Despite what we have learned over the past two decades, the workplace bully remains a key problem for leaders and managers. The experts—academics, management consultants, industrial psychologists—all report an increase in bullying. And it’s not limited by demographics, tax brackets, or titles. Bullying is increasing in cubicles, manufacturing plants, and even executive suites.
According to a 2017 National Survey, 61% of Americans are aware of abusive conduct in the workplace. This includes 19% of Americans who are bullied and another 19% who witness it, totaling an estimated 60.4 million Americans. Examples of the bullying are much more apparent via news outlets, social media, and the like.
For organizations and individuals, the costs are staggering. Some estimates exceed $150,000/bully/year. This costs employers and insurers $250 billion annually for direct employee health care expenses, turnover and re-training expenses, accidents related to stress-induced fatigue, litigation and settlements, and resistance to top-down change initiatives.
Traditionally, experts recommend that those bullied document the events, calculate the costs, and present these to the employer with a request to remove the bully. Unfortunately, the reported success rate for this approach is only 22.3%. The best approach for individuals and organizations is prevention: protect your employees with policies that enforce zero tolerance for workplace bullying and model the behavior.
These articles and Article Nuggets explore workplace bullies, and how leaders, managers, and employees can take steps to correct and prevent a bully problem.
This is a brief synopsis of an 1,975-word and a 1,250-word article, and 5-Article Nuggets*, suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.
The complete articles and Article Nuggets include these important concepts:
- Recognize bullying, harassment, and aggression
- Understand the risks
- Bully culture
- Threat assessment
- Correct a bully problem
- Dispel the myths
- Prevent workplace bullies
- Anti-bully policies and practices
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1. The Workplace Bully– 1,675-word Article, $79
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3. The Workplace Bully– 5-Article Nuggets*, $89
*Article Nuggets: The same article broken up into 3-5 blog-style sections suitable for a series of blog posts or shorter newsletter articles.