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Companies Wake Up To the Problem of Bullies At Work (wsj.com)
Reader cdreimer writes: According to a report in The Wall Street Journal (possibly paywalled), two-thirds of Americans have reported being bullied in the workplace in the last year (up from half in 1989) and boorish behavior by bosses and coworkers are causing companies in lost productivity. The report reads: One of the first things visitors notice when they enter the Irvine, Calif., offices of Bryan Cave LLP is the granite plaque etched with the law firm's 10-point code of civility. The gray slab, displayed in the law firm's reception area, proclaims that employees always say please and thank you, welcome feedback and acknowledge the contributions of others. Such rules may seem more at home in a kindergarten than a law firm, but Stuart Price, a longtime partner, says they serve as a daily reminder to keep things civil at work. Incivility -- and its more extreme cousin, bullying -- is becoming a bigger problem in workplaces. Nearly two-thirds of Americans reported that they were bullied at work last year, up from roughly half of workers in 1998, according to research conducted by Christine Porath, a management professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. These people reported they were "treated rudely at least once a month" by bosses or co-workers in the past year -- which Prof. Porath defined as being bullied.Bullying costs companies in ways large and small, cutting into productivity and turning off customers, management experts say. Workplace behavior is under the microscope after recent allegations of sexual harassment in Hollywood, technology and media. Some companies have found, as a result of investigations into harassment claims, that bullying and boorish behavior are more common than suspected.
"treated rudely at least once a month" by bosses or co-workers in the past year -- which Prof. Porath defined as being bullied.
That explains the ridiculous result right there. In other words, a load of garbage.
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
It's not a secret that a toxic work environment reduces productivity. What exactly is taking place here that's new?
I'm pretty sure a lot of rules they have makes sense, but this one always makes me wonder what usefulness has something you *always* say in a communication. Besides becoming naturally desensitized, one has to ask what purpose does it serve that is more meaningful than explicitly recording the first digit in a normalized binary mantissa (which is always a one, logically). Humans are weird...
Ezekiel 23:20
First off, I'd recommend this book:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000...
Despite its title ("The No Asshole Rule") It's actually a decent take on the impact of controlling, belittling individuals, balanced against their 'productivity' in an organization, and is documented rather well.
That said, when the tempo of the nation is set by our current set of business and political leadership.... It's hard to set a good example that bullying and general assholery doesn't work for those willing to hurt others.
When I look at what was considered bullying 20 years ago versus today I see a completely different standard. With all of the new perceived micro-aggression for bullying it is no wonder that the rate of it has spiked.
Bullying and boorish behavior has been a staple of working life in America since working life in America has existed. REPORTING of such incidents is on the increase because it's currently fashionable to report such incidents rather than bury it, work through it in face to face confrontation, or just go home and drink yourself to death like our predecessors. We're far more likely to report any indiscretion because we've reached the point where it's far more important to discredit the 'A' personality types than it is to find ways to work with them or in certain cases, around them as we did in the past.
Back when I was in school, bullying was what an older kid did to the small nerdy ones like myself until I got some balls and went down on the ground. Bully never tried to mess with me again.
Nowadays, it sounds like bullying is someone getting mad at you for whatever reason. If you're underperforming at work, not showing up on time, delaying delivery of products, and/or costing the firm money you shouldn't be surprised if someone gets angry at you and tells your lazy ass to do work.
To be blunt, most of the "bullying" that my HR department deals with at work is really just catty female behavior. We've occasionally had to move them around the office to avoid this.
In reality, I just wanted to fire them both for arriving late and being slow to deliver on projects. Women are their own worst enemies.
Most people are a bunch of pussies these days.
Give the movie Equals a watch. Sounds like working for this company would be like working anywhere in that movie.
(This is a repost of a comment from a previous bullying discussion.)
If you've experienced workplace bullying first hand then you know what a destructive force it is. Your workplace becomes a place of dread and fear. The stress becomes not just a part of your daily life, but a part of who you are as a person. It changes you.
My own experience of being bullied began when I took a job with a company that had just promoted a long-standing employee in to a management position. He had no experience of managing people, he received no training, and he openly said that he didn't want the job. He was visibly stressed almost constantly, and resented that he was still expected to work and not just manage other people's work.
Very early in the job I was shouted at in the middle of a busy office for completing a task that should have been cancelled. It was a foul-mouthed and very personal tirade of abuse, accusing me of being untrustworthy, and came totally out of the blue. Then my manager realised that he had forgotten to mark the task as cancelled, and quietly in a private room away from other staff, he apologised and promised never to speak to me like that in front of people again.
The details of bullying incidents are generally repetitive and boring, so suffice to say, this was just the beginning of what became regular abuse: Shouted at in the middle of the office for things I had allegedly done wrong, and then apologised to in private.
I put up with the abuse for way too long. I'd spoken to my union rep and kept a bullying diary as advised, but I never started a grievance procedure. Colleagues said I should, and one day I ended up talking to the company secretary about it, but I backed off, determined to resolve the issue myself. Ultimately, I told myself, this is a case of two grown men having a clash of personalities, and I should be able to resolve it. But of course I couldn't.
