New research shows that employees tormented at work were more likely to quit than those sexually harassed
By Patrick White
Globe and Mail, Canada
March 10, 2008
It was the sleep deprivation that finally broke Stephen Hill.
He could stand up to the bullies by day. By moonlight, though, they caught him lying down.
All night he would lie there replaying how his Simon Fraser University co-workers refused to eat lunch near him. An eager employee fresh from England, his enthusiasm never jibed with his more cynical colleagues. He agonized over the way his boss only communicated by Post-it note and his colleagues gave him the cold shoulder in meetings.
The exhaustion led to anger, forgetfulness and numbness in his lips and fingers. A psychologist eventually diagnosed him with work-related post-traumatic stress disorder. After wrangling with management and his union, Mr. Hill finally left the school with severance in 2001.
"Even then, it took two years to recover," said Mr. Hill, now an employment counsellor who runs NoBullyForMe.org, an advice site for victims of workplace tyrants.
"It's not one traumatic event like a car crash that causes it. Like carpal tunnel syndrome, it's the repetition. That tapping movement on the keyboard looks very innocent, but repetition does the damage."
Mr. Hill's experience is hardly unique. A U.S. poll last year showed that roughly two in five workers had been bullied at work. And now, Canadian researchers have found that bullying is actually more de- structive than sexual harassment to workers and workplaces.
With that research in hand, some lawyers and employment counsellors are vowing that bullies won't be overlooked much longer.
"Bullying is where sexual harassment was 30 years ago," said Janice Rubin, an employment lawyer with Rubin Thomlinson LLP. "Employers are trying to wrap their heads around how to deal with it."
In a new study, Canadian researchers reviewed 110 studies that compared the effects of bullying and sexual harassment. They found that workers who suffered yelling, rudeness, gossip or other torments were more likely to quit their jobs than workers who were subjected to sexual harassment.
M. Sandy Hershcovis and Julian Barling also found that bullying victims reported more job stress, less job commitment and higher levels of anger and anxiety. The researchers embarked on the study to see if sexual harassment deserved its reputation as the worst of workplace ills.
"Originally, we thought it would be the other way around," said Dr. Hershcovis, assistant professor at the University of Manitoba's I. H. Asper School of Business, who presented the study over the weekend at the International Conference on Work, Stress and Health in Washington. "But, surprisingly, it was the other way around."
Despite the adverse effects of workplace taunts, only Quebec and Saskatchewan have anti-bullying laws
In the absence of specific laws elsewhere, employment lawyers are staking out a new front in the battle against bullies. In recent years, a number of mistreated workers have successfully sued their employers for constructive dismissal, the legal term for employees who feel they have been forced to resign because a boss's behaviour constitutes a breach of contract.
But generally, bullying tends to fly under the legal radar because so many employers actually encourage the aggressive behaviour that can lead to taunts and torment.
"That hard-hitting, macho, cowboy behaviour that employers condone because it gets results can often feel like bullying," said Ms. Rubin. "Everyone understands sexual harassment: If you grab a bum, it's a bad thing. We all get that. Bullying isn't as clear."
When companies are accused of bullying, they often hire lawyers like Ms. Rubin to investigate and settle charges privately, so that they stay out of the courts. Every year, Ms. Rubin probes roughly 10 bullying charges, mainly involving a worker's claims that a boss's swearing, yelling or rudeness has rendered an office too hostile for work.
In one recent case, she investigated the clerical department of a large national company run by "two women who were really, really nasty individuals." The managers made fun of workers behind their backs, sent belittling e-mails and demanded to know where workers were going every time they stood up from their desks. Over a seven-year period, they drove out every original employee.
Ms. Rubin quickly advised the company to strip the duo of their managerial duties.
"So much of this goes undetected in most organizations," she said. "If an employee quits or goes on disability, the employer may never know why."
Bullying might never be as much of a taboo as sexual harassment, but new provincial legislation would at least raise its profile.
"Other provinces could certainly follow Saskatchewan and Quebec," Dr. Hershcovis said. "That would certainly encourage organizations to adopt clear policies around bullying. But they'll only do something if they see they'll be harmed by not doing something about it."
Pinning down tyrants in the workplace
Office bullies can be deviously discreet. In his book The Bully At Work, workplace consultant Gary Namie helps identify these crafty tyrants by placing them into four categories.The Screaming Mimi controls by intimidation, belittling workers with insults, finger pointing and threats of violence.
The Constant Critic finds fault with colleagues' work, then plays the role of chiding parent to officemates.
The Two-Headed Snake is a passive-aggressive Jekyll and Hyde character who cheerfully goes for drinks with colleagues one day and then trashes their reputations in front of higher-ups the next.
The Gatekeeper sabotages co-workers by holding back money, office supplies and vital e-mails.
Source: The Workplace Bullying Institute
