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A shocking report: Why the workplace bully is winning

Miles Heffernan

by Miles Heffernan

11 Oct 05:35am

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Filed under: Bullying, Harassment, Industrial Relations, Work

40 comments

A new report examining the costs and consequences of poor workplace behaviour suggests that only 16 per cent of victims believed their situation improved after making a complaint.


In what is believed to be one of the largest analyses of Australian workplaces behaving badly ever undertaken, it is sure to send a shiver down the collective spines of unions, company directors and politicians.

The Australian Institute of Workplace Behaviours (AIWB) has surveyed over 2100 victims of bullying and sexual harassment. The results are damning. Especially on how managers and observers respond to complaints - resulting in higher operating costs for business and emotional misery for those on the receiving end.

Employers are not very good at sifting through petty gripes to uncover endemic issues, according to the AIWB report. It suggests only a tiny fraction (around 2 per cent) of complaints about workplace behaviour are resolved through litigation, leaving a deep river of abusive and bad behaviours handled internally.

It may explain why only one third of people bullied or harassed go to the effort of reporting it.

Online human resources forums in Australia are riddled with war stories from aggrieved victims. However HR practitioners and those bullied are a bit like a devoted audience to the shock jock, as everyone agrees with each other. Getting the issue into the minds and hearts of operational leaders and their staff seems to be a long way off.

Directors face jail for harming an employee. So while they are seldom prosecuted in courts, there is a strong legal framework to scare employers into action.

Workers’ compensation premiums are particularly impacted by psychological claims, as they are notoriously difficult to manage. They are also protracted. They are the most obvious single indicator of a toxic workplace culture, followed by turnover, absenteeism and higher cost of production.

On the positive, greater profit opportunity exist in workplaces that don’t breakdown into a toxic mess. With the positive and negative business metrics so obvious, you would think employers would be all over workplace culture. So why is the sensitive topic of bullying and harassing behaviours ring fenced from effective outcomes?

If the AIWB are even half right and nearly all of bad behaviour complaints don’t make it better for the victim, then this points to the need to look at what steps in the complaints process are failing and how this can this be improved.

Dr John Evans, an expert in organisational culture, was most taken aback by the research that showed only a third of people actually report poor workplace behaviours.

“The AIWB report certainly begs some questions, like: If you were the CEO and found out that only one third of bullying victims went to their managers for help would you be happy with the management team and the culture you have created?

“Would it make you even happier to know that the victims and bystanders feel the organisation helped in only 16% of the cases, or, put another way, they believe that in 84% of the cases your organisation did not help?”

While a fact of life, no win, no fee litigation means there is a financial incentive for the employee to be more “damaged” as this will increase the cost of any settlement. Bosses often look at complaints in the worst-case scenarios. These force the focus onto procedural fairness rather than being outcome-focussed.

Investigations are launched. Statements are taken. Evidence is gathered. Office gossip goes into overdrive. Reputations are damaged.

Then after all that, terms like “allegations cannot be substantiated” are bandied around, often simply because the bullying wasn’t witnessed.

This gives the bully a green light provided they are clever enough to not get caught in the act, through covert and pervasive conduct.

If litigated it would be a critical failure if business didn’t have these sound processes. However, where is the weighing up of risk versus reward for the 98% of complaints that don’t get to trial? 

Maybe it is time for gun-shy executives to not act as though every step is headed towards the courts and move to some alternative dispute resolution processes.

Workplace disputes have litigation at their core and have been like this since the turn of last century.

Of course there is power in knowing you have access to skilled lawyers. There is more power in having victims of harassment and bullying be able resolve their concerns and move on.

Threats of dismissals, retribution against complainants, lawyers at fifty paces and huge compo claims are today’s norm. This clouds what could be well-resolved conflicts.

Maybe a new approach will bring justice to many more than 16 per cent of those that have had the chutzpah to make a complaint after being bullied or harassed.

Comments on this post close at 8pm AEST.

Most commented

40 comments

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    • Mahhrat says:

      06:39am | 11/10/12

      This is a tricky one, but the article is a good start.

