By Suzanne Lucas
Everyone knows that employees who are bullied at work are more likely to quit. But a new study from the University of British Columbia shows that it’s not only the victim who is likely to bail — the person’s coworkers are also likely to leave their jobs:
Witnessing or learning about these impacts of workplace bullying is likely to promote empathetic responses. Employees witnessing coworkers being bullied, or merely talking to them about their experiences, are pushed toward taking the targets’ perspective. Such perspective-taking leads one to experience cognitive or emotional empathy, which includes imagining how another feels… or actually sharing in another’s feelings.
These empathetic responses can contribute to the understanding that a significant moral violation has occurred and the recognition that the victim does not deserve his or her mistreatment. As a result of this moral uneasiness, bullying at large within a work unit will increase employee intentions to quit their work group
So when you have a bully in the office, it’s not just the target that feels uncomfortable — so do other employees, who often feel empathy for the person being pushed around and feel that the treatment is morally wrong. People also don’t like working for a boss who allows, encourages, or engages in immoral behavior.
What’s the impact of workplace bullying on your business or department? Managers and HR departments alike typically ignore bullying because it’s a difficult problem to solve. Bullies are often experts at manipulation, and they tend to choose their targets carefully. Managers may justify ignoring the situation by rationalizing that the victim is a poor employee. They also may hope that the bullied worker quits, rectifying the problem (which it doesn’t because the bully then often picks a new victim).
As the study makes clear, bullying on the job is a problem for the whole team and, by extension, the whole company. As a manager, the last thing you want is a team that feels like the company is tolerating unethical or immoral behavior. They cannot trust you if you allow this to continue. As a result, morale suffers and people quit.
Here’s what you can do to combat bullying in your group or unit:
1. Stop the denial. Nobody, even incompetent people, deserve to be treated unfairly or poorly. If you see that behavior going on, it’s not the fault of the victim. Don’t allow it to continue just because Jim isn’t that good at his job, anyway.
2. Confront the bully directly. If you witness an incident or are informed of one, call the alleged bully into your office and explain that her behavior is unacceptable. Make sure the bully is aware that you will not stand for such behavior — ever.
3. Put the bully on a performance improvement plan. Remember your kindergarten report card where there was a line for “plays well with others?” This is also a critical skill in the workplace. It’s a rare employee who cannot be replaced by someone who isn’t a jerk. If you have an employee who bullies others, that needs to be stopped or the bully needs to be fired.
4. Speak up. If you’re not the manager but a peer of the bully, then speak up whenever you witness bad behavior. Defend the victim, and be honest in your appraisal. You don’t have to be a tattletale, but be firm. “Holly, what you said about Jim is not true,” or, “That is an unfair statement” or, “Did I just hear you say that Jim messed up on that project? Can you please clarify that for me?”
Bullying is detrimental to any business. This study was conducted on nurses (where you think teamwork would be critical), but it’s easy to see the implications for any department. Ignoring bullying doesn’t make it go away, but it does make your other employees go away — even the ones who aren’t the victims. If you want to keep your valuable employees, stop the bullying.
Source: CBSNews.com
Related: Essential reading for anyone who is being bullied at work
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1 comment
Anonymous
July 17, 2012 at 8:58 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Companies diminish the abuse and turn to the target who by then is only a fraction of their former selves and begin a campaign of retaliation. They somehow consider the psychopathic harassers as strong. The truth is that they are grasping and willing to behave outside of all boundaries of civility, demean, humiliate, stalk and constantly menace regarding nothing really of how it makes them look to bystanders. These harassers are sick with fixation and seemingly will stop at nothing to finally diminish a very competent workers, someone who is regarded by many as being positive and of upstanding character. Someone with a clean working record void of any reprimands and someone who understands that healthy work environments can only thrive with mature professional and civil conduct. Thus this target has rules and boundaries of civility binding them from losing control.
The bully knows this. Knows that the target is has a level of class and is focused not on politics and only earnest work and character interactions. When the company has no ethics and most of them do not where harassment is concerned, the bully knows it and pulls out all stops to head off the target from reaching what the bully sees as the true potential. It is something fascinating to know of but a nightmare and life changing to experience. It is much akin to experiencing a rape or robbery in broad daylight in a fully crowded place with all watching and yet officials will say that nothing much really happened to you even when they know full well you have been abused and changed probably for life.
The damage of being targeted for abuse and thus downfall emotionally, physically and then financially and economically is foreseen…however, it can be limited or halted quickly if there is a recourse via law and action is taken immediately to restore the target’s damage. JUSTICE is the thing that restores and begins the healing. If the company is allowed to run right over the target and finish them off…targets are never the same.
There must be a law to compel these companies to provide safe and healthy workplaces for employees. Navigating a psychotic and sadistic stalker should not be left to the worker. WE WORK TO WORK, not fend of these psychos that someone hired.