Bullying must be addressed and effectively dealt with. The costs are more far reaching than organisations recognise, and higher than any 'dollar' amount acknowledged by business.
Bullying is:
"...long-standing violence, physical or psychological conducted by an individual or a group and directed against an individual who is not able to defend (her/himself) in the actual situation."
[Roland 1988]
"...'one off' abuses or a pattern and practice of abuse, 'small' acts of violence, shouted orders, isolation, unreasonable demands, niggling words repeated daily, pleasant words one minute, demeaning the next, acting 'well' in public and abusively in private, public or private 'putting down', 'pushing', pressure, being spoken to roughly or as if one doesn't count..."
[Scutt 2000]
"... endemic in Australia and many of our institutions and professional groups are willing to use bully tactics to maintain positions of power and privilege. [B]ullying is the same, whether the victim is a school child, a battered wife, a middle management executive or a whistleblower."
[McCarthy, Sheehan, Wilkie 1996]
Workplace bullying may result in:
Economic costs are often quoted. A Tasmanian Government Agency assessing average costs of internally investigating one sexual harassment complaint found it cost $36,500 in 1999 to investigate a bullying complaint. This included interviewing the complainant, alleged harasser, other witnesses etc. It excludes management health and production costs of bullying.
The reduction or complete loss of productive work and 'lesser' consequences can amount to between approximately $60,000 and $200,000 for each employee exposed to bullying conduct [Dr Heinz Leymann 1990]
The cost of internal investigation of complaints through grievance procedures, and of external complaints through Anti-Discrimination, Worker Compensation, Industrial Relations, and courts can be high.
The psychological and emotional consequences of bullying impact on victims/survivors and others in the workplace.
The state of mind of people bullied at work, at school, in sporting organisations, clubs and other bodies can be fraught. Bullying can cause deep emotional scars not easily recognised or remedied.
Sufferers, targets or victims/survivors of bullying often find it difficult to reveal their painful experiences, even to people close to them. Despair and isolation can result in workers and students damaging themselves and others, attempting suicide, and even succeeding.
Health effects include:
This impacts on work and family life, and outside work and home. Bullying places significant pressure on people at work, family and friends.
Bullying is an employer/employee, organisation, business, government and corporate responsibility. All organisations and individuals must act to stop bullying.
Act to look at the contributing factors. Act to make people aware of their rights and obligations. Stop people from bullying others.
Contact your union for assistance, or call -
1300 366 322 Workplace Standards
1300 366 632 Office of the Employment Advocate
1300 362 223 ACTU Helpline
See Advocacy Services page for more contacts.
Occupational health and safety
Occupational health and safety legislation says that employers have a legal duty to control all health and safety hazards in the workplace by eliminating them or safeguarding workers' health in other ways. Bullying is a safety hazard. Internal organisational structures, practices or behaviour involving bullying are the employer's responsibility. They are unlawful. It is the employer's responsibility to stop them.
Anti-discrimination law
Some bullying is outlawed by anti-discrimination laws. It can be 'less favourable treatment' or 'detriment' related to attributes/identities including race/ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, lawful sexual activity, sex/gender, marital status, relationship status, pregnancy, breastfeeding, parental status, family responsibilities disability, industrial activity, political belief or affiliation, religious activity, irrelevant criminal record, irrelevant medical record, or association with a person who has, or is believed to have, any of these.
As well, Section 17(1) of the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 says that a person must not offend, humiliate, intimidate, insult or ridicule another person on the basis of sex/gender, marital status, pregnancy, breastfeeding, parental status or family responsibilities where a reasonable person, having regard to all the circumstances would anticipate the other person would be offended, humiliated, intimidated, insulted or ridiculed. This is bullying. It is unlawful.
