Freedom Week: The Time to Break Silence About Workplace Bullying

http://www.workplacebullying.org/2011/10/17/freedom-week/

Bullying at work is a dirty little secret. Though it occurs with epidemic frequency (experienced by 35% of all adult Americans), it is a silent epidemic because it is too rarely discussed. Why the silence?

- personal shame by targets (who would brag about being humiliated?)
- coworkers frozen by bullies into not helping their bullied colleagues
- executives covering up for bullies they sponsor/support
- bullying is the American style of managing

Over time, fear paralyzes us all. Overcoming the inertia of inaction is difficult. We know.

But the most successful personal change plans are the ones triggered by events that suggest karma is working — a sign from above, a coincidental omen. That event becomes the excuse, the rationale, for doing something out of the ordinary.

WBI’s Freedom from Workplace Bullies Week is the reason to change how you are dealing with your bullying situation.

- City and County executives can formally recognize Freedom Week by proclamation. At the start of Freedom Week 2011, over 30 municipalities have issued such proclamations. Visit the gallery of proclamations.

- Bullied individuals and their families can take stock of the extent of the psychological injuries sustained from bullying. It sneaks up on everyone. High blood pressure goes undetected until the family physician asks what is stressful in your life. Use Freedom Week as the excuse to schedule an appointment to have your blood checked and to look for the onset of stress-related diseases. Ignoring your personal health is not a good idea. Bullying can kill. Please give your health as high a priority as keeping the salary to keep a roof over your head. If you die, no salary will have been worth it. Family members: please give your bullied partner or spouse the support she or he requires. They can build up credits that can be repaid when the bullying situation ends. Read the book The Bully At Work.

- Managers and executives need to calculate the financial losses attributable to preventable bullying. Bullies are actually too expensive to retain. However, the truth is that you are too loyal to bullies who have conned you over the years. When you acknowledge that “Bob” is a jerk, you are admitting the problem. But when you consider Bob indispensable, regardless of costs to the organization or his effect on others, you are condemning everyone to a living hell. Balance the needs of the business (profit making or budget balancing) with the narcissistic needs of Bob. Do the math. Talk to your Risk Manager. Bob is a liability. Stay friends if you must, but cut Bob loose for the sake of many. Honor your fiduciary responsibility to the organization. Bob will live on (elsewhere). Read the book The Bully-Free Workplace.

- Insurers and attorneys should warn your employer clients to prevent and correct costly bullying for their own self-interest and cost savings. Whether or not the employer has employment practices liability insurance (EPLI), bullying is costly. Premiums rise when liability increases. Bullies pose increasingly costly risks. Attorneys: you have been writing in recent years how your clients need to squelch bullying even though no specific laws exist. Continue this advice. Use Freedom Week to bolster that message. Visit The Work Doctor website to assure clients that something can be done about bullying.

- State lawmakers should enact legislation to curb bullying in the workplace. The Healthy Workplace Legislative Campaign has been around since 2003. It exists to help sympathetic lawmakers of all political parties to address health-harming abusive conduct at work (no need to call it workplace bullying). The Healthy Workplace Bill (HWB) has been introduced in 21 states. In 2011, the HWB is alive in 11 states, including Massachusetts and New York. During Freedom Week, Wisconsin state Rep. Kelda Roys and Sen. Spencer Coggs are introducing the HWB in both legislative chambers.

October 16-22 Proclaimed Freedom From Workplace Bullies in City of South Lake Tahoe, CA

PROCLAMATION OF THE CITY OF

South Lake Tahoe

DECLARING OCTOBER 16 – 22, 2011

“FREEDOM FROM WORKPLACE BULLIES WEEK”

WHEREAS, the City of South Lake Tahoe has an interest in promoting the social and economic well-being of its employees and citizens; and

WHEREAS, that well-being depends upon the existence of healthy and productive employees working in safe and abuse-free environments; and

WHEREAS, surveys and studies have documented the stress-related health consequences for individuals caused by exposure to abusive work environments; and

WHEREAS, abusive work environments can create costly consequences for employers, including reduced productivity, absenteeism, turnover, and employee health-related expenses; and

WHEREAS, protection from abusive work environments should apply to every worker, and not limited to legally protected class status based only on race, color, gender, national origin, age, or disability;

NOW, THEREFORE, the Mayor, Hal Cole, and Council of the City of South Lake Tahoe hereby proclaim October 16 – 22 “Freedom From Workplace Bullies Week”.

Stop Workplace Bullying Before it Starts

http://www.workplacebullying.org/2011/09/21/stop-workplace-bullying-before-it-starts/

Jane Applegate President & CEO, The Applegate Group Inc.,
September 20,2011

Everyone has experienced a bad day at the office when people are yelling and screaming at each other in frustration. But, if one person is the target of constant verbal and emotional abuse, it can escalate into a troubling case of ‘workplace bullying.’

