Bullying comes in all shapes and sizes—even in an office building. Once thought of solely as a childhood playground phenomenon, corporate employees now can attest that it happens in the workplace, too. It could take the form of a manager who feels threatened by a talented new hire the boss likes and begins trying to push the new employee out. It could be one employee vying for a promotion against another who doesn’t feel he can win by his work alone and resorts to intimidation. The workplace bully also could be a verbally abusive boss. Some Human Resources and Training departments are being asked to find the causes of workplace bullying and prevent it from happening.
AN ENVIRONMENT RIPE FOR BULLYING
Like much of what goes on in a work group or department, it is the leader who sets the tone. If the head of a department is a verbally abusive, intimidating person, then he or she will hire managers in that mold and encourage them to act the way he or she does toward their employees.
“Bullying or harassment has roots in the environment a leader creates,” says Christina Cernuch, director, Centers of Excellence, Rent-A-Center. “Commonly, co-workers who feel they may have an unfair advantage either in career trajectory or workload sometimes feel like if they can cause someone else to perform poorly or even leave the company, they will be more successful. If our leaders are aware of the environment they are creating and proactively address any behaviors that may lead to bullying, we can address the causes of workplace harassment before they come up.”
That means managers first need to know how to recognize bullying, both in their own behavior and in others. They may be surprised at the wide array of behaviors that can fall under the umbrella of bullying. “Any act, message, or conversation that humiliates, embarrasses, or discourages another person” is how Cernuch defines bullying. “This can be intentional or unintentional, yet regardless of the intent, leaves the persons involved feeling exposed, singled out, and embarrassed.”
To make sure managers are self-aware enough to know bullying when they see it, new manager training programs at Rent- A-Center include personality assessments. “In training our Operations Training Coaches—those individuals responsible for managing our Center of Excellence Locations and training every new co-worker—we first focus on self-awareness,” says Cernuch. “Each coach completes a Myers-Briggs and FiroB assessment to understand how their personality type and expressed behaviors affect others. I firmly believe by understanding ourselves, we can more accurately respond to others appropriately and work together to create a harassment-free workplace.”
Reporting what managers or employees believe to be bullying is made as easy as possible at Rent-A-Center. “Like other companies, we have an Open Door Reporting Policy, as well as a co-worker hotline accompanied by a no retaliation policy,” says Cernuch. “Combined with employees’ relationship with our field co-workers and direct access to their Human Resources directors, this fosters an environment where employees have multiple avenues to escalate any concerns.”
Indeed, having a reliable and confidential system to report bullying is essential, says Joel Haber, Ph.D., founder of RespectU.com. “The sooner these situations are illuminated, the faster workplace interventions can take place, reducing long-term consequences.”
Just as a leader sets the tone for a department, the environment of a company as a whole comes from corporate leadership. Cernuch says at Rent-A-Center they are careful to emphasize the importance of respect in the workplace. “Our organization has a firm foundation of Rent-A-Center (RAC) Respect with a mission to improve the quality of life for our co-workers and our customers,” she points out. “We firmly believe that respect is the starting line for the level of conduct we expect everyone at RAC to display. It leads to honesty and integrity in all of our interactions, whether it’s with our co-workers, vehicles, merchandise, or customers.”
In addition to being open and ready to address bullying at the office, Haber says companies also may have to confront workplace-related bullying that occurs after hours. “I believe a company can take actions with employees who engage in bullying behaviors outside the workplace,” he says. “I think proactive handling of these situations leads to better results than ignoring behavior between employees that occurs after work hours. Employees feel safe and grateful when workplace relationships are seen in a 24/7 context and handled effectively.”
Rent-A-Center also is thinking more about the role of online bullying, says Cernuch. “We have begun to address online bullying with the concept that ‘Digital Citizenship’ begins with each of us,” she notes.
