Resolving Conflicts Now – Fort Myers, Naples, Bonita Springs, Estero, Cape Coral – Keith Grossman

Posted By admin on November 5th

What is conflict bullying in the workplace, and what should the employer do?

It is recommended that employers consider adopting a policy that encourages employees to report workplace bullying to human resources and conducting an investigation following such complaints. Besides being a good business policy, anti-bullying policies help promote a culture of civility.

According to a survey from the Society for Human Resource Management, 56 percent of companies have some form of anti-bullying policy that is commonly mentioned in an employee handbook or code of conduct. Responses to workplace bullying include firing, suspension or anger-management training. An anti-bullying policy, which might be added to a larger anti-harassment policy, should define bullying, provide examples of such behavior and communicate a reporting procedure.

But how do you define bullying?

The Healthy Workplace Campaign describes workplace bullying as repeated health-harming mistreatment that takes one or more of the following forms:

• Verbal abuse.
• Offensive behaviors that are threatening, humiliating or intimidating.
• Work interference or sabotage that prevents work from getting done.

Employers say the vast majority of bullying incidents are verbal abuse, such as shouting, swearing and name-calling, along with malicious gossip, rumors and lies. Bullying through technology, such as Facebook or other social media, accounted for about 1 in 5 incidents, a survey found.

Examples of workplace bullying:

• Falsely accusing someone of errors the person didn’t actually make.
• Hostile staring or nonverbal intimidation.
• Unjustly discounting the person’s thoughts or feelings in front of others.
• Using the “silent treatment.”
• Making up rules for specific people.
• Disregarding and discrediting satisfactory work despite evidence.
• Harshly and constantly criticizing the person.
• Starting, or failing to stop, destructive rumors or gossip about the person.
• Encouraging people to turn against the person being tormented.
• Singling out and isolating one person from other co-workers, either socially or physically.
• Publicly directing gross and undignified behavior at the victim.
• Yelling, screaming or throwing tantrums in front of others to humiliate someone.
• The withholding of resources (time, supplies, support, equipment) necessary for the targeted individual to succeed
• Threats of job loss
• Stealing credit

Are you or someone you know experiencing bullying in the workplace? Would you like to talk about it? Call me toll free at (877) 687-1392 or locally at (239) 210-7516. Your initial consultation is free!

Categories: Conflict Management, Workplace
Tags: anti-bullying, bullying, business, conflicts at work, dealing with conflict, how do you resolve conflict, Violence, workplace bullying