      The trouble with most bullying is it’s done out of sight.  It’s very hard to prove, and I can’t imagine adversarial chambers like the tribunals and courts are well set to get to the bottom of each case.

      I claim for bullying has to be proven.  You can’t change the alleged offender’s job of behaviour simply because someone else makes a complaint if that complaint can’t be substantiated - that’s just a gross miscarriage of natural justice.

      The biggest problem though - and I’ll assume it’s even worse for the private sector - is the inability to resource investigations properly.  Managers don’t have the time to stop and investigate thoroughly, over a period of time that would allow a pattern of demonstrable behaviour to emerge.

      Given they’re busy and have so many competing demands, they take the path of least resistance.  I sincerely believe that is why the APS is so damned by “Stress Leave” - it’s the easiest solution to have one of the parties leave of their own accord.

      Reply

    • acotrel says:

      06:59am | 11/10/12

      Many employers recognise sociopaths yet still promote them in the mistaken belief that if they are giving subordinates a hard time that is good for productivity.  You don’t get willing cooperation through coercion, and ‘authoritarianism stifles creativity’ !  Howard had the same coercive mindset when he developed Workchoices. It simply showed that he had never been any here , or done anything - out of touch with reality like most of our academics !

    • marley says:

      08:12am | 11/10/12

      @acotrel - there are sociopaths in the workplace, all right, but just remember - they’re not all bosses.  I daresay a few of them are union organisers.  The CFMEU seems to do a fine line is sociopathic behaviour.

    • Pedro says:

      09:15am | 11/10/12

      While I enjoyed The Office (USA) up til about season 7, the vid is one of the areas where they just carbon copied the gag from The Office (UK).
      Just sayin’ is all.
      Still Gervais et al would have been paid handsomely for the attributed plagiarism.

    • Steve of QBN says:

      09:30am | 11/10/12

      acotrel. And Fair Work is working so much better yes?

      And to add to the story, do you remember Bob Carr’s quote regarding a litigant in a certain harassment case?  Something about kubuki actors wasn’t it?  Bullying or harassment the work place is not the sole domain of private enterprise and comments by other parties only adds to the stress when someone decides to take the boss on.

    • Lie Lover? says:

      07:05am | 11/10/12

      I believe one of the answers to this is to properly assess people before they get the job. Weed out the bullies ahead of time with psychological testing. The second thing is that during an investigation forensic psychologists need to be involved to determine the thought processes behind the statements and credence given to this. Bullies are often intelligent and are good at covering their tracks, but patterns still exist that show the evil for what it is.

      Reply

    • Tom says:

      07:11am | 11/10/12

      The system is totally overloaded by lawyers, overzealous regulation and social experimentation (bigotry).

      Reply

    • Nathan Explosion says:

      07:37am | 11/10/12

      I was bullied at work. Worked as a PA for someone who would call me up and yell at me if their plane was delayed, because that’s something I have control over. I left the work phone in the car at a funeral, and when I called them back, they yelled at me for not answering, knowing full well where I was. They would talk trash about me while I was in the same room.

      I never reported it, because the person was so much higher up than me. Who would believe it? I quit after six months.

      Reply

    • Not Telling says:

      09:23am | 11/10/12

      @Nathan Explosion
      That seems very consistent with the report and makes sense. It is such grubby thing to be a part of.

      I was helping someone fend off a workplace bully just this week and rather than admit wrongdoing, the employer threw cash at the problem, so everyone leaves worse off and bruised

    • Steve of QBN says:

      09:34am | 11/10/12

      And therein lies the problem.  It’s a pity that the only action you could take was to walk away.  However, considering the back lash that takes place once you lodge your complain and the crap you have to go though, walking away is easier.

