Dr. Oz, You Docs: How to deal with workday stess, and why you should

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2011/09/you_docs_how_to_deal_with_work.html

Desk rage. Back-stabbing bosses. Sarcastic and inconsiderate co-workers. This is 9-to-5 reality for way too many people. You may have heard about a new, headline-making survey that says 43 percent of Americans have been targets of workplace incivility. It's easy to guess why: The shaky economy is ratcheting up workday stress for 70 percent of us.

Here are three great reasons you shouldn't put up with it:

1. It infects your home life. Rudeness has a ripple effect. You bring the bad vibes home, and things get tense there. The next day, your partner drags the ill will off to his or her workplace, triggering another outbreak of incivility.

2. It's a health threat. It's pretty easy to get sucked into a cycle of snarkiness, but it sure isn't good for you. Negativity and chronic stress boost your blood pressure and the threat of heart disease and lung problems. Being positive and polite does just the opposite.

3. It's bad for business. Managers and CEOs, listen up. Ignoring a nasty work environment (or contributing to it) costs you money. Workers who've been targets may not tell you so, but half of them waste work time dodging or worrying about the next "attack." One in five says they don't work as hard and one in 10 finds ways to spend less time on the job. Work stress costs the economy $300 billion a year, and plenty of it is "people stress."

If you're stuck in the kind of office that makes the Hatfields and McCoys look like kissing cousins, try these steps to help you rise above the ugliness and bring back respect:

Stage a one-person "good manners revolution." Good manners are a time-tested instruction manual for maintaining dignity and sanity. So respect others. Look for the best in people. Speak kindly. Bite your tongue when you're about to gossip or make a witty-yet-cruel remark about a co-worker. Really listen to colleagues. Do these things, and you'll also forge new connections and give your longevity a boost.

Outsmart the office jerk. Every water cooler has one: the complainer who always sees the dark side. Thanks to "mirror neurons" in our brains that mimic others, this can be contagious. Protect yourself by cutting him or her some slack (maybe there's a difficult situation at home). Consider changing your break time to avoid the verbal toxin. And think upbeat thoughts after a run-in.

Don't excuse it in yourself. Maybe you'd never send a nasty email, yell at a co-worker, take credit for others' work or snub a colleague in the cafeteria. But do you text during meetings? Take the last cup of coffee and not start a fresh pot? Walk away from a copier jam you caused? Snap at tech support because you're sooooo frustrated? Polish up your act.

Find an ally. If there's rampant incivility at work, talk with your boss or have a chat with human resources (especially if you're a target). Bring along this column. Business psychology experts emphasize that real change comes only from the top.

Find meaning in what you do. Work's not easy these days, but renewing your commitment to your job can help you shrug off the ill effects of incivility (and can make you nicer, too). Even if you have to dig, there's satisfaction somewhere in any job. Does it have a positive effect on others? Does it use at least some of your talents, or stretch them in new ways? Is it, even indirectly, helping you reach your purpose in life? And, yes, "purpose" includes earning enough money to raise a family. Or support a passion. Or do good elsewhere. Or retrain for a new job!

The YOU Docs, Mehmet Oz, host of "The Dr. Oz Show" and Mike Roizen of Cleveland Clinic, are authors of "YOU: Losing Weight." For more information go to www.RealAge.com

Related topics: dr.oz, you docs

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.

Sept. 15th Lobby Day for Healthy Workplace Advocates

California Healthy Workplace Advocates plan to visit the Capitol on Thursday, Sept. 15th to promote the Healthy Workplace Resolution. Help us support this important Resolution by contacting YOUR legislators at www.leginfo.ca.gov and requesting their support:

California Healthy Workplace Advocates www.bullyfreeworkplace.org
Healthy Workplace Resolution, 2011

Resolution requesting the State of California recognize the detrimental impact of workplace bullying on creating a safe and productive workplace for all employers and employees

Whereas, The phenomenon of workplace bullying is recognized by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health as a sub-lethal, non-physical form of workplace violence; and

