As it turns out, they are. A quick search resulted in tons of cases covering bullies of all shapes and sizes with behavior ranging from name calling to being shot at with a nail gun. Reading through these cases, it's clear that empathy sides with the victim. So as employers, what risk do we run in allowing such behavior to persist?
Employers can be held liable and a high profile case has the potential to do irreparable damage to its reputation, not to mention the legal fees incurred. Still, most employees don't go to the courts, or the press, or even their HR team, but that doesn't mean the company isn't negatively impacted. Need convincing? Here are 4 WAYS HARBORING A BULLY CAN SUCKER PUNCH YOU . . . besides the obvious:
- Let's start with turnover. It's easy to shrug your shoulders at a single resignation and move on, but when you consider the recruiting hours, job postings, administrative processing, and likely higher rate of the replacement, it's easy to see just how expensive this can be.
- Then there's the issue of office morale. Don't think for a moment that workplace bullying doesn't affect those seated ringside. Witnesses of the behavior can have numerous reactions including feeling awkward around their dysfunctional co-workers, worried that they too could be bullied, distracted from actually doing their job, sad for their victimized team member, and even . . . ready for this? . . . angry at the company for allowing it to continue.
- Did you catch that bottom dollar impact hidden in there? "Distracted from actually doing their job" means your business will suffer. Allowing bullying to exist in your company means people are spending company time engaging in bad behavior, talking about it, and/or not giving their best performance because their mind is elsewhere.
- Bully behavior is contagious. Letting one exist means more bullies for you. It's not just a matter of lemming mentality, but letting a workplace bully behave badly, or worse yet promoting them, sends a strong message to the organization. There is no faster way to create a culture of toxic behavior than to put a bully in a position of leadership and not correct the behavior. You might as well add "mature people need not apply" to your job postings.
FIX IT! I'm not saying you need to fire your bullies, in fact bullies are often times some of your best performers. Consider the basic characteristics at play: aggression and criticism . . . these can deliver strong performance when channeled as constructive feedback and attention to detail. Unfortunately, in these cases employers tend to handle their bullies with kid gloves. "I mean, God forbid they leave!" It's not enough to wait for an employee to complain, company leadership needs to start identifying their bullies on their own (we've all got them), call their behavior out, and begin working with them on how to leverage their strengths positively. If you take a lazy approach and just wait for bully targets to come to you, you'll either be waiting forever, or be too late to fix it.
Think you're being bullied, or wondering how to spot the behavior? Check out the signs (thank you Forbes):
- Work means misery.
- You're under constant criticism.
- Lots of yelling.
- They remember your mistakes.
- You're the subject of gossip and lies.
- You're not invited to lunch or meetings.
- You always need mental health days.
- You get sabotaged.
- You're assigned an impossible schedule.
- Your credit is stolen.
