The great bullying debate

The allegations made against UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week have pulled the issue of workplace bullying into the limelight. But the problem, analysts suggest, is nothing new.

The concern has been highlighted in the UK in a report undertaken by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) and public service trade union Unison in January of this year, which identified that one in 10 employees are likely to experience workplace bullying and harassment.

The report also found that more than one third of workers have said they were bullied in the past six months, which is double the number a decade ago.

Stress

According to Dr. Linka Alker, a principal lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, who writes on Reuters today, workplace bullying is one of the greatest sources of stress that you can put upon your employees.

Alker, who specializes in organisational change, leadership and workplace stress, writes that "organizations and managers are often slow to react to cases of bullying because bullying is not always accepted as a credible label for the kind of abuse that many employees face in the workplace."

The concern is that the word "bullying" carries with it strong connotations with childhood or playground bullying, and the difficulties victims experience at school, suggesting that they don't want to label what is happening to them at work as "bullying" out of fear of sounding childish or unable to cope.

However, evidence - such as the report conducted by ACAS and Unison - highlights that workplace bullying is increasing.

Allegations

The issue of workplace bullying has come to the fore in the last fortnight after serious allegations were made against Britain's leader Gordon Brown. Last week Christine Pratt, spokeswoman for the National Bullying Helpline service, came forward to say that members of staff who work within Gordon Brown's office had contacted the service.

She said that while she was not insinuating that the British Prime Minister was actually a bully, "staff in his office working directly with him [do] have issues."

The biggest concern surrounding the issue of workplace bullying is that it can often be hard for workers to know where to draw the line between a gruff management style and intimidation of a more personal nature.

Ultimately though the messages coming out of the industry are clear: HR managers should have zero tolerance for intimidation or bullying.

And the advice if you do think you are being bullied? Put simply you should try to establish whether the behaviour you are being subjected to really does constitute as bullying. From there, psychologist suggest that employees should try to find out if anyone else they work with is suffering from or has ­witnessed bullying behaviour from the person concerned; keep a diary of incidents, including dates, witnesses and your feelings at the time and keep copies of emails you think form a wider pattern of bullying; make the person aware of his or her behaviour and ask them to stop - or, if you can't confront the person, consider putting your objections to him or her in writing, keeping copies of any correspondence and maintaining an unemotive tone that only states the facts.

Complaints can also be made if think you are being bullied on the grounds of age, sex, race, disability, religion, sexual orientation, nationality or any personal characteristic.

Matthew Buttell

Matt Buttell graduated from Bath Spa University in 2006. Since then he has written for several publications, before moving to the web. He now writes solely for the internet, continuing to cover key business issues while managing his own personal blog.

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