    • marley says:

      07:42am | 11/10/12

      Years ago, I worked briefly with a guy who claimed to be a victim of bullying and discrimination in the workplace.  He filed formal grievances against several of his supervisors.  The matter was investigated but nothing significant was found.  The organisation moved the complainant to another area.  Shortly thereafter, he filed complaints against his new manager and several co-workers for bullying, harassment and discrimination.  Following another investigation, which also found nothing of substance, he filed complaints against the investigator, the investigator’s boss, and the senior manager responsible for the lot of them.  He was moved again. More grievances. By now, his entire workday was consumed with preparing declarations, filing documents, and appearing at hearings.

      It went on for several years before he was finally moved to another organisation (where the pattern resumed). 

      The simple fact is, the complainant was in fact the bully, bullying management with frivolous and unfounded complaints which the system forced them to take seriously even though anyone who had anything to do with the guy knew he was a borderline nutcase. So, while I don’t wish to suggest that bullying isn’t a serious issue, I also don’t necessarily accept that every rejected complaint means the system is designed to protect the bosses, or that the bullies are in fact always the bosses.

      Reply

    • Tom says:

      08:25am | 11/10/12

      Good call, Marley. Vexatious or frivolous complainants also consume inordinate amounts of resources that would otherwise be used on legitimate cases.

      In the same disgusting way, vexatious and frivolous AVOs drains our police and legal resources to the point where they cannot cope with the legitimate accusations of violence. This exacerbates the violence and death of innocents in our community.

    • Mahhrat says:

      09:53am | 11/10/12

      +1 Marley, absolutely right.  I’m amazed they couldn’t use his pattern of behaviour to suggest he was in fact the bully though.  Why didn’t any of the managers simply counter-claim him?

    • Tom says:

      12:59pm | 11/10/12

      Mahrat, any investigator with experience picks it up in the first ten minutes that the complainant may be a serial, professional complainant.

    • George says:

      08:06am | 11/10/12

      I suspect some of my colleagues filed complaints against me in one of the places I worked at. They were bullies and connivers themselves. I stood up to them and abused the hell out of some of them. I was never disciplined or anything, probably because the bosses knew they were demented.

      Maybe this is why a lot of complaints aren’t being investigated?

      Reply

    • Al says:

      08:23am | 11/10/12

      Many people also don’t actualy know what bullying and harrasment is.
      I have heard many people claim they are being discriminated or bullied because the boss was not happy with their performance and had told them so, with evidence to back it up (Q: you know, everyone else is able to get x amount done in a day, how come you, with the same experience and qualifications can only get 1/2 x done per day? A: You are bullying me and discriminating against me!)
      This leads to the system being clogged up with crap that is dismissed and a waste of time for everyone involved.
      Genuine bullying and discrimination are serious and need to be dealt with.
      Claims of bullying and discrimination which are made malicously or made with blatant evidence that it did not occur (as opposed to unproven, where it may have occured but can’t be proven) should result in costs being paid by the person making the claim and/or immediate termination for damaging the companies reputation.

      Reply

    • JamesH says:

      08:25am | 11/10/12

      Good article.  There was a workplace bully in one place I worked who was dealt with because all of those he tried to bully got together and ganged up on him, bombarding his inbox with cleverly doctored pictures of his face and openly calling him on his behaviour - especially in front of management.  Seems he’d only been acting like an idiot to try and get himself fired as he hated the job but didn’t want to quit.  He got his wish when he insulted the MD at a company meeting!  Another business I worked in, I lasted about a month before moving on.  The place had an incredibly high staff turnover because the boss was the bully.  He had a perverse need for excessive control and would go mental if he didn’t get precisely what he wanted.  Last I heard about him was that his customers were also being bullied - and he’s been reported to the authorities for using standover tactics.  Bullies need to feel in control, they need people who fall into the role of “victim”.  Take these things away from them and they disappear.

      Reply

    • AdamC says:

      08:57am | 11/10/12

      In my view, the best thing we could do to help the bullying situation at work is to ban the use of the word ‘bullying’. It is an almost meaningless buzz word that fills employers and managers with unconstrained dread. Also, it seems to include anything from being overly demanding (which I would see as poor management, not ‘bullying’) to setting apprentices on fire, which is criminal assault, not mere bullying, and should be treated as such.

