The realities of bullying in the workplace and how to prevent it

Kenya Peters

| HR advice
|
| 4 min read

The realities of bullying in the workplace are stark and ones that all employers should be aware of, especially in a world where Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) are becoming ever more important and the topic of mental health and wellbeing is front of many people’s minds.

Our research shows that the consequences of bullying in the workplace need to be a priority for employers to tackle head on and prevent from happening or worsening:

  • Two in five employees have experienced problematic behaviour such as bullying in the workplace
  • 42% have previously left a job due to a bad workplace culture
  • 41% say bad workplace culture has impacted their productivity
  • 64% say experiencing problematic behaviour at work negatively impacted their mental health
  • Almost three quarters have said that when the incident happened, they felt they had nobody to turn to and unsupported by their colleagues

And the problems don’t just affect your people, but your business and profits too:

  • Presenteeism costs UK employers between £26-29 billion annually in lost productivity (Deloitte and Mind)
  • 62% of consumers say they wouldn’t buy a product or service from a company with a reputation for treating employees poorly
  • 71% of investors wouldn’t invest in a company with a problematic workplace culture or one that has a poor reputation
  • The average payout given to employees who faced problematic behaviour at work is £381,350
  • It can cost on average £30,000 to hire a new employee

So what are the solutions? In this webinar that took place during Anti-Bullying Week, we discussed the methods that helped our experts implement change and drive conversations towards fostering a more diverse, inclusive and positive work environment where people feel they belong, are supported and protected from bullying, discrimination and harassment.

These include awareness training on micro-aggressions, utilising staff networks so marginalised groups have safe spaces to talk or can push for change, training managers first and foremost to give them accountability over their teams actions and behaviours, using data to analyse where there are problems and how to tackle different issues head on, and providing an anonymous reporting route so they do not have to fear repercussions.

You can watch the webinar in full below:

Our panellists were:

Gemma McCall, CEO and Co-Founder of Culture Shift

Gemma is a respected voice on issues around harassment in places of work and study, often being called on by high profile organisations such as the Equalities and Human Rights Commission to contribute to their reports. She frequently collaborates with The 1752 Group, a UK-based research, consultancy and campaign organisation dedicated to ending staff sexual misconduct in higher education, and, sits on a number of boards and forums including the UKRI Bulling and Harassment Forum. After working with the University of Manchester in 2018 to develop the first ever Report+Support™ system, she found her calling in Culture Shift and began leading her own team of change-makers, on a mission to shift campus culture before her two young children reach university age.

Roli Barker, Director at Big Life Group

Roli is leading on the development of their anti-racism strategy and prior to joining Big Life Group, she was a project manager for social impact charities and arts organisations such as the Samaritans, Shelter, London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Hull 2017 City of Culture. She is also Chair of the Housing North Board at Jigsaw Homes and recently joined the board of trustees at The Lowry.

Alistair Swindelhurst, Founder of EZHR

EZHR is a HR subscription solution for businesses of all sizes that blends traditional means and tech to work with businesses to enable access to simple and useful HR support. Before EZHR, Alistair spent 15 years working in-house for various Blue Chip FMCG and manufacturing businesses along with several global BPO organisations. His work was across various areas of specialism including employee relations, organisational change, talent development, TUPE, and business sale.

Tamsin McCarthy, Global D&I Manager at DWF

Tamsin is passionate about diversity & inclusion and the role allies can play in creating a more inclusive society. With a varied background in procurement, change management and communications, she appreciates the importance of embedding D&I into everything we do.

If you want to find out how Culture Shift’s anonymous reporting platform can help you and your organisation, why not download our Culture Shifters’ Hand-e-book, which will hopefully tell you ,more and answer any questions you may have.

Kenya Peters

Kenya’s work is driven by the knowledge that when organisations demonstrate to their employees that they belong at work everything has the power to improve; from productivity to retention rates and end of year projections. Combining expertise in building inclusive cultures with marketing Kenya writes and delivers content that cuts through the noise to provide practical, executable guidance to organisations looking to transform their culture.

https://culture-shift.co.uk/resources/workplace/bullying-in-the-workplace-webinar

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