Office politics turn nasty

The Kiwi workplace is becoming more toxic, with office back-stabbing and bullying by bosses on the increase.

Employment lawyers are seeing more cases of worker intimidation by management.

Academic research also found more than half of workers have a negative relationship with a colleague.

The findings come after a study in the United Kingdom revealed one in five employees admitted hating their workmates.

John Rooney, a partner with top law firm Simpson Grierson, said the vast majority of intimidation claims were made against supervisors.

He said bullies came in two forms - those who don't realise they are making other people's lives hell, and those who enjoy it.

Rooney said: "There is no avalanche of claims but it is certainly on the increase. It can create a lot of stress."

Dr Rachel Morrison, the co-author of Friends And Enemies In Organizations: A Work Psychology Perspective, said complaints were on the rise because Kiwis were spending more time at work.

"The workplace is the only place where you don't have a choice on who you spend time with," said the Auckland University of Technology lecturer.

"That's why negative relationships will thrive and worsen because there isn't that element of choice there.

"In no other context are you are forced to spend time with people you don't like."

It came after a survey in Britain found that six million workers despise the people they work with and, of those, almost two-thirds regularly gossip behind the backs of their colleagues. Women were more likely to talk behind their colleagues' backs than men.

A typical female employee would spend about 20 minutes a day moaning about someone they work with, either by email or by instant messaging. The most-common industry for back-stabbing was media, followed by accounts, IT and sales.

Morrison said negative relationships between women increased in male-dominated workplaces. "Instead of collaborating with the other women, they will see them as a threat."

Hadyn Olsen, whose runs Work Places Against Violence in Employment, said bullying is estimated to cost Australian businesses A$3.9 billion ($5b) a year.

"You find undermining behaviours stop workers having conversations and it polarises the office. It affects performance," he said.

"Workers are more unhappy so absenteeism and sick rates increase."

Workplace wars

Gossiping and back-stabbing might not always wind up in the Employment Court but it can make life hell for some workers.

New workers
One woman spoken to by the Herald on Sunday said she had just started working in accounts at a company in Tauranga when her colleagues turned nasty. "They didn't even give me a chance. The others in the office thought I was trying to show them up.

"It got really nasty and I left after about four months."

Outsider steps on toes
One workplace turned toxic after management brought in a new woman team leader. Unbeknown to her, two of the four workers in the team had unsuccessfully applied for the job.

"She was finding difficulties handling the team, then a few weeks in the HR manager arranged a meeting," said Hadyn Olsen, Director of WAVE.

"It was described as a bloodletting. The entire meeting was a full-on attack on her."

Office polarisation
In some businesses malicious gossip splits the entire office. In one workplace nastiness turned to real violence after the workers split to two opposing sides.

"In the office they hardly communicated and when they did it was usually abuse," said Olsen. "There was graffiti in the toilet with remarks about each other."