      I am not that surprised at the number of bullying victims who are satisfied with the outcome of a complaints process. Many complainants would want to see their supposed tormentors punished, but HR teams are not Courts and employers are not the Department of Corrections. Employers necessarily focus on resolving personal grievances and animosities through mediation.

      Reply

    • Lill says:

      09:13am | 11/10/12

      My partner can’t be bothered reporting his workplace bullies. The ones that organise work teams when he is in the toilet so he ends up with the worst jobs every day, the ones that lose the plot and scream and yell for no reason, the ones that sit backwards on the toilet to ensure their is feces left all over the bowl on his day to clean the bathrooms. The management has done nothing, despite all of this occuring in plain view to them. Typical “boys club’ my partner is not part of it because we don’t have children and he, apparently, is therefore not a ‘real man’. It’s disgusting.

      Reply

    • Steve of QBN says:

      09:44am | 11/10/12

      Add to this the “I’m a victim too” tactic when you finally stand up to these clowns.  School yard bullies are the best at this.  Ever see the online video of the little kid (with a few bigger mates as back-up and to record the moment for you tube prosperity) slapping and punching a bigger, fat kid, just to “prove” how tough he is?  The bigger kid grabbed his attacker, flipped him over and slammed him into the concrete before the “minders” could interfere.  The big kid gets into trouble for fighting and the little kid for being a bully.  But wait he cries…. “But I’m being bullied to!  I’m the victim here, no him!”

      You do nothing, they keep going.  You stand up to them, you are the bully, not a team player, a trouble maker.  Easier to remove the victim than to remove the aggressor.

      Reply

    • Stuart says:

      09:49am | 11/10/12

      A good article and we are proud of our research at the AIWB. We wanted to add to the national conversation and our mission is to improve workplaces for current and future generations. We wanted to make things visible to encourage debate and change. We are working hard in the preventative space as well as the reactive. The comments made by readers here are not uncommon to our experience. We are at work for many hours in a day, we should be able to enjoy them and be safe.

      Reply

    • KK says:

      09:49am | 11/10/12

      Sorry but this one I am taking with a grain of salt.  Unless you have been the victim of work place bullying you can not possibly claim to have an understanding of the depth of the problem. 

      I was at a workplace where the unit manager was a severely aggressive personality.  It was not just me that he treated badly, in fact he would buzz about the office flying from desk to desk saying things in very loud tones that were just plain not neccessary, and mean and alluding to incompetence of individuals rather than behind closed doors where these things should be discussed if indeed there was claim to it.  For me, his ear bashings started after he approached me (during work time) to come to functions for Amway.  I told him I wasn’t interested and soon after, his bullying began in systematic fashion.

      The problem is that you can only take abusive behaviour for so long.  Eventually you wake up in the morning not wanting to get out of bed.  Everything you do has an underlying sentiment of dread, because you know no matter how hard you try you will simply be knocked down.

      Eventually I didn’t want to go to work, after months of waking up with pure dread about the day ahead, I decided enough was enough, I had to complain to HR.  I took my complaint, along with evidence I had to HR.  After a two hour long meeting in HR I was told by HR I had “persecution complex.”  I asked to be moved to a different department (away from this manager) and was told that wasn’t going to happen.  My next option was to either go back to sucking it up, or quit.  I chose quit, because I knew already that HR would back management, but I thought if I got something on record about him maybe the next person that complained might get taken seriously.  But this is not the case, he still works there, has had multiple complaints against him, and the department has a huge turnover.  I asked HR if me having a ‘persecution complex’ was her professional medical opinion - she stared at me blankly.  To me this was parallel to saying that a victim of abuse deserved it because ‘they were asking for it’.  But this is the mentality of HR, if a manager is on your case hard, it must be because you don’t work hard enough and need a kick in the pants.  I gotta tell you, each kick he gave me (I believe undeservedly) made me want to work for him less and less, I got to a point where I really couldn’t focus on work any more and my motivation to work was severly reduced because of the treatment.  You might say ‘oh then it was your fault’ but I challenge you to take daily abuse over things that are not relevant to your work, and then see how long it takes for you to not want to be there.

