Bullying and return to work

Sorry, can't help adding my four p'north into this thread, having been the victim of workplace bullying. There seems to be a simplistic approach to bullying in that there are 'bullies' and 'victims'. Perfectly nice people can bully another person. They may not bully anyone else, but something in the behaviour or demeanor of one person can bring out a bullying tendency (no, I'm not blaming the victim. In my case I realised, from listening to her talk, that my bully was disablist - it was so deeply ingrained in her that she didn't realise it.) Very assertive people (such as myself) can become victimised by insidious bullying behaviour.
Obviously, the person who is exhibiting the bullying behaviour is not going to recognise it. Impartial investigation is required - has anyone from outside the company been appointed officially to investigate the original claim? What on earth is anyone thinking of by allowing the so called instigator to still influence her former workmates? I would be insisting that a fresh start is in place and issuing verbal warnings to anyone referring back to previous incidents with either worker in work time - it's malicious slander if there is no evidence to back up what you are saying about people. Perhaps the CEO doens't like the bullied worker much, which is why s/he is allowing this behaviour to escalate.

Nigel's right - mediation is easier said than done and does need some well honed skills to be really effective. But getting an external mediator in - or paying to train some of your own people to be in-house mediators is, as Katherine says, still likely to be a lot cheaper than forking out even the one £20K pay-off emntioned in this thread.

And the whole point of mediation is that it is not just about solving the immediate problem - good mediation is about looking to the future and helping the parties consider how they can build or rebuild effective working relationships. The potential pay-off then is that the workers with the particular skills stay with the organisation, so does the person with the general admin skills who, we understand, has been with the organisation for a long time (and so, presumably, has plenty of experience and background knowledge which it's useful to retain), and finally, that they all start working and communicating together more effectively. That's got to be worth more than the cost of a cash pay-off to the bullied employee?

Mediation a bit like post aparthied 'truth & reconcilliation' easier said than done without a great deal of heat being applied by a good blacksmith to forging those links that have broken under enormous strain.

Mediation should have been embedded, a bit like war journo's, in the ethos of the companies relationship management tool-kit along with basic, let alone good, interpersonal communication skills.

Even if the king was too busy in his counting house and didn't notice one of his generals pushing anyone of his Humpties onto the top of a very high wall or just turned a blind-eye and/or a deaf ear to the fearfull silence of no one complaining by the time Humpty Dumpty was pushed and scrambled egg too late to put Humpty together again..........

Could, maybe, if had been in good time remove all the other humpties shells there might have been an opportunity to make a nice big omelette but that is only if in time otherwise too late Ethal and about as close as ya gonna get to the one scrambled egg he has now.......

As mixed metaphors go "a kingdom for the want of a horse shoe nail" - what ?

I'm surprised no one has mentioned mediation. It can be used very effectively to change understanding and behaviours and rebuild relationships in these situations - and comes in way cheaper than £20k 'bungs'.

Yo Ann & Carol, just a question of "how it is and how it ought to be" (not me a remembered snippet of a quote) for sure "inclusive" -v- "exclusive" or parental -v- preditory cultrues average a 15% difference in performance / producitivity.

Simples'sss, not rocket science wellness -v- illness, positive -v- negative flipsides of the same coin approval -v- disapproval, positive reinforcement -v- aversion therapy and you don't need a bell and a few dogs, bird seed a button to peck and a pigeon, or monkey nuts to provide empirical evidence from researching that one.

Not a good or ethical and maybe even morally bankrupt idea to sacrifice the 'one for the many' but, just immediately expedient in terms of sustainability / continuity of business in the very meen short term - shift the rotten manager and hope that the now contaminated barrel of delicate fruit will somehow recover it's blume - not - already fermenting.

No surprise, not unusual and in fact quite common as we approach the critical mass of work/life disaffection at the beginning of the 21st Century on the way to an "hourglass" economy of haves and havenots as we recycle a Dickensian future of flogging the tired, fatigued and unhealthy dead horses who fail to tick-the-box on time on budget nothing to do wiv management culture just the lazy good for nothing mardy workers.

Pit pony or thoroughbred all gonna keel over and die in the end if not nurtured regardless of their nature it is in their genes and foreseeable without the aid of Mystic Megg that coping, tolerence and adaptation exhaustion will get them all.

Approval deprivation leading to performance anxiety and fatigue but just stepping stones on the path to reduced capacity, self-medication and psycho-social illhealth.

