July 9

What does bullying at work mean?

Bullying is the Employer’s problem.

Where there is bullying at work it means that employees and management have not been trained to spot and deal with bullying behaviour.
It does not mean that the person doing the bulling is a bad person.
The culture of the employer could be such that workplace bullying is acceptable. This is wrong.
The Employer must, according to The Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, protect the employee from both physical and psychological harm.
Also the Employment Relations Act 2000 requires a duty of “good faith”.
There are penalties in the Act when an Employer “conducts business in a way calculated or likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of trust, confidence and good faith between employer and employee.”

Tip

Don’t expect Human Resources to be grateful that you bring this matter to their attention.
In more that 70% of all bullying cases reported in America, Human Resources did nothing.
You could lose your job and the person with the bullying behaviour will stay employed.
Be very certain of the outcome you want as that would influence how you proceed.
Attend one of our workshops to help you decide how to move forward.
Don’t be surprised to learn that the person who is doing the bullying has done it in the past. Worksafe NZ refers to serial bullying for a good reason.
If you are aware of other incidents mention it to Human Resources.