The cost of workplace bullies

Managers need to take bullying complaints seriously. Picture / Getty Images

A respectful workplace is a workplace with effective and robust systems in place to tackle bullying or harassment whenever it may occur.

The effects of bullying on employees are well documented. It causes loss of confidence, anxiety, stress, fatigue, burnout and can trigger depression and other physical and mental afflictions. It's also been known to kill - already vulnerable individuals have been known to suicide in reaction to workplace bullying.

Bullying can be costly to an organisation as well.

Associate Head of the School of Management (Auckland), Massey University, Bevan Catley, says bullying doesn't only affect the direct target of bullying, witnesses report similar types of negative impact.

"Bullying isn't simply an interpersonal issue, it can, and typically does, impact on the whole work group and the broader organisation. It has this toxic ripple effect.

"And of course the witnesses and targets take the negative experiences they've had at work home with them, and you have to hypothesise that this has a negative impact on home life and relationships. The effects outside the workplace, I'd say, are real."

Catley explains the difference between bullying and harassment in the workplace. "Bullying is repeated - what gives it its destructive impact is its repeated nature. It's unreasonable, unwanted behaviour and is targeted at an individual or a small group.

"I see it as being like rust - you often don't know when it begins and it looks quite insignificant, but if you don't treat it over time it builds up and that's what does the damage. It will corrode - bullying is as corrosive to people as rust is to metal. If untreated, it will break people."

He says harassment is often a one-off event.

"It specifically targets an aspect of a person - colour of hair, eyes, gender, weight, race - it's not very subtle. You know you've been harassed. Personal bullying can look like harassment - but it also has a task-related dimension. It's designed to destroy your credibility as a competent member of staff. It's about being constantly criticised, having your mistakes constantly pointed out, being over monitored, having information withheld from you - those sorts of things.

"Bullying can be difficult to prove as a lot of these things are normal aspects of being in a workplace. Context is important, these things could look like a normal day at work - we've all been asked to do things below our competence and had information withheld from us, it's about the pattern and when it's designed to make you look incompetent."

He says another difference is harassment is unlawful, you have redress under the Employment Relations Act. "For bullying that's not the case - although you can make a complaint, it's not as straightforward. It's the outcome of bullying that becomes grounds for these cases going to court. A lot of these cases become personal grievances for unfair dismissal."

Often businesses don't consider the organisational costs of bullying. Catley says: "In terms of business activity, there's wasted time and resources that go into having to manage these issues. It may be about having to change people's schedules so people don't have to work with each other. When people are reporting these types of negative behaviours, they are impacting on their wellbeing, their productivity is certain to be suffering.

"And there's staff morale, motivation and turnover. If things start to escalate, then you have a potential for litigation costs, costs of buyouts and various other types of compensation - these are the direct costs."

He says there are big indirect costs too - for example to your reputation as an employer. "New Zealand is a small place and industries are small - so if an employer gets the reputation of tolerating bullying or being a not healthy place to work, that's going to have all sorts of indirect costs.

"It means the best people in your field are unlikely to want to work for you. It also affects the best people in your workplace - even if they're not being bullied but are aware of what's going on, why would they want to stay?"

So what should an organisation do if there are accusations of workplace bullying?

"A good place to go if you have gaps in your procedures and processes against bullying is WorkSafe's webpage," says Catley.

"They've got advice for employers about managing workplace bullying - there's information for those who run large institutions as well as guidelines for small businesses. They also have guidance tailored for employees."

He says, in terms of managing a complaint, firstly you need to take it seriously. "When we've looked at cases that have gone before the Employment Authority, we've seen employers haven't taken the complaint seriously. They've done no investigation or only a partial investigation and find themselves in difficulty.

"Next, follow your policy and processes. Where you do have policy and process to manage complaints, do it. We found one way in which business trip themselves up is when they say in their policy that they're going to do X and then don't or they do something completely different."

Catley says the other key thing is to support all parties. "Keep neutral, and keep an open mind. You need to make sure the interests of the person who is complained against are also protected. That goes for witnesses or third parties to a complaint as well because you need to ensure the interests of all parties are protected.

"Remember, witnesses are feeling vulnerable and no one is going to speak up if they perceive that the organisation is not going support them to do so or have them victimised. The last key thing is keep good records and communicate time frames and what's happening - keep people in the loop while maintaining confidentiality at all times."

One of the reasons the investigation must be done in a thorough way is that occasionally it's the bully who accuses the target of bullying. "Both parties of the complaint have to be able to explain their version of events."

Catley suggests there could be good reason to have an independent investigator looking into complaints, or a good, objective HR department. This is to ensure that bias doesn't become problematic where unreasonable behaviour or prejudice manifests in the way the company deals with the issue. "Where bias can be problematic is when it influences the way the investigation is done. It's important to have awareness of this to ensure the investigation is effective."