Self-advocacy and refusing to be a voluntary victim of the friendly fire the only way to prevent becoming just another collateral damage to UK HR statistic.

Of course companies need to be productive and successful to remain solvent in a dog-eat-dog world. All businesses need to have that competative edge or they will fall by the way-side. But should this be at the expence of their employyes? I don't think so! Where does the bullying end if you let it start? Who's next in the firing line?
Businesses can't let the bullying mentality take hold, if the problem is endemic, it needs to be rooted out, FROM THE TOP until the workforce is made up of rounded individuals working as a tem with the aim of taking the business forward, not by bullies and biggots who's aim is to make life hell for anyone not meeting their narrow minded ideals.

James I found your opinion to buy off the employee and allow the perpetrator/s of this crime to continue quite offensive to say the least. You quite obviously have never been bullied or seen first hand the results of what it can do to somebody.

To now suggest that above all else this CEO has to think of the productivity of his company rather than this insidious culture is not only even more offensive but shows in you a complete and utter lack of understanding of the law because a bully does have that on their side and a lack of understanding on the subject as research shows clearly that companies bottom lines DONT improve until they deal with this issue. It also tells me a lot about you as a person as you seem SO compelled to advise this CEO as you have which has a total disregard for the afflicted employee, almost to the point that you are just flicking your fingers and saying "This does not matter just buy them off".

What sort of message does that send to other employees if they see that happening? It says its fine to bully because the CEO is going to support us and get rid of that person. So well done James thats a wonderful bit of advice, that company will win the best company to work for award and everything will be hunky dory. As for you, perhaps its your morals that need closer inspection.

Productivity v Humanity - interesting!
I often hear the statement - "our most valuable resource are our people" but like many such statements it falls by the wayside when challenged.
In this case which has already been going on too long I would suggest that the law indicates it is the managers job to sort it out or pass it on to HR under the bullying and Harrassment policy. Early on in this thread a question was asked about the complaint being investigated and the outcome being a 'whitewash'. I am often asked to intervene as an independant 'people' expert and find that there are issues on both sides, often based on poor communication skills which push people towards aggression/passivity/small mindedness. It is playground behaviour in an adult place. Group and individual coaching and training is very effective - much less than £20,000 and sends out a positive message that bullying will not be tolerated and initiates better understanding.
there is even a possibility that productivity can be improved by the people involved spending less time scheming and more time working.

Now now, boys and girls, it's my 'stick up for Hiran day' who has offered sound advise to someone who is NOT a Client but a known associate or sort of friend who hasn't had his ears on and is or has, like most people, been "living in is own bubble" of reality that is about to be popped and doesn't want to hear that news.

Whether "glass houses" or fantasy of personal reality 'bubbles' not sure anyone of us can be 'casting any stones' like as, whether at the top, middle or bottom of the food chain, we have all compromised our integrety or "feelings" at some time to just suck-it-up to just get the job done whether it is knowingly going to hurt us or someone else in the name of expedience.

Each and everyone of us is somewhere in and on the natural cycle of natures evolutionary hierarchy, red in tooth and claw, and will be both and at the same time preditor and victim as an actor and player on the jungle stage of life.

Simple survival is the name of the game and opportunities are the self-advocacy tools that we constantly have to choose for ourselves and the decissions are rarely difficult as we can always provide justification for the wrong from the right moral one's for us just have serious problems when it come to the ethical one's of right from right....

Fatigue, tiredness, expedience and/or just fear of rocking the boat will bring approval deprivation are the primary, more than, forseeable risk factors as we approach critical mass of disaffection in an intolerant, stressed out and judgmental solely poor performance or behavioural blame based model that systemically fails to recognise and separate the sins of poor producitivity from the emotionally handicapped sinner.

A self-fulfilling prophesy with little or no healthy performance dividends.

James

I have to take the moral high ground here. Treating a human being with dignity and respect and providing a safe working environment should be paramount.

Unfortunately in this incident, it is not the case.

Carl - without wishing to labour my point, it is only right that productivity should be the number one priority. If this means allowing the staff to have a teabreak/engage in banter/have the radio on/have a girlie calendar on the wall then fair enough. We do not know what the set-up in this office/factory is. Maybe the six bullies make up all the other employees? We do not know.

Either way - if the MD puts the moral high ground ahead of productivity/profits then he shoots himself in the foot.

Hiran,

This is an obvious one. Your client has a 'duty of care' to the employee. Something even a layman can see they have failed in.