Many small business owners refuse to acknowledge workplace bullying, preferring to hope the antagonist will eventually stop picking on a targeted co-worker. But, if you do nothing, the situation usually worsens, creating serious health and emotional problems for the bullied worker—and financial stress for employers, according to experts in the field.

If business owners don’t deal with bullying at work, it could result in a violent act. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, about two million violent crimes occur at American workplaces every year.

“There’s a real bottom line reason for business owners to take this problem seriously,” said David Yamada, professor of law and director of the New Workplace Institute at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. “If you are working in close quarters and things are tense and combative, it’s likely to affect everyone’s morale.”

An expert on workplace issues, Yamada authored the ‘Healthy Workplace’ bill, which has been introduced by legislators in 21 states. Currently, 16 versions of the bill—which aims to protect bullied workers from abusers, extending legal protections currently not available to them—are under review in 11 states. Most people think federal employment and discrimination laws protect workers from bullying, but they don’t, according to Yamada.

Being bullied at work makes life miserable. Experts say bullied workers suffer from anxiety, hypertension, depression and other stress-related illnesses. A 2010 Zogby study revealed that about 35 percent of all adult Americans have been bullied and 15 percent of the population has witnessed workplace bullying. The survey was authored by Dr. Gary Namie, Ph.D., and his wife Ruth.

Considered experts on workplace bullying, they have written extensively on the topic and consult with companies dealing with bullying issues. Their newest book, The Bully-free Workplace: Stop Jerks, Weasels and Snakes from Killing Your Organization, provides readers with an in-depth look at the problem and several strategies for dealing with workplace bullying.

“Bullying runs rampant in small businesses,” said Namie. “The owner wants to avoid conflict and doesn’t know what to do. They prefer to tell the abuser and the target, ‘you guys work this out.’”

Namie said he became interested in workplace bullying issues after his wife, Ruth, who is a psychologist, was bullied at work. “Our research shows 66 percent of women who are bullied at work lose their jobs,” said Gary Namie. “Forty-one percent quit, and 25 percent are fired.”

People bullied at work feel trapped—similar to someone suffering from domestic violence. It’s often worse for a bullied worker who feels he or she has to take the abuse because they really need the job, especially during this lingering economic slump.

How do you know if you have a bully in your midst?

“Bullying is a hostile, repeated behavior meant to make people feel badly,” said Carolyn Fedigan, a Boston-area human resources consultant who helps clients deal with bullying problems.

“I’ve dealt with a CEO who would regularly say to his secretary, ‘What, are you stupid?’”

Fedigan said some bullies take a more subtle approach. “They leave people out of communication loops, they spread gossip or single people out for the silent treatment,” she said.

No matter how distasteful it is, business owners can’t turn their backs on the problem. “There is a real financial cost to companies that let this toxic behavior continue, “ said Fedigan. “Bullied people take sick leaves, go out on disability and lose productivity.”

She said many business owners tolerate a bully if the person is a great salesperson or clients love them. “Sometimes the boss is scared of the bully,” she said. “They worry about the cost of turnover, of recruiting and training a new person.”

Business owners have to put their foot down and say, ‘We don’t accept this kind of behavior.” She said it’s important to have a written policy prohibiting workplace bullying. It’s also important to encourage your employees to report any inappropriate or bad behavior. “You have to have the kind of environment where employees can tell the boss what’s happening to them.”

Companies often hire Fedigan to counsel bullies. She works one on one with them, delving into why they are acting inappropriately towards a colleague. “Often, they have no idea they are a bully,” she said. “They think it’s an okay way to behave.”

Consider drafting an anti-bullying policy for your business that defines the problem and then:

Provides a procedure to report incidents.
Includes a ‘no retaliation’ provision.
Encourages employees to report incidents.
Informs employees that violations may result in discipline.

Workplace Bullies are bad for businesses bottom line...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/tribu/ct-biz-0919-work-advice-huppke-20110918,0,840477.column

When push comes to shove, workplace bullies are costing the company money. And that's a good focus when dealing with them.

Ask Rex Huppke: I Just Work Here

September 18, 2011

As a species, it seems we're doomed to interact with jerks.

It happens in high school, and we think, "Once I get to college, things will be different."

Then it happens in college, and we think, "Once I get a job, people there will be more mature."

Not so much. Jerks abound, and, as fate would have it, the workplace is as much a breeding ground for bullies as the playground.

While much has been done in recent years to address bullies in the schoolyard, the issue of bullying at work remains largely under the radar. In fact, because of a work culture that often rewards aggressiveness, bullies have a nasty tendency of succeeding at work.

"This is one of the great undiscussables in the American workplace because it seems if you haven't experienced it, you're likely to believe it doesn't happen," said Gary Namie, a social psychologist and co-founder of the Workplace Bullying Institute. "What we're seeing is a lot of abusive conduct, but it's accepted as routine in the American workplace."

