In praise of respect and dignity at work

Posted by Ross Arrowsmith on Friday, September 4th 2009 under Workplace Bullying

By Marilyn Noble & Judith MacIntosh, Telegraph-Journal

Imagine a world where everyone looked forward to going to work, and came home at the end of their day feeling good about how they had spent their time.

Work doesn’t just put food on the table. It’s central to our sense of identity, purpose and belonging.

The New Brunswick government has proclaimed Respectful Workplace Week, beginning on Labour Day.

We all want to be accepted and valued by the people with whom and for whom we work. We want to be treated with dignity and respect.

Yet many people dread their working hours because of demoralizing experiences that they face every day. For them, work has become a place where they are made to feel worthless, incompetent, ashamed, invisible, or unsafe. Over time, this eats away at a person’s sense of well-being, and can do untold damage in that person’s private life, as well.

Surely no one deserves that. And surely when we see it happen, we have a responsibility as witnesses to take action. If we don’t, then we become part of the problem. Instead, we can choose to lend the target our support. We can strategize with them. We can report what we have seen. And we can lobby our workplaces to develop training, policies and procedures to prevent and address such behaviour.

When bullying is allowed to go unchecked, the workplace can suffer damage, too. Productivity and creativity are among the first casualties. Lack of trust and low morale creep in. “Presenteeism” can enter the picture: people are at work but their minds are elsewhere. Missed opportunities, errors, accidents, and conflict often abound. Absenteeism, sick leave, stress leave and long-term disability claims are likely to increase. Word can leak out that this is an unhappy place to work, and both clients and prospective employees may look elsewhere.

In a disrespectful or abusive workplace, harassment and bullying can become common-place. If you object, you may be told, “Toughen up! That’s just the way it is here,” or “Don’t make trouble.”

It doesn’t have to be this way. The key is learning to recognize and deal with bullying in its early stages.

Physical safety in the workplace has long been recognized as an important right. Now we’re beginning to understand the importance of emotional and psychological safety, too.

When we hear the words “workplace bullying,” we usually picture an aggressive boss – one with an explosive temper, a habit of sarcasm or a mean streak. But anyone in the workplace can bully – frontline worker, customer, supervisor, union leader, member of the public or the media or elected official.

A wise organization will be clear about what kinds of workplace conduct it expects and the consequences for not respecting those standards.

If you’re being bullied at work, then you’re well advised to draw on trusted friends as a sounding board and reality check. They may be able to help you spot patterns or triggers. It’s also a good plan to keep careful and specific records of what is occurring, when, where and under what circumstances, and to make note of anyone who might have seen or heard what took place. These records should be kept in a safe place away from the work site.

If you’re in a unionized setting, you can turn to union representatives to clarify your options and to support you.

Some situations may warrant seeking legal advice. If other avenues have failed and if your complaint falls within their jurisdiction, you may want to contact WorkSafe New Brunswick, the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission, or the Office of the Ombudsman. Failing that, you may want to lobby for better policies and procedures to safeguard against bullying and harassment in the workplace.

If you’ve unsure whether what you’re encountering is workplace bullying, then consult a website, Towards a Respectful Workplace, launched a year ago by the University of New Brunswick’s research team on workplace bullying. Located at www.unbf.ca/towardarespecttulworkplace/, it offers plain-language advice to targets of workplace bullying, to their families, friends, and co-workers, and to managers, union reps, human resources personnel and others responsible for addressing bullying and harassment.

If something isn’t feeling right at work, don’t just endure it. Everyone has the right to be treated with respect and dignity at work.

Marilyn Noble and Judith MacIntosh are Co-Chairs of the UNB Research Team on Workplace Bullying.