The employee should be consulting legal advice as we speak.

In reality, IMO, your client is showing no remorse or desire to stamp out the bullying. A despicable stand point, one made with productivity in mind.

It seems if the employee comes back to work and no action is taken the bullying will continue. The employee has already shown that this is a situation they cannot(and should not) handle.

Three options for you if the employee has any sense.

:Allow her back to work, discipline bullies, fulfill your duty of care.
:Lose in court.
:Follow James's advice and buy of the employee.

regards

Ooop's getting a bit crusty when only one, maybe very good example, of what appens when a little breakdown in interpersonal communications or ' p ' poor professional relationship management grows into a great big ugly pussy boil inflaming all around it before anyone has the kahonas to say something let alone blow the whistle on a toxic workplace culture.

One could, of course, argue that the management has through their omission nay neglegence to act decissively and immediately it has actually given their tacid permission to the bullies to carry-on rather than lancing the boil even if they had been in denial of it swelling up in the first place.

Gonna need to get pro-active rather than re-active before 2013 when occ-health morphs rapidly from voluntary to regulatory to legislative.........

Would think they are on "an event horizon" where at least a new car and a bunch of wonga to go with a non-disclosure agreement is going to be needed if they want this one to go away apart from being left to deal with remaining internal cultural opportunities the company has to turn around the decent into a more expensive blackhole.

James I would offer your apologies and quit while you were ahead! There is an old saying - when in a hole stop digging. If you honestly do believe your practical advice and the rest of your opinion, then you are in cloud cuckoo land!

I dont care how many bullies or how much it costs to get rid of them (if that is what it takes in the end) but no matter the economic times these people are going to cost this company far more than the amounts you are quoting if left to continue their hideous crime. More fool the company for not stamping it out earlier, so justice will just have to be not cheap. Some lessons are expensive ones.

I feel I should apologise. I provided what I believed (and still do believe) was practical advice for the board of this company. I stand by that as being the best way to address this issue.

On a personal opinion, I agree that cultural change is needed in this organisation. Let us suggest that there are four main bullies, and another six who aren't as bad, but still do whatever the main ones tell them to do.

To achieve cultural change, these four people (at least) need to be removed from the business. That is four lots of £20k bungs to pay out. Far better to leave it for happier economic times when people are likely to look around for jobs anyway.

I absolutely agree that the bullied employee is in the right here (and we have all been that person at some point in the past, work/school/etc) - but someone once said to me "justice doesn't come cheap".

Kevin has it absolutely spot on. I couldn't believe that this "investigation" was carried out by the instigator - crazy. If the CEO is listening in, he could do no better than start this process again - properly - using Kevin's advice around impartial mediation. This is a real mess in the making - fix it quick.

And James - it is absolutely the CEO and Board of Directors responsibility to ensure that a bullying atmosphere doesn't take over the company - unless they want the company to grind to a halt!

An interesting thread, My 1st question is how can the company allow the preson who the complaint was made against, allow that same person to investigate the allegation. What sort of company is this. If the CEO is reading this then he/she needs to step in NOW and sort things out.
What has happened to the HR department, where are they, no where by the sound of it.
What should have happened, the person making the allegation should have been interviewed by a senior person within the companay ( a person not involved in the incident) and a formal statement made, The people who the complaint was made agaist placed on garden leave until a hearing could be heard.
The hearing should be conducted hearing both sides, again by someone not involved in the incident with the authority to make decisions.
Once the decision has been made and if found proven then the company should apply the correct disciplinary action against the bully, if it says dismissal is the appropriate action then that is it. The bully does have a right of appeal, again heard by some one not involved in the original hearing. Its all very messy.
But the support of the bullied person is critical in all of this, if you try and buy them off then their is an admission of guilt, and if that was me I would be running with the cheque in my hand straight to the tribunal and seek complensation for unfair dismissal and use the cheque as evidence along with all my other paperwork.

Is the CEO following this thread because he is concerned about the risk to his company of being sued (and quite correctly from what I have read), or is he following it because he is genuinely concerned about the risk of not doing anything to stop bullying within his company? Lets hope its the latter and he uses the obvious intelligence that got him to be CEO and stamps out this heinous and cowedly of behaviour which has such devastating effects on its victims.

James, shame on you for suggesting 'not the board of directors responsibility' to deal with bullying and harrassment just beggers belief as they is sure to be carrying the can for corproate manslaughter if the manager does her any more harm or even if the victim tops herself.

