4 Reasons Companies Ignore Workplace Bullying

As a workplace mediator and investigator, I am often called in by organisations to help resolve a conflict which has arisen between employees. I commonly find that by the time I am called in, the matter has escalated from a relatively minor workplace bullying incident, into a full-blown dispute between the parties. The escalation of the issue is commonly a result of the victim not lodging a formal complaint against the bully. Another common cause of the escalation is that bullying is often messy and chaotic, and it is sometimes difficult for the company to ascertain precisely who the perpetrator and victim are. It’s therefore understandable why the bullying hasn’t been addressed earlier, and it certainly doesn’t help to point blame at either party. The only undisputed fact is that if left unattended, bullying will escalate to the point where the workplace culture will be impacted detrimentally.

Considering this, I believe that it’s essential for the victim report the bullying as early as possible and in conjunction with this, the company needs to address the issue effectively as soon as it is brought to its attention.

There are however companies that despite the victim reporting the bullying do not act adequately in the circumstances if at all. Given the substantial cost to a company of failing to address the issue, the question turns to why they have been unable to act? In my dealings as a workplace mediator and investigator, I have identified four common reasons why bullying is not addressed by companies:

 

1. Denial

The hope that the bullying is a temporary issue that will sort itself out, a ‘let’s sweep it under the carpet and hope it disappears’ kind of approach. Sometimes too, the victim is perceived as being weak, or a poor employee in not being able to sort out their own problems and the company may hope that the employee ultimately resigns, which rectifies the problem without company intervention.

My advice is to stop the denial and realise that no-one deserves to be treated in a way that makes them feel humiliated, diminished or threated. The company needs to intervene and take charge of the issue in a fair, professional way. It’s also crucial for the company to realise that ignoring bullying doesn’t make it go away, but it does make your other employees go away – even the ones who aren’t the victims. You will most likely start to lose more employees if this strategy of ignoring the issue is not changed.

 

2. The Bottom-line

The company is so focused on its bottom-line of the organisation that they ignore how their results are achieved. Sometimes organisations will willingly sacrifice a harmonious workplace culture to please shareholders, customers or stakeholders.  Sometimes too, the best performing employees don’t live by the same rules as everyone else. They believe that they are so valuable to the organisation in terms of profits that they can treat people in an undermining way and because the company doesn’t want to lose them, they let them get away with that behaviour to the determinant of the rest of the organisation.  The company needs to realise that this may work in the short-term, but ultimately disrespectful behaviour such as workplace bullying will breed and develop until the entire workplace culture has been affected.  All employees need to be treated alike in terms of following the workplace policies of accepted standards of behaviour.

 

3. Fear of Conflict

Certainly, some people, more than others, have a real fear of confrontation and this usually extends to both their personal and work lives. They could fear the bully’s response to the allegations against them. It could be that the company is fearful of opening a Pandora’s box of liability issues and possible lawsuits. It could also involve being afraid of making a mistake in the handling of the bullying complaint.

We often hear advice on how to tell children to deal with schoolyard bullies – “stand up to the bully, face them head on, be courageous” because bullies do not like to be challenged or confronted. It may sound very simplistic, but you need to deal with workplace bullies in much the same way. It will involve practising personal courage, but if you can do this, it will lead to a change in the bully’s behaviour, and you will hopefully regain your conflict-free workplace. However, you must take that step. The bullying will not stop by itself. If you tolerate the bully’s behaviour, you are allowing the bully to continue with their unacceptable behaviour.

4. Ignorance

Companies often lack the training, tools, and/or policy to tackle bullying head-on. There needs to be a focus on developing a positive leadership style by providing training for managers to communicate effectively with employees. Providing constructive feedback to employees, building teamwork skills, mentoring poorly performing managers and making sure all managers act on unreasonable behaviour immediately are all ways to ensure bullying has no place in your business.

I am constantly surprised by how many organisations lack comprehensive or updated workplace bullying policies which establish guidelines and processes for employees to lodge complaints, have their claims investigated and managed by the organisation. The polices should also contain clear standards of behaviour that are expected and the processes to follow if these are not met.

 

Companies, therefore, shouldn’t be judged too harshly when bullying complaints are not adequately addressed when they first come to light – it is common, and it is understandable from the reasons discussed above. It can sometimes seem an almost insurmountable problem to overcome because it has been left unaddressed for so long.   I have, however, been involved in many toxic, bullying situations which have indeed been turned around – with a strong leadership commitment and some professional intervention. There are steps you can take to address it, BUT you need to stop the ignorance, stop the fear, stop the denial and stop the focus on the bottom line, and only then will it become clear how to deal effectively with it.

 

If you are a CEO, Director or Manager what should you do now?

1. Foster a culture of transparency and accountability and clean house if necessary – Open communication is a vital aspect of any successful organisation. Transparency and accountability help foster a culture of safety and respect and is a critical step in addressing bullying and other inappropriate workplace behaviours. The first step towards transparency is establishing or revising respectful workplace policies to include bullying and other inappropriate behaviours explicitly. To hold employees accountable may mean cleaning house of bullying transgressors – no matter their position – as this is a powerful signal that indicates there will be no tolerance of this sort of behaviour. Silence is consent. If you are working with an individual/s that perpetuate unacceptable behaviour, you are part of the problem.

2. Deal with complaint/s within a strict timeframe – Very rarely do these sorts of complaints go away by themselves. I urge organisations to act promptly before the incident escalates and permeates the rest of the team or organisation. This means dealing with these complaints or behaviours within established timelines. I commonly refer to this timeframe as the ‘30-day window’© as I have in my experience typically found that if a bullying complaint is dealt with satisfactorily by HR/Management within this time frame, it can be regarded as resolved.I find that when an organisations response to a complaint extends beyond the 30-day period, then things start to go awry as a lack of trust and confidence in the organisation starts taking hold in the employee and the organisation increasingly opens itself up to some form of legal liability.  For example, once trust and confidence have broken down, it is common for the employee to talk to a workplace lawyer, speak to other employees, take to social media to voice their grievance or concerns, and even to start recording conversations on their phones.

3. Bring in an expert – For any matters that could be legally libellous for the company and any complaints not resolved to the complainant’s satisfaction within the ‘30-day window’ bring in an external expert. Why an external expert? Because so many organisations lack the training, tools and legal expertise to mitigate legal liability, often increasing their liability and damage to the victim in their attempts to manage the bully or investigate the matter internally. It is also very common for HR to feel conflicted in their role- when acting in the best interests of the organisation, they may think that they are forced to do things that support workplace bullying or be placed in a complicated situation. Therefore, it makes sense to bring in an independent, external workplace investigator/mediator to mitigate legal liability, manage the alleged victims and perpetrators and assess the risk to the organisation and make recommendations for resolution.

 

Bullying is detrimental to a company’s ability to achieve its full potential and to build a positive workplace culture. Thus, the last thing a company should want or need is for its employees to feel that the company is tolerating such unacceptable behaviour. It is time for organisations to step up and deal with these issues head-on.  It will take courage, persistence and a long-term plan of action but once in place, you will be grateful that you have committed to this when you are rewarded with motivated, productive employees who are working at their best for their companies.

 

Saranne Segal is the Director of Segal Mediation Group in Sydney Australia. She is a workplace mediation and investigation expert and has worked as a lawyer previously. Please call her for a free confidential 30 min Risk Review session details via LinkedIn or segalconflictsolutions.com.au