Workplace bullying - Work bullying 'rife' - survey

A survey released on national Ban Bullying at Work day on 7 November, in association with the Andrea Adams Trust, revealed that 92% of UK workers currently feel that they are being bullied at work. Of the 10,000 questioned, 56% also stated that bullying is a very serious problem in their workplace.

Lynn Witheridge, founder and chief executive at the Andrea Adams Trust, remarked that the problem is getting worse: "Bullying will always exist in any workplace. Where you have positions of power, for some, bullying is a natural action. However, bullying is almost endemic in workplaces at the moment, especially in the financial sector where there is increased pressure on staff and fear of the recession."

As brokers compete for the same business, there is a great dependence on staff and their relationships with customers. "Brokers are very reliant on people and are target driven businesses, therefore the risks of bullying are greatly increased," said Alan Price, senior employment law advisor at Pennisula.

Danger

Peter Staddon, technical services director at the British Insurance Brokers' Association, said that brokers forced into making redundancies are especially at risk: "In the current economic environment, where there are a lot of redundancies, people are becoming more prepared to bring cases against their employers. Where staff face redundancy, you would be surprised what crawls out of the woodwork. Where staff previously put up with abuse, they now have nothing to lose."

The Andrea Adams Trust survey highlighted that many staff blame the management of their companies for causing cultural problems allowing conditions condusive to bullying within their workplaces. "Where a threatening environment is created in the workplace, staff often develop a lack of respect for their managers, even where it is not the management doing the bullying," highlighted Witheridge.

Resolving bullying issues can also take up disproportionate amounts of management time, according to Price: "Where a broker has no human resources team, managers need to spend time to investigate and resolve issues."

Patricia Breslin, a consultant from Plus HR, claimed further that workplace bullying can harm staff productivity: "Bullying has an enormous negative effect on both staff morale and productivity. This leads to an increase in absence, staff turnover, the number of grievances that managers have to handle and eventually an increase in legislation."

Breslin told PB she believes that broker managers need to be aware of the legal repercussions of bullying within their businesses: "Within discrimination legislation, an employer can be found vicariously liable for wrongful acts done by their employees if they are done during the course of their employment. This means that employers need to take ownership for and proactively manage bullying and harassment in the workplace."

Staddon agreed that brokers need to consider the consequences of legal actions taken by disgruntled employees: "Brokers need to think how it will look if a case goes to tribunal, as the knock-on effects can be quite dramatic. Clients will be targeted by competitors the moment a company has a problem. Employees also need to be aware of the issue and encouraged to intervene for the good of the company."

Context

Price noted that the financial services industry is so heavily regulated that it is essential for brokers to have a policy in place to combat workplace bullying: "The insurance industry is very heavily regulated, therefore in tribunals the bar is set very high as to what they expect to be in place."

Staddon highlighted: "Brokers need cover, either insurance or a legal helpline, against bullying claims. Where you have a business in court against an individual, you don't need a law degree to see who is more likely to win."

Price believes that, while insurance against legal cases has its place for brokers, staff awareness is key and often problems can be resolved long before they get to court: "Effective training on a regular basis to show what is and what is not acceptable in the workplace is crucial. Employers need to be aware of the hidden costs of bullying. Where an open-door policy is in place, problems can easily be sorted out by talking things over with both sides. Often, people simply do not realise that they may have caused offence."

SIX-STEP ANTI-BULLYING PLAN

Provided for PB by Patricia Breslin, consultant, Plus HR

- Adopt a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and harassment.

- Put in place a bullying and harassment policy that outlines this zero-tolerance position and how bullying and harassment will be handled in the workplace.

- Ensure that the policy is communicated to all employees. It is helpful to include in any communication exercise the business base for having such a policy.

- All managers should behave in line with the behaviour outlined in the policy.

- All managers should be trained in conflict resolution and mediation skills.

- Refreshment training on the policy should be carried out on a regular basis for all employees.