      The way the system is set up it is easier to move on, than it is to confront the bully.  Its a very hard thing to prove because its often “he said - she said” and also getting other employees on your side as a witness is difficult as no one wants to rock the boat for fear of losing their own job.  Unless you have emails, or some kind of rock solid ‘proof’ its your word versus theirs. 

      Psychologically this left me damaged, it took time until I could feel as though I made proper effort in my dilligence as those that are bullied are often sensitive souls.  I did take his attacks personally and took them on board and wondered if he had a point - he didn’t, he was just a prick.  But the constant psychological bombardment leaves one very deflated.  Then to be told you were ‘asking for it’ adds to that.

      In the end, I wanted the entire episode to just be over.  I didn’t want to sue them, or take him to court and try to prove it all, I just wanted to get away from it, for the stress and feelings of dread to just be out of my life.  It did impact on my personal relationship with my girlfriend.  He was never worth my effort, nor time, and it was just ‘too hard’ to go through it all again, and be called a liar and be told I had a ‘persecution complex’ again. 

      The system is designed to protect the bully, especially if the bully is management.  As the worker all I could do was make my complaint and then when I saw it would not be heard, ask to be moved, when they would not move me away from him, I did it myself - but he cost me a career and all the career options that came with that.  In the end it was my decision to leave, I could have stayed and dealt with the harassment, stood up to him in a different way but I didn’t.  I felt forced to choose a certain path because of the limitations in avenues to complain about his behaviour. 

      In the end the bully won, because I had no choice but to remove myself from him.  Some times I wish I had taken him to court, but to what end?  It doesn’t give back what he took from me, it doesn’t heal the pyschological damage.

      I didn’t want money, I just wanted to be left the hell alone to have peace in my life.

      Reply

    • KK says:

      10:31am | 11/10/12

      This is the major issue - even if you do follow through on bullying claim what do you really ‘win’?  The tribunal, court, whatever can only offer you monetary compensation - they can’t give you back what the bully took from you - dignity, feelings of acomplishment and worth, enjoyment of your work - money does not heal emotional scars, and those that chase the money are likely motivated by the money - I suggest this is why most people don’t follow through on court proceedings, because its not about the money.

    • mell says:

      10:34am | 11/10/12

      Thankyou KK I am in this situation right now, the worthless feeling I get when I go to work the impossible tasks I am given and the issolation working alone in the early hours of the morning no thought for my security, yet if I am sick, they are not allowed to work alone, I feel sick when I get up knowing I have to go to work, I feel worthless as a person, I have had things thrown at me physical hurting me, which Is assault but nothing is done about it, I am being transfered at the end of the year and I am focusing on my family my grandkids, yes I am a old lady 58 years of age and worked hard for many years why do I put up with this ???? I cant afford to stop work simple as that, and I work in a Govt department as well

    • Al says:

      11:01am | 11/10/12

      KK - the one thing that you are missing in regards to the outcome is this:
      Whilst monetary compensation forms part of it the other (the actual decision that a particular person and or company is engaged in workplace bullying) is recorded in offical records and can be refered to if the behaviour continues. It can also provide a wake up call to the company to review the behaviour of the bullies.

      Mell - if you were a victim of assault bring it up with the police. Completely seperate from a general bullying and harrasment claim and if sucessfuly proven (yes proven) then they could face jail time.

