Test your knowledge on bullying

Bullying can be described as offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse of power that undermines, humiliates or injures the recipient.  Bullying is not only unacceptable on moral grounds, but if left unchecked, it can also result in the employer breaching their obligations under the Health & Safety Act and the Employment Relations Act. And…bullying is bad for your business as it can impact on productivity through: Poor performance; Increased absence; Low morale; Loss of company reputation; Resignations and difficulty in recruiting and poor customer service and/or product quality.

Q. Bullying can be hard to recognise but see if you can distinguish which of the following are bullying behaviours.

1. Being glared at in a hostile manner?
2. Being excluded or excluding someone from work-related social gatherings?
3. Storming out of a work area when an employee enters?
4. Having others consistently arrive late for meetings that you called?
5. Giving, or being given the "silent treatment"?
6. Not being given the praise for which you felt entitled?
7. Being treated in a rude or disrespectful manner?
8. Having others refuse your requests for assistance?
9. Having others fail to deny false rumours about you?
10. Being given little or no feedback about your performance?
11. Having others delay action on matters that were important to you?
12. Being yelled at or shouted at in a hostile manner?
13. Being subjected to negative comments about your intelligence or competence?
14. Having others consistently fail to return your telephone calls or respond to your memos or e-mail?
15. Having your contributions ignored by others?
16. Having someone interfere with your work activities?
17. Being subjected to mean pranks?
18. Being lied to?
19. Having others fail to give you information that you really needed?
20. Being denied a salary increase or internal role without being given a valid reason?
21. Being subjected to derogatory name calling?
22. Been the target of rumours or gossip?
23. Being shown little empathy or sympathy when you were having a tough time?
24. Co-workers failing to defend your plans or ideas to others?
25. Being given unreasonable workloads or deadlines -- more than others?
26. Having others destroy or needlessly take resources that you needed to do your job?
27. Being accused of deliberately making an error?
28. Being subjected to temper tantrums when disagreeing with someone?
29. Being prevented from expressing yourself (for example, being interrupted when speaking)?
30. Having attempts made to turn other employees against you?
31. Having someone flaunt his or her status or treat you in a condescending manner?
32. Having someone else take credit for your work or ideas?
33. Being reprimanded or "put down" in front of others?

A. Believe it or not, every one of those listed above can be described as bullying behaviour.

Bullying can occur at all levels. It is not just limited to cases where managers deliberately pick on their staff. It can exist between colleagues and staff who also collectively engage in bullying their manager.

Bullying may not always be obvious to others and the recipient may think that “it is normal behaviour in this organisation”.  They may be anxious that others consider them weak or simply “not up to the job” if they raise a complaint.  Other work colleagues may be scared to support them for fear of retribution.

What should your role as employers be?

Bullying is most effectively dealt with when employers make it clear that it is simply not acceptable.

This involves leading by example and setting up formal policies and procedures for dealing with bullying. These need to be clearly understood by both workers and management and included in staff training programmes at all levels.