Give Me Your Lunch Money!

Bring up the topic of bullying and most people will conjure images of the classic school bully strong-arming their classmates for some "extra spending cash". Unfortunately though, bullying may not go away permanently along with the end of childhood. A growing number of employees are speaking up about subtle and overt bullying they have experienced in the workplace. The Workplace Bullying Institute defines bullying as:

repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators that takes one or more of the following forms: 

• Verbal abuse

• Offensive conduct/behaviors (including nonverbal) which are threatening, humiliating, or intimidating

• Work interference — sabotage — which prevents work from getting done

Many of us can attest to being either witness or victim of a workplace bully and can provide several examples. In fact a CBS News article, How to Handle a Workplace Bully, cites a 2007 study where half of U.S. workers state they have "experienced or witnessed some kind of bullying on the job".  Some bullies are quite hard to pinpoint and address and might be those employees labeled "difficult" to work with. For example, I worked with an employee who had been with the organization for several years. She was knowledgeable about her position but was also easily offended when given any direction or, even, when asked a question about her processes. She would then "freeze out" the offending person who dared ask a question. On occasion, she would have loud outbursts of anger at other employees. The result - employees whose processes were closely tied with hers would come to me and request that I act as mediator. The employees felt trepidatious around her.

Bullying has a wide range of negative effects for both the organization and the employees. For the organization the existence of bullying can mean lower productivity, higher turnover, higher training costs, and increased potential for legal action. Employees being bullied may experience stress-related ailments.

The best way to reduce bullying in the workplace? Make it a less conducive atmosphere for bullies. In the example I gave above the long-term employee had been allowed to display bullying tendencies for several years without firm consequences. This implied that it was an accepted behavior in the organization. Proactively put a policy in place that defines bullying, indicates the reporting process, and outlines that disciplinary action will be taken on employees found to be bullying. For some great information and a sample policy check out the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries' fact sheet on bullying.

Facebook Won't Keep Your Secrets

Many of us have griped about a bad day at work but many people are using Facebook and other social media sites to share their frustrations rather than utilize other avenues. Recently, the Wall Street Journal contained an article highlighting the increase in litigation stemming from loose fingers. The article, Workers Claim Right To Rant on Facebook, states that "more than 100 employers have been accused by workers over the last 12 months of improper activity related to social media practices or policies". 

There is a distinction, however, between mere griping and discussions made with the goal of improving working conditions. The National Labor Relations Board states that "mere complaining isn't protected" according to the Journal article.  The article goes on to offer a few guidelines from the NLRB as to what constitutes protected employee behavior. For additional examples of cases involving social media employee complaints, try this article from Smart HR Manager: "Social Media: NLRB Says Employees' Job Complaints on Facebook Are Protected". On the employee side, here are some tips from CNN Living: "Can Facebook Get You Fired?". 

How best to address this? Well, the Smart HR Manager article gives you a clue when they indicate the company "did not establish that the employees violated any of its policies or rules" - have a clearly defined policy in place and ensure all employees have read the policy, agree to it, and provide training regarding procedures for handling employee complaints.