She may not have had a forklift dropped on her head but she has informed the management that one is hanging there like the sword of Damaclees waiting to drop if not moved out of harms way in a mixed metaphor sort of way.....

Need to be taking a look at

1. 'www.bullyonline.org/workbully/' &

2. 'www.pcaw.co.uk' whistleblowing

As if that out of touch with their own workplace culture your opo is in real trouble and producitivity let alone performance will be taking a serious nose dive if now shortly as employees realise that management don't give a damn.

Glad your friend isn't a client or could be leaving yourself open to a bit of bullyin yourself when the victims solicitors get stuck in - do something now before the poo hits the fan.

Thanks everyone. This thread helps explore the issues.

James, I understand you and appreciate your comment but agree with the others that bullying and victimisation must not be allowed to become institutional - ie. the company backing the alleged bullies with no explanation offered.

The CEO who is concerned about the risk of this case is following this thread on my advice. (He is a friend - this is not a professional engagement for me).

I shall keep you all updated.

Hiran - the only good piece of advice I have read here is from Craig - and James that is about the worst I have ever read from you, in fact I cant believe you have that attitude! Are you seriously saying to the bullied employee "your the trouble maker - you leave" and then just ignore the bully's?

Having been in exactly this scenario myself as the bullied employee, I can tell you that I faced a wealthy company who, when I tried to fight threw money at lawyers to protect their public relations position rather than worry about the institutional bulling and harassment that was part of the companies culture right up to senior management level despite having seemingly got all the best written policies and helplines to protect employees.

I really hope that the company you are advising take on board any recommendations you suggest as it seems to me that they must at least be taking them reasonably seriously to have brought you in to start with.

Ask yourself why an employee should have to move jobs, stay off work or leave a job just because another person in an organisation has decided that they dont like them and can manipulate them and or other people to make that happen.

Unless somebody is not performing their duties correctly, or at least to the standard of their contract, nobody else has the right to take it upon themselves to manipulate a situation so they cant return to their position. So unless there are other facts involved here, the company in my view would be looking straight at a court room and no bullied person should be intimidated enough not to do that - as I did!

Craig - agree with you that someone should stand up to these bullies, but that is not the place of a board of directors. Their number one concern should be the performance/efficiency of their business.

If that means paying £20k to an employee who (for whatever reason) is the source of problems, or finding that the factory is overrun with workplace disputes and is unable to complete a £100k contract - then this is a no brainer.

Yes, I'm sure these other employees are bullies. Maybe the police ought to be involved. Maybe the sick leave employee wound up other people? Maybe this issue is a storm in a teacup like someone not buying a round down the pub, or maybe it is something very serious like sexual assault. We do not know.

All we do know is that management have an issue, which needs to be resolved in the simplest way for all concerned.

Link referred to above: http://questarblog.com/2010/01/13/taking-on-bullies-in-court-should-we-criminalize-workplace-incivility/

All too often companies are slow to deal with bullies - often because they are very valuable in other ways. Research shows they can really hurt the company's bottom-line though. Not too mention the psychological and physical well-being of its employees. Just wrote a blog entry about criminalizing incivility at work. Personally I don't know that it would work. But there are things individuals and organizations can and should do to deal with this type of behavior.

Taking on Bullies...In Court? Should We Criminalize Workplace Incivility?

Yo Jayn, am I confused in thinking Hiran's client is in fact the employer of theese delightfully anti-social employees with an ex-manager pulling strings from another location to ensure the victim does not return to work or what ?

I know one needs to be tactfull and diplomatic with clients as often they do not wanna hear what you have to say to them but they have engaged Hiran to advise on a course of action backed up by your legal analysis of the situation as given.

Clearly transfering the manager, who may or maynot have been the catalyst, yet demonstrating seriously poor interpersonal relationship skills and an inability to maintain a professional distance has not, on its own, reduced the level of risk of harm as distance in this case has not made the heart grow fonder of her pet subject and nor have the remaining staff had any diversity retraining or preventative mediative intervention.

The employer will, no doubt, have a shed load of "Lilly the Pink" policies designed to be efficascious as a defence in every situation but just systemically fails to impliment any of them by focusing on fear driven friendly fire problem solving through expediency rather than seizing the day recognising the opportunity that zero tolerance of offers to reduce collateral damage that insidious bullying and harassment has on productivity

Being seen to be supportive of occupational health of all their employees would not only pay health dividends but protect performance dividends whether public, private or social enterprise sector.