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Big Bully in the Workplace
May 05, 2008
Workplace bullying is a big problem, and incentives might be part of the solution.
By Alex Palmer
It might be as simple as spreading an unflattering rumor, or as serious as the deliberate sabotage of a coworker's project, but bullying in the workplace is more common and more severe than many realize, new research indicates. And as the problem of on-the-job aggression gets more attention, experts suggest that incentives will be a valuable tool for shutting down this bad behavior and ensuring a civil and safe workplace.
The Workplace Bullying Institute, an advocacy group based in Bellingham, Wash., that researches the behavior, defines workplace bullying as "repeated, health-harming mistreatment" that includes verbal abuse, threatening or humiliating conduct and work interference. The group differentiates a "bully" from a "tough boss," particularly by defining a bully as one who undermines the legitimate business interests of the organization, putting personal agendas over the work itself (while a tough boss who might be a jerk—making employees stay late or coming down hard on underperformers— at least ostensibly has the organization's best interests in mind). Bullying is personal, ongoing, and destructive, and according to recent reports, it's a big problem.
Researchers at Canada's Queen's University and the University of Manitoba released a study in March that made the claim that hostility in the office causes more serious emotional and performance-related problems than sexual harassment. Drawing on 110 studies, the researchers examined bullying and sexual harassment in relation to outcomes such as job satisfaction, turnover and psychological health. The results indicated that both sexual harassment and aggression had unhealthy consequences for employees, but in the cases of bullying these were consistently more severe. This study came just a few months after a Zogby International survey estimated that 37 percent of employees had experienced bullying at work. When made aware of the cases, employers in 62 percent of them ignored the problem or made it worse, according to Zogby.
"The experience is terrifying and sometimes really life-destroying for all periods of peoples' lives," says Professor Pamela Lutgin-Sandvik of Arizona State University, who has been studying workplace bullying for about eight years. Unlike the broad and quantitative surveys conducted by Zogby and the Canadian researchers, Lutgin-Sandvik's research draws on focus group interviews and detailed case studies of individual victims. During a set of interviews she and two colleagues conducted in 2003, Lutgin-Sandvik says that the victims "described the experience as 'like a nightmare' or 'being in prison,' or they described the bully as being 'evil' or a 'demon'…It was very, very disturbing. After those focus groups, the three of us had to debrief for about an hour or so because it was so emotionally draining."
Gary Namie, the founder of the Workplace Bullying Institute, emphasizes the impact bullying has on companies financially. He says organizations that ignore bullying "are hurting themselves. [Bullies] work counter to the business mission, they work counter to productivity and profitability." The institute's research puts annual turnover costs for an average Fortune 500 company at $16 million, and litigation costs at anywhere between $225,000 to $1.4 million, due to bullying. "And yet, the organization [protects] the bullies, the assertive ones, the highly aggressive ones, out of loyalty, instead of paying attention to the bottom line," says Namie.
Namie and others have been actively lobbying for "healthy workplace" legislation that would make certain kinds of hostile behavior illegal. These sorts of laws proliferate in many other developed nations, including Britain's Protection from Harassment Act (2001) and Quebec's Psychological Harassment at Work regulation (2004). The United States' discrimination and sexual harassment laws prohibit unfair treatment based on race, gender or lifestyle, but general workplace harassment continues as "discrimination without illegality," as Namie describes it.
"We're starting to give a name to [bullying], which helps give a sense of meaning to it," says David Yamado, a professor at the Suffolk University Law School in Boston and president of the New Workplace Institute. "It seems to have turned a corner as far as media attention." Yamado wrote the model bill for the Healthy Workplace acts that have been introduced in about a dozen states, including California, Montana and New York.
"Some of this awareness can come from the grass roots, but the tone of leadership really establishes a climate as to whether bullying is going to be discouraged or embraced," says Yamado.
Because of the laws against workplace hostility in foreign countries, many multinational companies have already had to adopt anti-bullying policies in their overseas offices, according to Namie, so following similar rules in American offices would not require a substantial change in perspective.
Incentives to the Rescue
But beyond legislating against bad behavior, creating a healthy workplace involves incentivizing good behavior, says Lutgin-Sandvik. She suggests that regular awards for positive performances like a Dignity at Work or Respectful Communication Award would go a long way in improving employee behavior. Lutgin-Sandvik emphasizes that the awards should be tailored to the individuals. "I might like public recognition, you might just like someone to come and talk to you privately in your office, or even something larger like a dinner for two," says Lutgin-Sandvik. "Figure out ways of building this into the workplace environment, so that when people treat others respectfully, they really get these great kudos for it."
