Four proactive steps to bully-proof your workplace

Turn on the evening news virtually any night and it seems the issue of bullying — whether in the school yard or the workplace — is front and centre in the public realm.

Explaining the underlying social causes behind this phenomenon is perhaps a job better suited to sociologists, but it’s safe to say that in the workplace, at least, there are some key causal factors behind bullying’s emergence as a major challenge for executives and HR practitioners. We should begin by noting that perception plays a huge role — greater recognition and an evolution of workplace legislation have brought an already pervasive issue to the forefront like never before. Bullying has gone on forever, but we’re only now beginning to assess its impact on everything from workplace culture to profitability.

It’s not surprising workplace bullying continues to be a hot-button HR issue with the emergence of legislation crafted to protect employees. Similar to their schoolyard counterparts, adult bullies subject their targets to unjustified criticism and look for trivial faults upon which they can capitalize. They have an inherent need for control and work hard to humiliate, ignore, overrule and isolate their targets, which emerge at all levels and in all industries. Leaders are not immune to their attacks, as bullies often target their superiors. Bullying bosses are also in ample supply across Canadian workplaces, typically setting up staff by burdening them with unrealistic job performance goals or deadlines, then all-too-often denying information or resources they need to succeed.

As employees gain an increasing understanding of their rights, beginning with the right not to be intimidated or harassed in the workplace, bullying is now on the radar of more employers and HR professionals. The good news: organizations across industries are working harder than ever to nurture workplace environments where employees can do their jobs without risk of harassment or intimidation.

The reasons aren’t simply altruistic, of course. There’s a clear, quantifiable business case for curbing bullying before it threatens to overwhelm and poison a workplace. Studies — both anecdotal and empirical — have proven bullies waste time at work, spur productivity and efficiency losses, boost absenteeism, drive increases in employee turnover, and force increases in benefit costs due to stress-related illnesses and leaves of absence. A recent study by the Canada Safety Council found bullied employees waste between 10 and 52 per cent of their time at work doing everything from networking for support to trying to overcome bully-laid obstacles that prevent them from doing their job.

Negative impact on business

Business owners are also starting to take bullying seriously because of the potential impact to their bottom line. Workplace bullying can lead to an increase in customer complaints, missed deadlines and decreased competitiveness. The impact is impossible for an executive or HR professional to ignore.

That’s not even factoring the impact on workplace culture. It’s no secret bullies tend to kill engagement across a workplace by targeting capable, dedicated employees who are well-liked by their co-workers, then working to undermine their ability to work effectively and in turn making it difficult for them to remain engaged on the job. Even worse than a single bully at work are multiple bullies who can poison an entire work environment by creating fear, anger, depression and desperation.

In extreme cases, a violent incident may result. Just such a scenario took place in the offices of Ottawa-based OC Transpo in April 1999. A former employee went on a shooting rampage that left four of his peers dead before taking his own life. A subsequent investigation discovered the former employee had been a victim of workplace harassment. Although an extreme — and thankfully rare — example, the OC Transpo case highlights the potential havoc bullying can cause in a workplace.

Which brings us back to the question why bullying emerges in the first place.

One of the key factors behind workplace bullying is competition, which may be a little counterintuitive. A little competition is a good thing, right? It is, but not when an entire workplace is constructed — often inadvertently — in a way that pits employees against each other in a drive for advancement or, in some cases, to simply meet expectations. These workplaces allow, and even encourage, the emergence of clear winners and losers. This sort of workplace culture zero-sum game tends to breed head-to-head battles and the emergence of workplace cliques — not to mention the kind of employees who feel they need to tear each other down for a chance to climb up the corporate ladder. Unhealthy competition can, in other words, breed toxic workplace environments rife with bullying.

Struggling businesses are another ripe breeding ground for bullies. Cash-strapped businesses with limited budgets and a scarcity of resources often foster cultures where employees are pitted against each other for control of those limited resources. So, too, are workplaces with lacklustre leadership. Where leadership is weak or complicit, the ability to build collaborative, respectful, and dignified workplaces becomes hindered. In many cases, bullying isn’t discouraged, so it flourishes. Lastly, bullying sometimes occurs because it’s simply part of a workplace’s well-established culture. In organizations where people turn a blind eye to seeing colleagues harshly criticized, made fun of or yelled at, be on the receiving end of offensive language, or intentionally setting colleagues up for failure, bullying is just part of a day at the office.

It needn’t be. Workplace bullying can be curbed, but it takes a determined effort on the part of management and employees to define the type of workplace culture they want to build and maintain, followed by the implementation of proactive HR policies designed to enact and enforce real change. It’s not a simple process, but it can produce dramatic business results and create the kind of workplace that attracts, engages, and retains employees and managers in remarkable ways.

Here are four tactics to help bully-proof a workplace once and for all:

Create and enforce anti-bullying policies and programs. Your organization can leverage applicable provincial legislation — such as Ontario’s Bill 168, the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment Act (Violence and Harassment in the Workplace) — to build out an effective anti-bullying program. Bill 168 defines workplace harassment as “Engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is known or ought reasonable to be known to be unwelcome.” This provides a good starting point to define what bullying means in your workplace before designing HR policies and programs to support the initiative. Remember to ensure the policy is clear in mentioning workplace bullying as a component of harassment.

An effective anti-bullying policy should include:

•A zero-tolerance commitment statement from the organization’s leadership team
•Clauses outlining the policy’s applicability to management, employees, clients and other third-party vendors
•A clear definition of workplace bullying and examples of unacceptable behaviour
•A clear process for employees to follow when reporting incidents
•A clear outline of your organization’s workplace investigation process
•An outline of steps the organization will follow to take corrective action when a bullying incident is confirmed
•A commitment to confidentiality and discretion
•A no-reprisal and non-retaliation statement.

Build a positive and collaborative culture. This means putting an end to office gossip and rumour mill-mongering, all of which breeds exclusionary behaviour. It also means creating an environment where differing perspectives are valued, where people can speak their minds without fear of being teased or criticized. A positive workplace atmosphere is one where creative energies and innovative minds are allowed to develop and grow and where collaboration happens organically because everyone is working towards a common goal. In this sort of workplace, employees aren’t pitted against one another, but are driven to compete as a team with a laser sharp focus on ensuring the success of their organization. Building this type of culture isn’t simply about creating policy; it requires a strong recruitment and candidate screening process, strong leadership, and supportive teams. A strong culture will grow organically, but only after a solid foundation has been laid to help foster its development.

Train and educate managers and staff. This is a crucial step many organizations fail to take. Anti-bullying training should start with the executive team, then be allowed to trickle down through the organization using a blended-learning approach that allows employees to recognize and help eliminate bullying before it can spread. That involves assigning accountability and creating a foundational learning process based on case studies where employees have the opportunity to walk through a bullying scenario and how they would manage the incident as a team. Have employees spread across the globe or work virtually? Not a problem. Training should be experiential and can be carried out on-line, through in-class facilitation, or a combination of both using pre- and post-work to aid in transferring and sustaining learning. Training sessions also provide a great opportunity to review policy and ensure organization-wide alignment and buy-in.

Build awareness and take a stand against bullying. Ensure management and HR stage activities throughout the year and take the time to speak out against bullying in the workplace, then build the expectation employees will be held accountable and should work together to stand up to bullying when they see it.