STRESS MANAGEMENT = LESS BULLYING
“Even normally rational people can become temporary bullies given the right circumstances or environment,” notes Lisa D. Parker, executive coach and president of Heads Up Coaching and Consulting. “Aside from any sort of personality flaw on the part of the bully, the major cause of bad behavior toward others is stress,” she says. “People experience stress from unreasonable deadlines, unclear roles and standards, conflicting priorities, budget pressures, muddled communication, etc., and they start to lose their ability to think clearly and behave rationally. Moreover, globally dispersed workforces have added complexity due to incompatible working hours, long-distance bosses, and even language fluency. Taken together, bad behavior increases as self-awareness and self-management decrease. Managers who are stressed out but self-aware will realize they need to work harder to manage their emotions, as well as their communication. Those who resort to sarcasm and intimidation cross the line to bullying.”
The pressures the antagonizer is under to deliver results to management often will be used as a crutch to explain his or her behavior. “When confronted, the bully will justify bad behavior, or even make excuses such as: ‘We’re under tight time frames; no one seems to understand that. You have no idea about the pressure I’m under from upstairs. If you’re too soft on people, they’ll take advantage of you and nothing will get done.’ There may even be the mistaken belief that conducting oneself poorly is acceptable,” Parker says. “Ironically, the bully is usually intelligent enough to act appropriately when another person in authority is around but reverts to egregiousness in the absence of an authority figure.”
Parker says that in addition to hurting their target, the whole organization is affected: “Research shows that simply witnessing bullying or harassment can be as upsetting to the observers as it is to the target.”
ZERO-TOLERANCE BULLYING STANDARD
Once employees have been taught to recognize bullying, they then need to understand that their employer has zero tolerance for it. Sonic Automotive takes the approach that the slightest hint of workplace bullying is already too much, says Vice President of Talent Management Douglas Bryant, Ed.D. “Bullying usually is seen as behavior that could mentally or physically hurt or isolate a person in the workplace. Bullying usually involves repeated behaviors that are intended to threaten, insult, or humiliate a particular person or group of people,” says Bryant of how bullying is defined at his company. “We have a zero-tolerance policy.”
Bryant says Sonic Automotive is proactive in preventing workplace bullying by offering educational workshops on the topic. “We discuss it in our Moments of Truth workshop that all employees are required to attend. The workshop focuses on internal and external customer service, as well as standards of conduct,” Bryant explains.
Haber says workshops that address bullying can be a great help in teaching managers to recognize and prevent it from happening. “It is inevitable that managers sometimes will use bullying behaviors even if they don’t intend to. The subtleties of normal versus bullying behavior can be taught through illustration and example,” he says. “I work with organizations to help them use language and role-plays to elucidate these issues and make them real. HR executives who take this problem seriously create a ‘safer’ culture and can reduce the emotional and psychological effects of workplace bullying.”
Sonic Automotive, which has a confidential 1-800 hotline for employee concerns—including any related to harassment or bullying—has respect for others as a part of its corporate philosophy. Says Bryant: “Culture is everything. Our culture motto is ‘We operate as one team with unquestionable integrity’”
QUICK TIPS
- Self-aware managers are better able to spot bullying in themselves and others. Personality assessments that focus on a leader’s personal tendencies can teach managers enough about themselves to recognize bullying.
- An open-door reporting policy and a 1-800 employee hotline that ensures confidentiality and no reprisals encourages employees to report bullying behavior.
- In today’s digital age, workplace-related bullying can occur anywhere, thanks to social media. Be sure your employees understand it’s not OK to harass those they work with or supervise either inside or outside the office.
- Stress often is used as an excuse for bullying. Use new manager training to teach supervisors that bullying is never an acceptable tool to use to meet deadlines, and that it won’t be accepted as an excuse should they be accused of bullying.
- Bullying affects not only its target but those who observe it. So make bullying prevention an organization-wide concern.
- Set a zero-tolerance bullying policy for the whole organization, and make respect for other employees a key part of your mission statement or company motto.
