Increase productivity, save money and invest in happy employees. Bullying and workplace violence is now recognised as the new scourge of Australian business. It costs employers hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in lost productivity, high staff turnover and increased absenteeism. Read Full Article

Increase productivity, save money and invest in happy employees. Bullying and workplace violence is now recognised as the new scourge of Australian business. It costs employers hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in lost productivity, high staff turnover and increased absenteeism. Increasing recognition of the issue has prompted all states and territories to introduce or start to develop advisory standards and guidelines which place legal obligations on employers.

So it is more important than ever for companies to take steps to stamp out this serious problem.

What is workplace bullying?

The Griffith University Workplace Bullying and Violence Project Team has defined bullying as "repeated, unreasonable or inappropriate behaviour at the place of work that is intimidating, insulting, offensive, demeaning or humiliating to others".

Examples of behaviour which may fit the definition include malicious teasing such as practical jokes, verbal abuse and offensive language, excessive criticism, blame for errors and unreasonable deadlines.

The common thread is that the behaviour is repetitive and goes on over a long period of time.

High cost to business

Leading Australian researcher, Paul McCarthy from Queensland's Griffith University Workplace Bullying and Violence Project Team, says the problem has, until recently, been hidden.

New research conducted by the Project Team shows that one in four Australians workers will be subjected to serious bullying during their working life.

"Bullying can be subtle and sometimes the organisation doesn't recognise bullying because certain behaviours have become an accepted management style. These can easily escalate into persistent bullying.

"If employers don't take steps to change these management styles, their business will suffer economically with annual costs estimated at about $160,000 per year for an organisation with 100 employees and $1.6 million to an organisation with 1000 employees," says Mr McCarthy.

Rising customer violence

And it's not only employee bullying you need to guard against. The Griffith University research project also showed that customer violence is on the rise.

According to Mr McCarthy, the combination of an irate customer and a stressed, overworked employee is a recipe for disaster.

"Clients who are under pressure, in dispute over terms of trading or product performance, or suffering from mental health problems or substance abuse - these are all risk factors which were shown to have contributed to the rising levels of client-initiated violence.

"This means companies need to re-assess their emergency response plans to cope with such situations. They also need to marry these with strategies to counter internal staff bullying," says Paul McCarthy.

Bullying management

"A good manager can actually smell bullying or potential violence in the air - but there are the obvious signs to watch out for such as sullen workers, an increase in the number of people requesting transfers, higher customer complaints and high staff turn-over," says Mr McCarthy.

The effectiveness of a strategy to combat workplace bullying and violence needs a demonstrated commitment from the CEO or Managing Director down through all levels of management.

It could include such actions as: a statement of zero tolerance signed off by the CEO; consultative development and implementation of policy and preventive measures; appointment of contact officers; and/or separation of alleged perpetrator/s and complainants.

When dealing with complaints about bullying, it's important to apply no-blame mediation as the first step. This will help to separate the genuine complaints from malicious accusations. No-blame mediation is also important in determining whether bullying has actually taken place. What one person sees as a bullying incident, another may view as a normal work practice and not realise they have done anything wrong.

New training video

Business Essentials has produced a new awareness training video to help managers teach employees to recognise bullying and implement anti-workplace bullying strategies. The video has two sections - Part One is for employees and Part Two is for managers.

The video comes with a trainer's guide and is just one of 300 titles in the Business Essentials training video library. The Workplace Bullying video package costs $495.00 including GST plus postage.

By Jill Aickin

Jill Aickin is Senior Producer, Business Essentials Pty Ltd. For an on-line preview, go to www.be.com.au. Email enquiries should be addressed to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call Business Essentials on 1800 039 098.