The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
commissioned a survey of 2,000 employees on bullying and found that
one in five of them had suffered from bullying or harassment in the
last two years.
"Bullying and harassment is a serious problem in many workplaces
and employers need to take the issue more seriously," said Mike
Emmott, employee relations adviser at CIPD. "It can damage
individuals' confidence, morale, motivation and sometimes their
health causing them to be less productive and effective at work. It
can also trigger absenteeism, make retention rates go down and both
the employer's reputation and bottom line can take a hit."
Bullying is more common in the public than the private sector,
according to the survey, and the most likely targets of bullying
are black and Asian employees, women and disabled people. While 29%
of employees from Asian and other ethnic groups suffered bullying,
the figure was just 18% for white employees. Disabled workers were
twice as likely to suffer bullying than non-disabled employees.
"Bullying can take many forms, including ridiculing personal
characteristics, making unfair criticisms and ignoring people, as
well as physical or verbal harassment," said Emmott. "Employers
need to be alert to the damage a bullying culture can cause. Line
managers need to be able to recognise signs of bullying or
harassment and take action to deal with the situation before it
gets out of hand."
A worker in the City was awarded a record-breaking £800,000
payout in August when she won a bullying case against her employer,
Deutsche Bank. Helen Green was subject to a "relentless campaign of
mean and spiteful behaviour designed to cause her distress" that
left the 36-year-old on some occasions crying silently at her desk,
said the High Court judge who made the award.
The bulk of the award was £640,000 for future loss of earnings
and pension. The case relied in part on a law originally drafted as
anti-stalker legislation, the Protection from Harassment Act. That
law can be applied to employment cases, after a House of Lords
ruling in July. That law means that employers can be held
vicariously liable for employee harassment, even when it is not
guilty of causing or failing to prevent the harassment.
The CIPD survey was carried out by Kingston Business School and
polling company MORI.