Last year, Namie commissioned the polling group Zogby International to survey U.S. workers. The research found that 35 percent of the country's workforce has experienced bullying on the job, and another 15 percent has seen it happen.

The remaining 50 percent of respondents had neither seen nor experienced bullying, a statistic that Namie said makes it hard for some to relate to the problem. He calls it a "silent epidemic."

"So often in the workplace the feeling is, 'Hey, you're an adult, handle it yourself,'" Namie said. "They sometimes even blame the victim. But you know what? We said that for domestic violence for a long, long time until they criminalized it. So people need to stop the silly rationalizations."

To be clear, "workplace bullying" doesn't apply to acts of violence.

"What separates bullying from workplace violence or harassment is the fact that the bullying is something that's done on a continuous basis," said Timothy Dimoff, founder of SACS Consulting & Investigative Services, an Ohio-based company that specializes in high-risk workplace and human resource issues. "It's constant and repetitive; someone who's using different means of harassment, whether it's complaining about the person, spreading rumors, blaming them, encouraging others not to talk to the person. It's more psychological and emotional abuse."

Think about your workplace, and there's a good chance you've seen this or dealt with it. In the most severe cases, a manager tries to sabotage an employee by taking credit for work or writing a negative performance review. More routinely, a co-worker or manager picks away at an employee, making cracks about them in front of other people, demeaning them even in subtle ways.

This behavior may seem routine in a world of snarkiness, but when it happens day in and day out, and when the targeted person feels unable to fix the situation, it can lead to serious physical and mental health problems. Consider how difficult it might be, particularly in this job market, for a victim to protest the way a manager is treating them.

"Many people nowadays feel really locked in," Namie said. "Like there's no escape route, and that just makes the situation worse."

The fact is, some folks will find themselves in situations where the only way out is to quit. That's obviously a worst-case scenario, but if a bully is making your life so miserable it's affecting you physically and mentally, you've got to cut ties and take care of yourself.

Before that, however, there are steps you can take to try to put the bully in his or her place.

"They need to take it to their human resources person or their immediate supervisor," Dimoff said. "If they don't get any results, then they need to go to somebody higher. In the meantime, they need to document when these things happen, where they happen and what was said and done. If they don't write it down, it's hard to remember details, and things get distorted. When management sees an employee come in with this in writing, they react much more quickly and thoroughly to it."

Namie suggests that the target look for ways to quantify the harm a bully is causing a company. How many people has the person driven away? How much work time is eaten up contending with problems relating to the bully?

"You want to be able to tell the executives that the bully is too expensive to keep; actually present the business argument that the bully is too expensive," Namie said. "What can discredit the person who is the target is emotionality. The emotionality is scary to management. So you make a dispassionate argument."

Of course, management is, or should be, responsible for creating an environment that repels bullies.

"The company needs to have policies and procedures against bullying and workplace violence, and they need to let those procedures be very well known to their management and employees," Dimoff said. "Companies need to work on creating a more positive culture. In positive cultures, we don't see the bullying. People work together and don't resort to negative tools."

Namie's Workplace Bullying Institute is pushing a Healthy Workplace Bill, which is being considered in 11 states, that would crack down on office bullies and clearly define what it means to have an "abusive work environment." You can learn more about the bill at healthyworkplacebIll.org.

A final point: If you think a bullying co-worker is trying to make you a target, be proactive.

Bullies, at the end of the day, are cowards. They feed off people who put up with their abuse. So the moment someone begins to pick at you, stand up to them. Let them know you won't tolerate improper treatment.

The alternative is to let it go, and that's almost guaranteed to not end well.

Talk to Rex: Ask workplace questions—anonymously or by name—and share stories with Rex Huppke at IJustWorkHere@tribune.com, like him on Facebook at facebook.com/rexworkshere and find more at chicagotribune.com/ijustworkhere.

Workplace Bullying Educational Events in Sacramento

GREAT NEWS!
YOU ARE INVITED...Bring a friend!!
Two events coming the end of March!!

Join us at our next Sacramento
Healthy Workplace Advocates Meeting
Saturday, March 26, 2011 - 3pm
to be held at: Denny’s Restaurant
925 3rd St., Sacramento, CA 95814 Ph 916 443-1951
“J” Street exit, just off Interstate 5/ CA-99, next to Old Town Sacramento,
Enter from “J” St. or 3rd St. ______________________________________________________________________

Monday, March 28th, 6pm
FREE TO THE PUBLIC, Sacramento State University
UNION HALL, BALLROOM 1 (see attached map)
Sacramento State University
6000 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95819
FREE PRESENTATION ON WORKPLACE BULLYING
Dr. Gary Namie
Author of The Bully at Work
Founder of The Workplace Bullying Institute

See the attached map for directions...
YOU ARE INVITED, bring a friend!!
COME EARLY FOR BEST PARKING!!

