Managing workplace stress by tackling harassment & bullying

[Budfrog]

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Harassment and bullying at work are major contributors to stress in the workplace and may result in very serious health problems. They can also have detrimental effects on a company’s performance and business results. It is well recognised that poor psychosocial work environments facilitate harassment. Awareness of how to best deal with the issue, however, is increasing.

According to a 2009 EU-OSHA report on workplace violence and harassment, bullying can be defined as repeated unreasonable behaviour directed towards an employee or group of employees by a colleague, supervisor or subordinate, aimed at victimising, humiliating, undermining or threatening them.

According to the Irish Health and Safety Authority who have put together a useful national tool on bullying, obvious examples of behaviours that may constitute it include intimidation, aggressive or obscene language, pestering, spying, and stalking. But they also include some more unsuspecting examples such as unreasonable assignments or duties that are unfavourable to certain individuals in particular, or repeated requests for impossible deadlines or tasks.

The EU-OSHA report explains that the psychological consequences for individuals suffering from harassment and bullying can include fear, anxiety, sleeping problems, depression, or even post-traumatic stress disorder and other serious problems stemming from a deterioration of physical health. Negative outcomes observed at the company level include lower productivity, long-term sick leave, and high turnover – all leading to economic loss.

Harassment and bullying are most often found in work environments that feature a combination of problems like a negative social climate, high competition, unclear or unjust work distribution and promotion procedures, a culture that permits harassment, a culture that ‘rewards’ perpetrators, a lack of management support, and a lack of leadership.

The prevalence of harassment and bullying in workplaces varies across Europe, but a recent EU-OSHA opinion poll showed that 59 % of workers believe that experiencing unacceptable behaviour, such as bullying and harassment, is one of the most common causes of stress nowadays.

So what can be done to prevent bullying and harassment in the workplace? As with other psychosocial risks, preventing harassment is a legal obligation. Making sure an organisation treats all employees equally while creating a culture that discourages discrimination and promotes dignity is essential. Raising awareness among both management and workers about the definition of harassment and how it is dealt with in the organisation can be a good concrete starting point.
The best prevention practices include developing an anti-harassment policy and putting organisational procedures in place to deal with harassment cases, reacting to them as soon as possible if they occur, and not allowing the problem to escalate.

More help and information on this topic is available on the Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress website. For example, there are Practical Tools available to help organisations deal with managing stress and psychosocial risks in the workplace, as well as the recently developed e-guide which is specifically helpful for smaller businesses.

[Lincox]

Send Moya a copy of the e-guide. After all she is turning this into a small company.