Search

The article discusses workplace bullying. As schoolyardish as it may sound, workplace bullying is a range of behaviour that breaks down the mental and physical health of its target. Apart from compassion, the reason executives should care is that workplace bullying dismantles teamwork, hamstrings efficiency, hobbles productivity and, ultimately, costs money. Researchers like Gary Namie of the Bellingham, Wash.-based Workplace Bullying & Trauma Institute find that women are somewhat more likely to bully than men, and far more likely to be bullied. Often, he says, "the co-workers are somehow allowed to construe events as the target's fault." Something of a bullying guru, Namie got into the field after his wife, Ruth Namie, a clinical psychologist, suffered at the hands of a workplace bully. The couple's work is documented both on their website and in their 2003 book, The Bully at Work. Marje Burdine, a Vancouver-based organizational consultant, finds that bullying often affects people at high levels of responsibility and that a junior employee can bully a supervisor. One step toward addressing the issue is through legislation. Australia has included measures that specifically or indirectly address bullying in several pieces of legislation, as have Norway, Britain and France. Quebec is the first jurisdiction in North America to do so. Brought into force in June, section 81.18 of that province's Labour Standards Act defines "psychological harassment at work" as "vexatious behaviour that manifests itself in the form of conduct, verbal comments, actions or gestures" that are repetitive, hostile and unwanted. Beginning about 10 years ago, management of British Columbia Rapid Transit Co. Ltd. (SkyTrain) and CUPE Local 7000 worked together for more than a year of policy drafting and focus groups to create a "respectful" workplace program and policy, with broad input from employees.