Bevan Catley and David Tappin: Are new workplace bullying guidelines enough?

The issues of cyber bullying and bullying in schools get a lot of attention, but bullying in the workplace flies under the radar. Photo / Thinkstock

Last year's Pike River Royal Commission and double-digit deaths in the forestry industry have focused all our minds on health and safety issues. For completely understandable reasons, the attention has been on fatalities and the appalling workplace safety records of some industries.

But it's important not to forget the 'health' in health and safety. Psychosocial issues, like workplace bullying, do not generally receive the attention they deserve. They can be extremely complex, as seen in this week's coronial inquest into the death of a science educator at Waikato Museum.

That's why it's pleasing that the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) released new workplace bullying guidelines earlier this year. The guidelines came after a long period of gestation and represent a first, positive step towards recognising bullying for the toxic workplace behaviour it is.

While workplace fatalities are shocking, research shows that occupational health problems cost more, both in dollar terms and the number of people affected. For example, a research project that Massey's Healthy Work Group contributed to in 2010 found that 18 per cent of people reported they had been victims of workplace bullying and 75 per cent had suffered from work-related stress. MBIE itself reports that the social and economic cost of work-related injury and disease is $3.5 billion annually.

Ever since ACC was established in 1974, our attitudes towards workplace health and safety have been shaped by an accident and compensation model of direct cause and effect. It's much simpler to deal with the result of a single event, like a broken arm, than a person suffering from a stress-related illness.

Issues like workplace bullying are multi-causal and very complex. These are systemic problems that are not easy to understand, describe or fix. For that reason, bullying often goes unrecognised or isn't taken seriously. Workers who complain about bullying are often simply told to "harden up".

Bullying has a similar effect to rust on metal. Constant negative interactions can build up over time to corrode a person's sense of self. It literally eats away at their self-confidence and their ability to function. At its worst it can lead to suicide.

That's why MBIE's guidelines have such huge symbolic as well as practical value. They show bullying victims that the government is taking the problem seriously. They reassure those who are being bullied at work that it's not a figment of their imagination, and that it's not their fault.

The guidelines also provide tangible guidance to employers and employees about what is, and what isn't, acceptable behaviour. But, sadly, there is no compulsion for organisations to adopt them. That's why we'd like to see the guidelines move to an Approved Code of Practice in the future.

An Approved Code of Practice is negotiated with industry and represents best practice, accepted by industry and approved by government. This gives employers and employees much less wriggle room to evade their responsibilities.

Currently there is no regulatory framework that specifically addresses workplace bullying, which makes it difficult to take a case to court under the Employment Relations Act or the Health and Safety Employment Act.

While an Approved Code of Practice doesn't govern the decisions of the courts, it does give the judiciary guidance when making rulings because they can see what is considered best practice and if an organisation has not met its obligations.

It's also our hope that the government's workplace bullying guidelines will find their way into the Health and Safety Employment Act, which is currently under review. There is really no reason why bullying should not sit in one of the Schedules of the Act, alongside burns, dislocations and falls.

The issues of cyber bullying and bullying in schools get a lot of attention, but bullying in the workplace flies under the radar. Having workplace bullying guidelines is a welcome first step but, until we give the courts the tools to deal with it more effectively, the problem will not disappear.

Dr Bevan Catley and Dr David Tappin are senior lecturers within Massey University's School of Management and members of the university's Health Work Group.