UK: Beating the bulliesfrom The Press and Journal 1 The newspapers have recently been full of reports about the latest line-up change for popstars The Sugababes. The group have experienced a factory line of members since their first single Overload hit the charts in 2000. So when Keisha Buchanan, the last original member, was unceremoniously booted from the band, rumours quickly spread as to why she had been replaced by new girl Jade Ewan. Among the gossip came rumours of bullying in the group, which still includes remaining members Heidi Range and Amelle Berrabah. If you think bullying is something which is left behind in the school playground, think again. In 2008, The Andrea Adams Trust carried out an online survey where 10,000 participants were questioned about bullying. The results were shocking. The survey found that 92% of workers feel they are currently being bullied and of those, 49% indicated that their immediate manager was the bully. Furthermore, 57% of respondents stated that bullying is “a very serious problem” in their workplace. The TUC (Trade Union Congress) followed this up with more evidence. When carrying out their biennial TUC safety representatives’ survey, bullying seemed to be an issue which weighed heavily on employees’ minds. In fact, bullying accounted for 20% of worries for employees. Yet if it is so prevalent, why is it we don’t often hear about it? American Dr Gary Namie, co-author of The Bully At Work, suggests: “Often people don’t even realise they are being bullied. What happens is the person who is the victim is someone who usually has a strong work ethic and a great deal of pride and has never been assaulted like this before. “They can’t believe that what is happening to them is real. So they start to believe that what is happening to them is something they think they probably caused. And that’s what makes a target a target, they turn towards self blame instead of blaming the bully.” Dr Namie’s wife Ruth, who wrote the book with her husband, doesn’t just have an academic knowledge of bullying, but practical too. “In the US, 37% of adult Americans have been directly bullied and at any one time, approximately 13% are being bullied,” says Dr Namie. “My wife took four months to tell me she was being bullied. She didn’t want to admit what was happening to her at work because of the shame.” So why do people feel embarrassed? “Even though you haven’t done anything wrong, because the goal of bullying is humiliation and shame, the people targeted also feel guilt. Then it’s likely they’ll fail to act because they aren’t sure it’s wrong. If you were sexually harassed you wouldn’t have that concern, you would recognise it’s illegal and you’d go to human resources and they’d have to help you, but people aren’t sure where they stand with bullying”, Dr Namie explains. While there aren’t any direct bullying laws, there are other legal rulings which all employers have a responsibility to adhere to. The TUC says: “Employers have a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees. If they do not do this they are breaching an individual’s contract of employment. It may also be a breach of sexual harassment and racial discrimination legislation as well as the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Employers and/or the bully may find themselves facing fines, compensation and possibly a jail sentence.” If you think you’re suffering with bullying, it’s important to take action not only for the sake of your career, but also your health. “It’s often the doctor who catches the signs of bullying first because one physical sign is high blood pressure,” Dr Namie explains. “Your family might detect it before you do too because you’ll not notice how much you’re changing because you’ll be immersed in the situation. There are obviously physical symptoms like if you throw up the night before the start of the working week. However, psychological symptoms can be just as worrying. Spot the warning sign where you find yourself constantly obsessed about the details of the bully and it follows you home.” According to Dr Namie, there are other symptoms and signs to look out for: “You find yourself using your time off for mental health breaks and your weekends are lost by just going home to bed because you’re so exhausted and feeling lifeless. “At work nothing you do is good enough, you jump higher to try to please the person. They tell you you’re totally incompetent but you’re a 20-year veteran. Often co-workers will ostracise you. “It’s important to realise though that everything the bully does has everything to do with their personal control over your life and nothing to do with work,” Dr Namie adds. So, what can you do if you feel you are suffering at the hands of a bully? The TUC suggest that if you are a member of a union, you air your grievances to them, and in addition, keep a diary of the bullying so you’ve got examples to back up your claim. Dr Namie also suggests: “Firstly you need to recognise the symptoms and name it... Saying out loud ‘this is down to a bully and it’s nothing to do with me’ externalises the problem. “Then enlist the support of co-workers; they have probably been too fearful to act, so what you want to do is make it safe for them to still be your friend and to help you. “Stop coming out of closed-door meetings never telling people what happened. Instead, come away from the bullying encounters and tell your colleagues what the bully did. The silence is what sustains the bullying and protects the inaction of the colleagues. So get talking and ask people, ‘have you had this happen to you too?’ You’ll find that most of them did or they have seen it. The group can then strategise about how to stop the bully. “The group has the power to ostracise the bully,” Dr Namie continues. “In a usual work place the bully stays and you have tremendous turnover. “The group then needs to try and confront the bully with group strength, but use peer pressure when the bully shows negative conduct and misbehaves – they have to start frowning and walking away and showing disgust and contempt.” Dr Namie suggests you build a business case and take it to the highest level person at work you can – make sure it’s not someone who is related or a friend to the bully, or of course the person who actually employed the bully. “Show how there has been increased turnover of staff, how there’s more absenteeism and, in extreme situations, how there have been law suits from employees against the business. Show there is a whole trail of negative consequences to the employer so management can see the one person who’s involved with all of these incidents is this one single bully.” However, Dr Namie does have some final advice if it’s a small, family-owned business. “Get out of there as soon as you can, as there will be no safety for you there. For your own health it’s worth looking elsewhere.” The Bully At Work by Dr Gary Namie and Dr Ruth Namie is available to buy now from amazon.co.uk and is published by Sourcebooks.  [ad#post-1] |
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