    • mell says:

      11:28am | 11/10/12

      Thanks Al for your comments, I did think about reporting assault to police but at the end of the day it is me that is going to be the loser and that is my job, I have put in complaint after complaint and it is swept under the carpet as ” Personality Clash” the main bully WAS a good friend but she teamed up with one of the supervisors and can now do no wrong, If I am assaulted again I will be reporting it to the police as I have truely had enough, I have been through hell and back and can only praise my family and partner for my sanity their support has been amazing, I have adjusted my mind to go blank when at work, I dont listen dont go near them I just do my job and leg it out of there as soon as my time is up

    • KK says:

      11:32am | 11/10/12

      Mel, my advice to you, if you dread work its time to move on.  Have no fear of change, fear is the mind killer.  Your health, attitude, and well being will instantly improve (and I mean the second you walk out that door)

      Speak to a lawyer before you quit. (I did).  They will advise you of your rights, and ways you can quit immediately without losing your benefits.  At your stage in life main concern would be retirement benefits, consider ways of not compromising those.  There will be steps you can take to try and get resolution, and you must make those steps before you can quit without compromising benefits, sick pay, leave pay etc.

      I suggest you record phone conversations with HR, and get EVERYTHING in writing from now on.  If you can, get ‘proof’ of them not addressing the problem, or them attacking you for complaining.  In Australia it is NOT illegal to record your own phone conversations.  If using a recording device on your own phone calls, use names when you start talking (Hi Felicity, this is Mel from accounts -blah blah)  You do NOT have to tell them you are recording - this is not illegal. Recording a call you are NOT party to, is illegal.  Get yourself some hard proof, and play by the book, but play to win because they will play dirty, guaranteed.

      However, you will then be unemployed, but I guarantee you will feel better the instant you walk out that door. 

      The day I left I felt like a lead weight had been taken off my shoulders and chest.  I could breathe, I felt alive.  I knew it was all behind me.  It doesn’t need to be about ‘winning’ or ‘compensation’ but you should definately NOT be worse off because you were forced to quit by a bully.

    • kitteh says:

      11:36am | 11/10/12

      HR are never on your side. To take up the issue would mean risking their own job in many cases. Beyond that, many are poorly trained and oriented to placation rather than action. I had a similar experience in my old job: after calling my boss out on her blame-shifting tactics, I was sent to HR to explain my case. While I was told how silly and immature I was, every word was reported to my boss, who then collaborated with HR to schedule endless, pointless meetings to ‘discuss’ my ‘issues’. That is, to make sure I was under stress and lost at least 2 hours a day so I struggled with my workload.

      Go to a psych specialising in workplace relations (one unaffiliated with your work). I did, and was stunned when she simply stated that I was working in a toxic environment, that it would not improve, and I needed to get the hell out because they were building a case to sack me. They were right of course, but I was so intimidated that it took hearing it from someone else to motivate me. I had no job to go to and it took months to find another, but it was the best decision of my life. Two years in I still adore my new job and new boss, and I’m doing well. The anger is still there (and I feel guilty when I think of how other staff must be going through what I did) and I still earn less than I did, but I’m myself again. Its’ rarely worth trying to ‘win’ or ‘stick it out’. Just go.

    • Al says:

      11:58am | 11/10/12

      KK - sorry, I just couldn’t stop the following running trough my head when I started reading your comment.
      “Fear is the mind killer, I will face my fear and let it pass through me, when the fear is gone only I will remain!” Paul Atreides.

    • mell says:

      12:17pm | 11/10/12

      I really do appreciate this as I can talk to people that know what I am going thru, I hear what you are saying and agree, but at my stage of life the active body is good if I retire I am sure i will go grey, become the little old lady down the road who cant move her body anymore, I have led an active life, my job is full on keeps me moving when you get to my age you will understand bit like the old wheels if you dont oil it then it will seize up, I complain and complain my bosses do nothing my union has done nothing so I am just going to keep going till the end of the year, I have a fellow worker that is fully aware of the situation and is watching but at the end of the day leaving will be the only peace that I will get, and that is December cant come quick enough thankyou for your advise and listening to me I really do appreciate it makes me see the light at the end of a dark tunnel

    • Tanya says:

      12:56pm | 11/10/12

      Mell,

      It absolutely helps to focus on your life and future outside the workplace – the purpose of a job is to fund your ‘real’ life. Bullies usually don’t have one, hence why they’re so focussed on manipulating and controlling the only environment they feel valid or empowered in. They hunt in packs because like attracts like. The rest of us have too many other interests to invest any more energy than it takes to perform our roles. You need to seek appropriate professional advice (counselling and legal) and as the others have said, record things, all as a means to an end. But if you really, really think about it in terms of regrouping your personal strength, those people CANNOT really harm you. They can be nasty, abusive, manipulative and controlling – they can even throw things. But they can’t invade the sanctity of your home or your private life or your dreams for the future. Somebody once told me to imagine mirrors around people like that with their image reflecting all their negativity and hatred back at them. Be strong and silent. All the best.

