What to do about bullying

Thursday 27 Mar 2014

Workplace bullying is a complex and difficult problem to deal with, and a couple of recent examples highlight this.

The first case was a member who had been suffering persistent nitpicking, second-guessing, being excluded from decision-making, and left generally disempowered in the workplace. Not surprisingly this had a detrimental impact on the employee's performance, and on the work of the people she supervised.

Part of the problem was the immediate manager was a close personal friend of the next manager in the chain, and between them they were able to persuade senior management that our member was at fault.

It took some time to be able to expose these problems and get senior management to act. It was achieved through the perseverance of the member, support of local Workplace Reps, and assistance from Industrial Officers at the union. It's a timely reminder that when it comes to bullying, you are not alone.

The second case involved a member who complained about the actions of a Workplace Representative in dealing with a complaint of bullying. The member had been accused of bullying her colleagues and the manager was (again) a friend who in the past had failed to act on the issues.

As pressure built on the manager, he finally acted and the Rep attended the interview as a witness. The Rep confirmed that the process was reasonable and that the member had been treated fairly.

The member who was accused of bullying was not happy with the outcome. Although her employment was not at risk; she felt that the Rep should have supported her.

The challenge for the Workplace Rep was to balance the interests of all members, and not to support continued bullying of other members.

If you want more information on how to deal with bullying read our information sheet here.