When life is blighted by toughs at the top

Bullying at work is on the rise - and managers are the most common culprits. ALISON HORWOOD reports.

It might be work that is constantly being picked on. Or regular humiliation in front of colleagues. Threats of dismissal. Or even a shove by the photocopier.

It all amounts to bullying in the workplace - a silent but common phenomenon.

Concerns over bullying in the workplace are on the rise, and there has been an upturn in research, mostly overseas.

However, the problem is increasingly recognised in New Zealand. University of Auckland mediator Matthew Fitzsimons is this week in Australia, presenting a paper on workplace bullying in this country.

Bullying can include sarcasm, threats, verbal abuse, intimidation, bad-mouthing, manipulation, duplicity, exclusion, isolation and the assignment of staff to unpleasant jobs.

For employers, such tactics mean lost productivity, poor morale, absenteeism, increased compensation claims, high staff turnover, mistakes by tired workers who cannot concentrate and the cost of defending legal action.

Workers can suffer threats to mental health, alcohol and drug abuse, and the loss of jobs and job opportunities.

A survey in the Australian state of Victoria found bullying was rife in the workplace and in wider society.

Ninety-one per cent of 600 respondents aged between 18 and 65 said they had suffered bullying at least once.

In an effort to stem the costly problem, Australian legislators have circulated a draft code of practice which will be introduced with Victoria's health and safety law.

It is intended to address repeated incidents of unreasonable behaviour, including victimisation, humiliation or undermining behaviour.

A paper on managerial bullying, co-authored by Peter Jordan and Michael Sheehan from Griffith University in Queensland, says research suggests that up to 50 per cent of the working population has suffered bullying.

The paper, presented in December to the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management conference at Auckland's Unitec, says bullying may also be a hidden phenomenon in organisations: 95 per cent of respondents indicated they were too scared to report it.

One 1999 study they quote found that workplace bullying was more prevalent than sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and racial harassment in some companies.

Another study they cite found that managers carried out more than 70 per cent of bullying incidents.

In Scandinavia, the incidence of bullying by those up the managerial ranks was 54 per cent.

Jordan and Sheehan argue that in an environment of constant change, managers are under increasing pressure to get quick results.

This can contribute to a culture which minimises consideration for others. The risk? Bullying becomes an accepted practice.

In times of restructuring, downsizing and layoffs, companies have reported high turnover and a general mistrust between managers and staff.

Loyalty to organisations has been overshadowed by a more utilitarian focus on personal advancement.

The outcome is obvious. If companies don't have constructive means for dealing with conflict, bullying will flourish.

In New Zealand, little research has been done on the topic and it is not known how prevalent the problem is.

But Mr Fitzsimons appears something of a leader.

He is presenting a paper on workplace bullying this week at a conference in Adelaide.

The first step to tackle workplace bullying is simple, he says: name it.

"Sexual harassment went on for yonks, but in the 70s it was named and it allowed debate and articulation on the issue; research and steps were taken to tackle it," he says. "To lack a name means it goes down a big black hole."

Mr Fitzsimons has carried out research into 29 personal grievance cases that came before employment courts, which all exhibited workplace bullying even if it was not named as such.

He says part of the personal grievance provision of the Employment Relations Act 2000 relates to a worker being disadvantaged by some unjustifiable action by the employer.

Although at-work bullying is not dealt with by the Act as a separate category, it could come under the heading of disadvantage.

We can do better, he says: "Workplace bullying should be included in legislation like other forms of harassment."

Employment lawyer Andrew Scott-Howman, of Wellington firm Bell Gully, says New Zealand's health and safety legislation is drafted in broad terms, placing an obligation on employers to eliminate hazards from the workplace.

But, while many people think of forklift safety and tucked-away power cords, bullying could reasonably be considered to be a hazard.

Proposed changes to the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 include the recognition of stress as a major hazard in the workplace.

"One of the proposed amendments is for a separate provision recognising that employers have to take steps to prevent employees being exposed to stress and fatigue," says Scott-Howman. "If we have, in the future, health and safety inspectors recognising stress as a hazard, then perhaps it isn't such a great leap to recognise bullying."