More resign over bullying comments

Anxiety and fear rule where approval deprivation, over time, has insidiously become the driver for increased levels of performance anxiety amongst any group of people where individuals tolerance of poor relationship management, communicatons skills and leadership has undermined their confidence and wellbeing let alone their capacity & self-advocacy to do something about it.

Few who have experienced the stress and strain of working in anything less than a pro-social environments, and that is now the majority, will appreciate the long term affects on their ability to endure, cope, tolerate and adapt.

It may not be as dramatic as "water boarding" and the individual may not even recognise that they are the origin of the stress nevertheless, the recipient will persevere until they crack because that is what they think they are supposed to do - battered wife syndrome 'they wouldn't do it if they didn't care and I must do better and then they will be happy with me' - not.....

By the time most would even consider calling an external helpline they have been broken down enough to be manifesting at least a few sickies to cope and more often than not presenteeism as the approval deprivation further debiltates their performance and productivity prior to inevitable illness.

No, time to nip "behaviourism" in the bud before the critical mass of disaffection completley overwhelms the NHS who only treat around 20% of those currently manifesting mild to more serious mental health problems let alone those dependent on lack of care in the community or housed in our prisons because no room at the inn.

Thank you for your comments Nigel. I would have thought that providing help, support and guidance to anyone using a helpline should be the primary consideration. I may be naive, but unless an employer knows that there is a problem then how can they fix it? Supporting an employee through the process of approaching the employer so that the situation can be resolved would be much more helpful than 'public disclosure'.

Wellcome Jane, of course 'confidential' should mean confidential and any organisation has an obligation to it's callers if they are to remain confident that their data will be secure regardless of anything and actually remain confidential and in their control.

Mrs Pratt may have been a pratt by stupidly or innocently implicating Brown in her 'public disclosure' that they, the helpline, have receieved multiple calls from that location and will no doubt pay a price for her poor public relations judgment nevertheless, who is going to propose the issue of an ASBO for a something less than pro-social employer ?

And, at what point does the level of subjective reports of poor interpersonal relationship management trigger a 'public disclosure' of an increasing occupational health risk within an organisation ?

Should the initial question set include 'how many staff or people in total?' so that over time should the number of queries exceed 10% < 20% < 30% < 60%?

What is the point in having a confidential helpline if you then make specific information public. It defeats the purpose and, particularly in this instance, has pointed the finger, regardless of the later retractions by Mrs Pratt that the calls were not about Gordon Brown. I think that she has damaged perception of the Bullying Helpline and she, rather than the patrons, should go.