Workplace Bullying: The Damaging Affects and Solutions to a Big Problem In an increasingly competitive global economy, organizations must have a corporate atmosphere that inspires both innovation and risk-taking to maintain success. However, in recent years, companies have seen a new workplace threat that interferes with this positive corporate atmosphere. This threat affects nearly 21% of U.S. workers. The problem is not sexual harassment or workplace violence - the problem is workplace bullying. According to recent statistics, workplace bullying is three times as prevalent as illegal discrimination and occurs at least 1,600 times as much as workplace violence. In fact, one of six individuals report being bullied at some time at work. Office bullies can cause low morale and fear, and ultimately result in employees leaving the company. Bullying can be costly to companies in other ways as well. It can cost companies millions each year in sick leave, lawsuits, lost productivity and turnover. It is important that a company recognize when bullying is taking place and work out strategies to eliminate the behavior. Bullying Targets and Tactics A bully is an individual who repeatedly mistreats one or more employees with a malicious mix of humiliation, intimidation and/or sabotage of performance. They can be in any rank among employees at a company, from supervisors to subordinates and they can both men or women. Workplace bullies are more than often hard to identify. They may appear to be civil and cooperative, while they do everything in their power to undermine those they target for destruction. Generally workplace bullies tend to target those individuals in the company that show the most talent and success in their careers. As a result, the creativity and productivity of these talented individuals is negatively affected by their behavior. While they are not generally violent, workplace bullies often operate within the established rules and policies of their organization. For example, a workplace bully might use the office "rumor mill" to circulate a lie about a co-worker strictly for the purpose of creating a problem for that individual. An employee who dislikes a co-worker for personal reasons may incessantly criticize everything that the individual does or says. While such actions are not necessarily illegal and may not even be against the policy of many organizations, the damage that such actions cause - both to the targeted employee and to the workplace moral - is significant. There are three prevalent types of bully personalities: Conquerors - bullies interested in power and control and "protecting their turf" Performers - bullies who suffer from low self-esteem yet belittle their targets Manipulators - bullies who are self-interested and vindictive, often taking credit for the work of others and never taking responsibility for their own mistakes. According to a recent survey on workplace bullying, there are several traits that a bully will have. They include: Bullies use surprise and secrecy to gain leverage over those targeted Bullies are not interested in meeting someone halfway Bullies routinely practice psychological abuse against specific individuals (through putdowns, belittling comments, name-calling, constant criticism, blame, sabotage, stealing credit, cutting the individual out of the communication loop or through angry outbursts intended to intimidate) Eliminating Bullying Behavior Workplace bullying can sometimes be hard to identify and in some cases may not be intentional. An unintentional bully can easily be dealt with once they are spoken to. These people often times do not realize they are a bully and will apologize once the behavior and its effects are pointed out to them. Individuals who bully on purpose can be more difficult to deal with. The following list illustrates different tactics a company can use to eliminate the bullying behavior: Establish an anti-bullying policy: The policy defines bullying and gives some common sense descriptions of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors at work. The language of the policy should specifically address the right of all employees to work in an environment free from bullying. This will give targeted employees a context and a constructive way to confront the bullying tactics. Conduct climate surveys: Conduct surveys of employees in an attempt to uncover bullying behavior. These surveys should assess employee satisfaction with the work environment. To ensure honest responses, surveys should be returned by employees to a neutral third party for review, and confidentiality must be guaranteed. Establish reporting, investigation and mediation processes to handle employee complaints: This is a tool used to issue complaints about supervisors or co-workers. It is critical that these policies and processes have an anti-retaliation provision to ensure that employees will feel that they can use the processes without fear of reprisal. Conduct widespread employee and manager training: This will help everyone in the organization be aware of their responsibility to conduct themselves in a professional, civil and businesslike manner. The reinforcement at a new-hire orientation session can go a long way toward enforcing zero tolerance for bullying behavior. Employees should be trained on how to recognize the first signs of bullying so they can prevent it or deal with it early if it occurs. Conclusion Workplace bullying can cost more than just the impact of a good employee leaving a company. Research shows that bullying behavior may lead to serious physical and emotional problems for the targets, including self-esteem damage, anxiety, depression, insomnia and much more. The cost to companies is also great and includes health care costs, legal costs and a reduction in productivity to name a few. The issue of workplace bullying is the responsibility of the company and should not be addressed only in a way to avoid lawsuits or bad press. Instead, creating a zero-tolerance policy, training the workforce and establishing processes to deal with workplace bullying are necessary to building and maintaining a corporate atmosphere of respect and comfort for all employees. In the case of the workplace bully, one bully within a company is one too many.