it

Understand the bully wants to control you

Inform management (if bully boss go over his/her head)

Stay calm

Promote your good work

Other ways you can stand up to bullies involve keeping good records detailing the pattern of bullying. This includes names, dates, times, places, what was done and said, witnesses, etc. Try to get the bully to create a paper trail for you such as text messages, emails, social media, company memos, job evaluations, etc. Keep all documentation from the bully that you can use to prove accusations against you are false. If possible anytime you have contact with the bully try to make sure someone is around as a witness. Remember you are not the source of the problem the bully is. Take a few days off from work to help you stay calm and keep things in perspective.

You always have the option of seeking other employment as well. Some experts promote this as the best option. However, I disagree with the notion that running from job to job will get you away from the workplace bully. In my opinion all that does is give the work bully more power. Besides, you will more than likely just exchange one bully for another. It also creates an environment for employees to become victims of workplace violence. Raising awareness and making a stand are the most effective ways to discourage it. You always have the option of seeking legal guidance until laws are put in place to protect employees having to deal with the bully. What Every Target of Bullied at Work Needs to Know...LEARN MORE! https://apptrafficly.com/bullies-are-bad-for-business