Dr. Gary Namie to speak about Workplace Bullying Monday, 3/28 at Sac State University

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC TO ATTEND AT SAC STATE
on Monday, 3/28/11 - 6pm Free of Charge, Ballroom in Union Hall

Dr. Gary Namie, author of The Bully at Work and a new book to be released in May 2011, Bully Free Workplace, will be speaking at Sacramento State University in the Ballroom at Union Hall at 6pm on Monday, March 28th, 2011. This event is open to the public at no charge. Nationally recognized as an expert on workplace bullying, Namie will be discussing Workplace Bullying and the devastating effects it has on our workforce, not only emotionally but economically.

Namie is national director of the Healthy Workplace Campaign, the grassroots network of citizen lobbyists working to enact the anti-bullying Healthy Workplace Bill in state legislatures. California introduced the first bill in 2003. The bill has now been introduced in 20 states and today there are 13 active bills in 11 states. There is currently no law to protect individuals who do not fall under the 1964 Civil Rights Act; in other words, status blind workplace bullying is currently legal in the USA.

The mission of the Workplace Bullying Institute (healthyworkplacebill.org and workplacebullying.org) is "To raise awareness of, and create a public dialogue about Workplace Bullying. To apply research, empirical and anecdotal, to solutions for individuals, unions, employers and public policy makers. "

To become involved with the grassroots movement in California, make contact through the website, www.bullyfreeworkplace.org. Monthly meetings are held in Sacramento, also open to the public with no dues or fees of any kind.

Workplace Bullying Leaders Speak in Sacramento

On Wednesday October 20 at 7 pm, Drs. Gary and Ruth Namie, founders of the Workplace
Bullying Institute, authors of The Bully At Work (Sourcebooks, 2009), and recognized American
pioneers who have helped thousands of individuals since 1997 since launching the U.S. movement from Benicia, will speak at the Radisson Hotel, (500 Leisure Lane) Sacramento. Doors
open at 6 pm. There is a $25 fee; no pre-registration required.
WBI conducted the only scientific U.S. national surveys of workplace bullying’s prevalence first
in 2007 and again in 2010 (with help from Zogby). In 2010, 35% of adult Americans are, or have
been, bullied at work. Most targets are women, and when the bully is a woman, the target is a
woman in 80% of cases.
Their appearance is timely given the flurry of recent suicides from bullying, including the suicide
of Kevin Morrissey, manager of the Virginia Quarterly Review at the University of Virginia. They will discuss how circumstances could lead an adult to suicide and what to do to prevent a toxic workplace from affecting employees.
Also, the Namies will explain why bullying in schools cannot be stopped until the bullying of
adults working there stops. They will describe their innovative Workplace Bullying in Schools
project launched by WBI in 2009 in Sioux City (Iowa) and the Desert Sands (La Quinta, CA)
school districts.
In addition, Gary is national director of the Healthy Workplace Campaign, the grassroots network of citizen lobbyists working to enact the anti-bullying Healthy Workplace Bill in state legislatures. California introduced the first bill in 2003. Representatives from the California Healthy Workplace Advocates will describe local activities planned for the 2011 legislative session.
WBI is the only organization in the U.S. dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying that
combines help for individuals, research, public education, consulting for employers, and legislative advocacy. As thought leaders on the topic, the couple has appeared in 900+ media interviews.

Contact:
Gary Namie 360.220.5158 / 360.656.6630 gary@garynamie.com
Director, Workplace Bullying Institute, workplacebullying.org
Director, Healthy Workplace Campaign, healthyworkplacebill.org
Michelle Smith info@bullyfreeworkplace.org
California Healthy Workplace Advocates, bullyfreeworkplace.org

Dr. Gary Namie explains workplace bullying

Workplace bullying is NOT simply tough management.

While workplace bullying takes several forms, it is always repeated, health-harming mistreatment that disrupts the productive flow of work. This interview of Dr. Gary Namie of the Workplace Bullying Institute explains this hateful behavior.

While the WBI is located in Bellingham, Washington, the Drs. Ruth and Gary Namie, are psychologists with an international reputation. Thanks to their 15-year dedication to exposing this silent epidemic of abuse, they have helped to educate the United States and Canada to this key problem in the North American workforce.

http://www.break.com/usercontent/2009/7/dr-gary-namie-talks-about-bullying-in-the-workplace-on-kvos-862099.html

While watching, keep in mind that status-blind (non-discriminatory) workplace bullying is presently legal! Most Americans believe that all harassment is against the law. Not so.

Which state will become the first state to pass this progressive, common-sense law? New York? Illinois? Wisconsin? They all have bills like California once had but lost when our present governor came into office. For interesting reasons, that bill suddenly went "poof"!