Bullies taking toll in workplace
By Victoria Cumbow
The Huntsville Times Huntsville, AL
June 11, 2008
Companies must fight 'epidemic,' speaker says
There's a silent epidemic plaguing America, but it's one most people don't think about.
"More than 37 percent of our work force is bullied," said Jennifer Starace, client services manager for Business Resource Solutions. "That's 54 million people in our work force."
Starace, who labeled those numbers as an epidemic, spoke in Huntsville on Tuesday to the North Alabama chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management. She talked about bullying in the workplace, how to prevent it and its effects on a company's bottom line.
Starace said when someone is bullied in the workplace, he or she does not want to work or even be at work, causing attendance and production to decline. It also causes stress and tension in the victim, which can raise a company's health care costs. She said bullying also can lead to higher legal costs as well as increased turnover.
"All of this affects a company's return on investment," she said.
The Workplace Bullying Institute in Bellingham, Wash., said most workplace bullying originates in childhood bullying.
"Childhood bullying and workplace bullying are extremely similar," Starace said. "It's not new, and it has serious consequences."
Starace said 60 percent of childhood bullies are convicted of crimes by the age of 24, and 40 percent of those have been convicted more than once.
Such statistics, she said, show where the problem lies.
Take all childhood bullies, then deduct the 60 percent convicted of crimes; that leaves 40 percent in the work force. Thirty-seven percent of the work force is bullied.
"Bullies want to control, intimidate and humiliate others," she said. "Almost always, there's a bystander. You're condoning it by not doing anything."
She said 72 percent of all workplace bullies are bosses and have executive support. She encouraged businesses to take an active role in bully prevention.
Starace also noted a distinct difference between bullying and harassment. Harassment is specifically targeted at a protected group, but bullying doesn't have to be targeted toward anyone.
"But if people are bullying," she said, "it's only a matter of time before it turns into harassment."
Starace said companies can coach, mentor, train and discipline to decrease the number of workplace bullies. She also said executive support is a must as well as a bully-free policy.
"It will never fly without leadership from the top," she said. "It's never OK for you to act like a human is not a human."