This use of incentives can be especially important for organizations that may be, perhaps unintentionally, conducive to bullying behavior. Namie cites certain sales organizations where competitiveness is part of the job, but which might then idealize the win-at-all-costs salesperson. A culture where only the bottom line matters allows bad behavior to be overlooked and to get worse, warns Namie, saying "tough gets way overrated and revered in this country." A well-executed incentive program, where constructive behavior is rewarded, would clarify or perhaps redefine what it means to be a top employee in the organization.
Besides overseeing the Workplace Bullying Institute, Namie is also the founder of Work Doctor, which offers workshops and specific information on how organizations can reduce or prevent bullying. Because it is such a challenge for a company to turn around a lifelong bully (Namie believes it to be near impossible), he urges that the organization put policies in place, including incentives, which reinforce what kind of behavior is acceptable. But Namie emphasizes that an anti-bullying program is not about upbeat teambuilding. "We're not trying to mandate civility, we don't care about niceties," he says.
"If you have special programs or goodies from time to time to encourage day-to-day dignity, that's certainly helpful," says Nancy Glube, on the Employee Relations Special Expertise Panel of the Society for Human Resource Management. Glube recommends spot rewards that can be given to workers exemplifying constructive behavior. "You can give someone a gift card to Starbucks for very little money, you know, 'Have a latte on us.'"
Pulling the Plug on Bullies
Goodwill Southern California, which extends across the counties of Riverside and San Bernardino, and about two-thirds of Los Angeles County, reached out to Work Doctor when bullying behavior was becoming a problem. Doug Barr, the company's president and CEO, received complaints from employees who felt they were being disciplined improperly and being harassed on the job. Incidents like a store manager who shouted at a staff member in front of her peers and an administrator who neglected to give new hires the information and tools they needed to do their job, then disciplined them for failing to do their work correctly, spurred Barr to take action.
Working with Work Doctor, Barr and Goodwill's HR trainer, Sue Gutierrez, ran training sessions, set up an anti-bullying policy and even an anti-bullying hotline, monitored by a third-party counselor who advises individuals on what constitutes workplace bullying and what options are available to them. They also used surveys and interviews to assess where they were having incidences of bullying and how severe it was. Through the research, some chronic bullies were discerned and actions were taken, including counseling and even termination for a few hostile employees.
"[The new policy] was noticed when two very senior managers and a couple store managers were let go, and that helped give the policy credibility," says Barr. "The word got out that this cannot go on, this is not acceptable."
Keeping the focus positive, Goodwill Southern California put its anti-bullying efforts in terms of the organization's values of respect, integrity, service and excellence (what they call "RISE values"). Besides monitoring the negative behavior, Goodwill's leadership also offers RISE awards to recognize workers who exemplify any one of the four corporate values. Winners earn recognition and awards (that often include gift cards), mention in the employee newsletter and recognition at the quarterly staff meeting. Barr reports seeing an improvement in performance and an apparent decrease in bullying incidences since the policy was started. "It gives me comfort that we have mechanisms in place that can enforce these RISE values," says Barr. "It isn't just something we put on the wall, it's something we try to live by on a daily basis."
In addition to a top-down organizational approach, Lutgin-Sandvik has studied ways that individuals can respond to bullying and what has proven effective and what has not. She describes direct confrontation —whether hostile ("if you ever talk to me like that again…") or beseeching ("can you please come to me privately with these issues?")—as among the least effective strategies. "Everyone who told me about confrontation all said that it got worse later," says Lutgin-Sandvik.
The most effective strategies were for two or three people, perhaps including a person not being directly bullied, to get together to reach out to upper management, which keeps it from being a victim versus bully dynamic.
Another effective strategy is for the victim to go through formal channels, documenting incidents, working directly with human resources and playing by the organizational rules to make a case, gaining power from the formal and cool-headed rather than the personal and emotional. "[Upper management] need to have documentation if they're going to be able to do anything that's fair," says Lutgin-Sandvik. "They need to understand what actually happened and 'always' and 'never' statements are useless."
Send comments to alex.palmer@nielsen.com.
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