Whereas, It can be defined as repeated, health-harming mistreatment by one or more employees manifested as either verbal abuse, work interference or sabotage, or conduct that is perceived by the targeted person as threatening, intimidating or humiliating; and

Whereas, The results of the 2010 scientific U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey written by the Workplace Bullying Institute, and conducted by Zogby International, demonstrated that at least 35% of all adult Americans have directly experienced bullying, afflicting 54 million Americans; and

Whereas, It is reasonable to expect that 5,602,429 million Californian workers are similarly adversely affected; and

Whereas, Over 20 years of research in the fields of occupational health, epidemiology, traumatic stress, psychology and organizational behavior document the nature and negative impact of workplace bullying; and

Whereas, Employees suffer bullying-induced health problems, including stress-related diseases such as cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, neuro-structural, musculoskeletal, and accelerated aging from DNA chromosomal damage in addition to psychological injuries including debilitating anxiety, clinical depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and in the worst case scenarios, suicide; and

Whereas, Adverse consequences for employers include undesirable turnover, lost productivity from excessive absenteeism, disability stress claims, and shattered morale of the workers who are directly or vicariously exposed to bullying; and

Whereas, Forty-four percent of U.S. employers treat complaints of workplace bullying with indifference and no corrective action. It is reasonable to expect the same holds true in California employers; and

Whereas, Without a law, neither private nor public sector employers are compelled to hold offenders as accountable as they are when incidents of illegal harassment are reported; and
Whereas, Bullying at work is considered abusive conduct; it is the sole form of abuse still accepted by society; and

Be it resolved that the State of California encourages all citizens, employees, and employers to learn how to prevent and correct such destructive workplace behavior during Freedom From Workplace Bullies Week, October 16th to October 22nd.

Respectfully Submitted,
California Healthy Workplace Advocates

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!!

Guest Presenter on Workplace Bullying at Sac State University

YOU ARE INVITED, OPEN TO THE PUBLIC FREE OF CHARGE
Monday, March 28th at 6pm, Sac State University

Dr. Gary Namie, coauthor of the book, The Bully at Work and the National Coordinator to get the Healthy Workplace Bill passed into law, is coming to Sacramento as a guest presenter at Sacramento State University on Monday, March 28th, 2011.

Namie will be giving a free public presentation on Workplace Bullying on Mon. 3/28, 6 pm Ballroom 1, University Union on CSU campus (Sacramento State University, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819). We hope you will plan to attend. Look for the Namie's new book, coming in May 2011, BULLY FREE WORKPLACE!

For more information, go to www.bullyfreeworkplace.org

State bills against workplace bullying gain traction

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-workplace-bullying-20110319,0,1767245.story

State bills against workplace bullying gain traction

By Tina Susman, Los Angeles TimesMarch 18, 2011, 7:51 p.m.

Proponents say workplace bullying is widespread and procedures for dealing with it are ineffective. They back a model called the 'Healthy Workplace Bill.'

Reporting from Annapolis, Md.—

Kathie Gant knew the relationship with her new boss was bad, but she didn't know how bad until the woman, a Maryland attorney, hurled a bundle of pencils at Gant, her administrative assistant. "You just don't sharpen my pencils for me!" the boss raged, punctuating each word with exaggerated enunciation and the zing of a pencil across the office toward Gant.

Months later, Gant was in a storage closet in the courthouse where she worked when the lights were shut off. "I turned toward the door and she was standing there," Gant said of the supervisor. "I tried to say 'Hey, I'm in here!' " Her boss stared back, shut the door, and locked it from the outside, trapping Gant in the pitch-black space.

After months of taunts and needling by her boss, Gant said she ended up on a psychiatrist's couch and nearly in a psych ward.

With a quavering voice and tearful demeanor, Gant testified about her job situation during a legislative hearing this month at the state Capitol as Maryland became one of the latest states to consider legislation against workplace bullying. She recounted some details later in an interview.

Progress has been slow since California in 2003 became the first state to introduce a "Healthy Workplace Bill," which would give employees legal protection against those they say torment them at work (The measure died in committee). Since then, 19 other states have proposed similar legislation, though none has passed it into law.