    • mell says:

      02:50pm | 11/10/12

      Tanya you are so correct that is exactly what I am doing is focusing on my private life which I have the most beautiful partner and family, Just one word from my youngest grandson aged 18months “Nan” makes the world brighter and work problems pushed to the back of my mind, You are correct in saying these women have NO life and work is their life which is sad but that is what they choose I will survive if I get any more I will go and see legal advise and they will recieve the punishment that they deserve thankyou for comments they are really well and truely appreciated I might be an old bird but I will fight for my rights you have all given me the courage to do so

    • Jay2 says:

      10:35am | 11/10/12

      I filed a complaint about a colleague who was bullying not only several staff, but the more vulnerable patients as well. The response from management was staggering, but not altogether surprising.

      While management acknowledged there was an issue with the colleague, it was suggest to myself (and several others) that perhaps we should ask ourselves why this person was so unhappy, that she could be like this.  I don’t think it would be printable what my reply was, but suffice to say I was deemed to lack ‘conflict management’ skills. (bwha ha ha)

      A victim of the colleague (another staff member) was asked(read” told”) by management that “..perhaps it really wasn’t like that, but more her (victims) mis perception of the situation, because she (the bully) didn’t really come across like that”.

      I’ll spare readers the rest of the waffle boss continued on with, but it did result in another small handful of victims banding together and fronting up to the office and threatening mass resignation with letters to Head Office as well. Mangement finally caved and request the bully attend counselling, rather than go the bully resigned most probably to cause misery at a new workplace.

      The aftermath of this was, whatever happens, do not go to Management, because they make the victim feel like the wrongdoer and support the perpetrator instead.
      The high turn over of staff (I’m no longer there) indicates little has changed.

      @Steve of QBN, your last paragraph very much echoes what we all thought.  Four staff members left prior to the bully over a period of five months, because of the bully. Management left them with no doubt that they were being headaches by complaining.

      Reply

    • Luke says:

      10:52am | 11/10/12

      People need to start using their iphones voice recorder more often.

      Reply

    • Al says:

      12:51pm | 11/10/12

      Carefull, that can get you charged with illegal surveilance and/or breach of privacy and may even lead to termination if it is against company policy.
      You actualy need permission to record somone else unless it is in a public place (or warrants have been issued by and to the relevant authorities). Otherwise it would be inadmissable as evidence as it was obtained illegaly.

    • KK says:

      01:50pm | 11/10/12

      Al - you only need surveillance warrants for conversations that do not involve you personally.  If you record a 3rd party conversation without them being made aware of it - illegal.  If you record your own personal conversation without the other party involved in your conversation knowing - not illegal.  I know because I researched it before I did it. 

      Please do not take my word for it though, I encourage everyone to be aware of their personal legal rights direct from the source.

    • Al says:

      02:29pm | 11/10/12

      KK - I will check that out.
      I just remember an occasion years ago when I worked in food service and recorded a conversation of the manager directing me to change the use by dates on raw chicken.
      When I approached the area manager with the recording the manager was fired and the manager said he would be taking legal action against me personaly. Of course he didn’t actualy know where I lived or my contact details and couldn’t look them up so I was never sure if he attempted and couldn’t find me, choose not to or simply was told he had no case. The members of the police I know did suggest to me that he may have had a case though.
      Personaly I was never going to do as directed anyway, I would contact the food safety body annonymously rather than take such a huge risk.

