Preventing Workplace Harassment, Discrimination, and Retaliation

these and other negative consequences of failing to appropriately address workplace bullying, employers may want to consider adopting an Anti-Bullying Policy.

D. E XAMPLES O F B ULLYING / A BUSIVE C ONDUCT

Bullying and abusive conduct can take many forms. Examples include:



Swearing or shouting;

 Repeated derogatory remarks, insults, or epithets;



Exclusion or social isolation;



Humiliation;

 Any form of physical threat or physical intimidation;

 Demeaning comments about a person’s appearance;

 The use of patronizing titles or nicknames;



Persistent, unwelcome teasing;

 Gratuitous sabotaging or undermining a person’s work performance;

 Spreading malicious rumors or insulting someone; and

 Picking on someone or setting him or her up to fail.

E. H OW B ULLYING / A BUSIVE C ONDUCT I MPACTS T HE W ORKPLACE Bullying and abusive conduct take a significant toll on an organization. It can lead to increased levels of stress among employees, high rates of absenteeism and increased turnover. Because supervisor-bullies can get results by getting more short-term production out of employees, they are often tolerated. However, employers should understand the long-term costs to these potential short-term benefits in productivity. Studies have shown that bullying has a long-term impact on staff performances, costs in excess of $200 billion per year and results in psychological and physical ailments similar to those found in soldiers returning from combat. Workers’ compensation and lost productivity are impacted by employees’ stress, depression, and physical health problems result in time away from work. The health problems experienced by victims of bullying result in a sense of helplessness and negative emotional states. Low self esteem and a negative organizational climate negatively impact creativity and employees’ abilities to respond to difficult situations or challenging goals. The breakdown of trust in a bullying environment may mean that employees will fail to contribute their best work, do not give extra ideas for improvement, do not provide feedback on failures and may be less honest about performance. In addition to the costs of supervisor-bullying, bullying behavior perpetrated by a co-worker and ignored by management impacts productivity, morale and leads to increased workplace injuries and “stress” claims. Bullying behavior perpetrated by a supervisor or

Preventing Workplace Harassment, Discrimination, and Retaliation ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 26