David C. Yamada, a law professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston and the author of the Healthy Workplace Bill, said laws protect workers from abuse only on the basis of such things as race or religion. Employees who do not fall into a protected category have no legal means of fighting bullying.

Opponents of legislation say employees already are protected by anti-discrimination laws and workplace rules against abusive behavior. They also say that human resources departments exist to help employees deal with workplace problems.

If all else fails, bullied workers can bypass their bosses and seek help from higher-ranking supervisors, said Champe McCulloch, president of the Maryland Assn. of General Contractors and a former human resources director at Verizon.

"There's always an internal appeals process," said McCulloch, one of three lobbyists to speak against the bill on March 3 when it was introduced to the state Senate's finance committee. "At some point, the employee has to screw his or her courage to the sticking post and keep escalating the complaint up the management chain. I assure you ... at the senior management ranks, somebody is going to take action."

But proponents say that alleged bullying that may have led to highly publicized suicides last year — including that of a 52-year-old magazine editor who accused his boss of abusive behavior, and a 15-year-old schoolgirl who was taunted by classmates — have focused attention on the problem and galvanized efforts to pass legislation. So, too, has workers' frustration over several states' efforts to follow Wisconsin in curtailing the power of unions representing public employees.

While the suicide of Phoebe Prince, the Massachusetts girl, shed light on school bullying, Gary Namie of the Workplace Bullying Institute in Bellingham, Wash., said it underscored the need for legislation at all levels.

"If it is not stopped at childhood, it clearly progresses into adulthood," Namie said, citing a 2010 study by the bullying institute and the Zogby International polling company that indicated 35% of adults in the United States had been bullied at work. An additional 15% said they had witnessed workplace bullying. According to the survey, most bullies are men and most victims are women, but both sexes report being bullied by male and female bosses, and women are more likely to seek help from human resources.

"This year it's an especially uphill struggle," Namie said of workplace bullying legislation, citing "attacks on workers in general" in Wisconsin and other states proposing new limits on labor unions.

But Namie said he believes New York, where the state Senate passed a bill last year, is likely to get it signed into law in 2011.

"If New York becomes the first to pass it, that's a bellwether state, so others would follow," said Namie, a social psychologist who founded the institute 14 years ago with his wife, Ruth, after she experienced on-the-job bullying.

The Healthy Workplace Bill, used to guide individual states' proposed legislation, forbids a health-harming "abusive work environment" and requires medical documentation to prove worker claims of bullying.

Proponents of anti-bullying bills say this is among the measures that would prevent a flood of lawsuits by disgruntled employees.

Yamada, the Healthy Workplace Bill author, said workers face the challenge of trying to prove bullying, which generally falls short of physical assault and is Machiavellian and difficult to identify. "I liken our understanding of workplace bullying to where we were with sexual harassment three decades ago," Yamada said. "A lot of people have had to deal with this for years but didn't know what to call it."

Bill backers say internal appeals processes often fall short, citing the case of Kevin Morrissey, who was managing editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review magazine. Morrissey shot himself to death last June after relatives and friends said his — and others' — repeated complaints about a bullying boss were ignored. The University of Virginia, which publishes the magazine, said it had handled the complaints properly and that the manager could not be blamed for Morrissey's death.

The recession has made it easier for bullies to carry on because jobs are scarce and employees are reluctant to quit or to speak up and be seen as troublemakers, bill proponents say.

Gant, who worked in a county courthouse, said that after a few months a new boss openly called her "stupid," humiliated her at meetings, and sent out office e-mails that belittled her work.

Gant is still at a loss to explain the behavior. Because much of the abuse was unseen by others — the pencil-throwing, the locking of the closet, the snide comments — it was difficult to make others realize how bad it was, she said.

"She was an attorney. I never felt she'd go that far," said Gant, who was haunted by the experience long after the woman's departure. One day, the woman returned to the office for a brief visit. Gant hid in an office until she was gone.

Gant remained on the job a few more months but has since taken another job that she enjoys. She said she also went back to school to study for a doctorate and bolster her self-confidence, "so if I ever see her again, I'll be ready."

tina.susman@latimes.com

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.