    • Tanya says:

      12:07pm | 11/10/12

      My observation from experience inside a few companies and now as a consultant, is that there are two species of workplace bully.

      The first is the moronic bully who is motivated by blind, dumb-assed loyalty to an organisation as opposed to malice. These people are usually in low grade management positions for example, team leader and can be found in organisations where work is repetitive and performance is based primarily on numerical KPI’s such as manufacturing or call centres. They are incapable of thinking outside the square and they will badger and hammer people about degraded performance so they feel oppressed and targeted when there is actually nothing personal in it. The moron simply wants to boost productivity on behalf of the company they are devoted to and they maintain their positions as human constants amidst an expected high turnover of staff. Their victims are usually people more intelligent than themselves and they are best dealt with through a façade of humility and compliance – ‘Thanks for bringing that to my attention and how do you think I can improve?’ Because they are pleased you have acknowledged their supremacy, they may even write something good in their report such as ‘Simon is trying harder to meet parformence targits and I am monitoring him for output evry day.’ They are dismayed and broken by a sense of betrayal when their positions are made redundant in restructures.

      The second type is emotionally/psychologically motivated and will target specific individuals on the basis of fear, insecurity or even jealousy. These bullies are usually (but not always) in high level positions and will leverage power from long tenure and influence. They usually have few friends outside the workplace and familial issues due to the fact that they are nasty bastards and people know this. They unfailingly come across to new employees as welcoming and accommodating. They will interrogate people on a personal level to attempt to identify Achilles heels or personal information they may be able to draw on when it comes to bringing somebody down. They attempt to use subtleties – ‘How are you? You look like you’re having a bad day,’ which becomes ‘I don’t think Simon is coping,’ in discussions with colleagues. They operate by creating the impression amongst peers that their victims are fragile and by perpetuating that view they are able to draw on it should they be accused of bullying. They are capable of immense and terrible damage and if push comes to shove, no organisation wants to call bully and accept liability.

      The answer is in educating people to recognise the traits of a bully and manage them strategically. They are all weak people be it as a result of limited intelligence or some ugly pathology you never want to delve into. They smell fear and reticence the same way a savage dog does. If you are personally guarded, forthright and resolute in problem solving and decision making they will usually leave you alone.

      Reply

    • KK says:

      12:50pm | 11/10/12

      Tanya, your description of bullies is spot on.  I can smell them a mile away now, after having my experience with one, he was the second kind you describe and as I mentioned earlier when I approached HR I was told I had a “persecution complex” which I suspect came after the HR person contacted him regarding the complaint and got his “side of the story”. 

      He often said exactly the things you did and often interrogated people on a personal level (and then often used that as ammunition, not just with my case). 

      I think anyone involved in workplace bully research that is reading this would do well to take note of Tanya’s descriptions above as they match every case I have personally witnessed down to phrases they use. It’s almost like they got them out of some kind of “Managers aren’t friends” self help/management style text book or self help book.  It’s uncanny that you used exact phrases and methods of attack in your description as to how this man acted.

      Reply

    • Tanya says:

      02:01pm | 11/10/12

      @KK, yes, unfortunately I’m probably right and they lurk in just about every workplace.  I wasn’t going to say it but I was once on the receiving end of it a lot of years ago and my solution was the same as yours. I resigned 6 months short of my long service leave exhausted and questioning my own professional competence and capability. What I learned from the experience was the importance of maintaining polite, professional distance in interacting with colleagues – you’re less likely to trigger a bully that way unless you wear the wrong colour or inadvertently mention the war in the lunch room.  That’s not to say that I haven’t made friends in the workplace either – I have, many of them lifelong, but it takes a while to get to know people.  The other rule I live by is that if my professional viewpoint on something differs from somebody else’s, my work is done so long as I’ve pointed out what I perceive to be the shortfalls of a decision or an approach. I don’t take it on board personally unless I’m responsible for the outcome (in which case the decision is mine anyway) and I make that abundantly clear. If a bully realises they don’t have what it takes to affect you on a personal level, they won’t continue to target you.

 
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