After about a year I had to take time off work for an unconnected health reason, which seemed to go on a lot longer than one might expect. After a week back at work, I was off again with flu, which seemed to go on forever. My doctor was puzzled and I was sent to the hospital for tests. But in conversation with my doctor one time I mentioned about how it was actually quite nice to be off work because it was an escape from the bullying, and it was as if I'd said the magic word. My doctor was certain that the stress of being bullied was the root cause of my poor health. It explained everything. It turns out that a year of sleepless nights and constant anxiety isn't very good for you.
When I finally had to take formal action against my manager, the company was combative, and handled it on the basis that I was making it all up. I opted for the least "official" form of grievance, third-party arbitration, and my manager held his hands up to what he'd been doing and promised to change. Whether he could or not, I don't know, as I've not been well enough to return to work yet.
(Iâ(TM)ve since left that job and my career has gone from strength to strength ever since.)
To be blunt, most of the "bullying" that my HR department deals with at work is really just catty female behavior. We've occasionally had to move them around the office to avoid this.
In reality, I just wanted to fire them both for arriving late and being slow to deliver on projects. Women are their own worst enemies.
wow, you're gonna get sued and fired just because you want to show us all what a prick you are
Two thirds of American's are little bitches.
...Spain, where they have clearly defined legal definitions of what constitutes work place bullying. They also have industrial tribunals with the power to fine companies and award substantial compensation to victims (tens of thousands of euros) for letting work place bullying going unaddressed. For an employee to pursue a tribunal for bullying against their employer is also free, recognising the fact that things have to get really bad before the vast majority of employees will consider legal action.
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
But, "being treated rudely at least once a month" is NOT the same as being bullied.
Or we could just "man up" (yes, sexist term, that) and get the fuck over it?
If you don't like your work environment complain. If you feel complaining will hurt your career there, you have two choices: risk it, or leave.
Your hurt feelings really aren't meaningful to anyone but you. And they aren't meaningful to you unless you let them be.
-Styopa
I will never hire a local again (and I haven't in years).
Is it "bullying" if I tell someone to stop whining and just do their fucking job?
in the military it's called a code red and it's for training.
Outdoor fellatio is the strange way to get rid of a bully
Yup, ButchBoy OP also has a teeny pee-pee and halitosis out the ass
If you're getting legit bullied by an entrenched malicious psychopath or sadist, don't go to HR. They're in management's pocket and probably know the person is a SOB anyway. Get a body cam. Record that motherfucker. Create a montage of his or her patterned behavior. When you've had enough, make it understood that social media is a very powerful tool.
Millennials have entered the workforce and even as adults are unable to cope with the reality of being responsible for themselves. They truly are a lost generation.
People that are prone to be sensitive and have increased leverage for political correctness reasons are themselves frequently bullies. Anyone that has been 6 years old will remember the child that cried to get another child in trouble. Anyone that watches sports will be aware that on occasion someone will pretend to be injured to encourage a referee to punish the opposing team.
We all know this because I assume we've all been 6 before and are aware of professional sports to some extent.
This plays out in the work place in much the same manner in that some people will pretend offense or emotional injury for personal gain or to spite someone they don't like.
There is a movement to discourage awareness of this element of the work place. And while some feel this creates a more welcoming environment for people to express problems... it also encourages abuse by those that don't mind pretending to manipulate their coworkers and employers.
One must be skeptical and reasonable either way. If you get a report... use your best judgement and try to appreciate what is possible and what you know. Naturally you don't want a hostile work environment. But you also don't want a hair trigger whine fest environment because that is also quite hostile.
In the one case you have some bully beating people up for their lunch money... in the other case you have your little sister Susie pretending some imaginary offense to get your mom to punish you... yes... I am intentionally using childish analogies here to get the point across.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
If someone is curt or rude on occasion, it's not bullying. We're all human and have bad days. Of course no one should take out their personal problems on their coworkers or subordinates.But it's going to happen from time to time. No one is perfect. If your boss looses his temper from time to time, it really sucks. But unless they are doing this on a regular basis and/or actually threatening you, it's not bullying.
I know I can't be the only person on /. old enough to remember the grade school adage, "Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you."
Somewhat related: I've noticed a lot of talk in the last decade, possibly more than previously, of "Alpha" status being a positive quality. In other words, the idea that it's a good thing to be an "Alpha Male." Which I've found to be a little alarming, it feels like a return to the 80s "greed is good" mentality.
I'm sure there are different ways to describe these, but the way I heard it back in the day: an Alpha is someone who demands to be in charge, at the center of things. Essentially a bully. A Beta is someone is someone who is capable, but can lead or follow as the situation demands. And Gammas and Deltas are basically different flavors of people who get exploited.
Maybe that's subject to interpretation. I'm sure that there are more flattering definitions of what Alphas are, but the bully definition does seem to fit with most of the rhetoric - "If you're not demanding all that is best for you, you must be a weakling beta. Not a proper manly alpha, the way you should be."
So anyway, that's a long way of saying that I'm not surprised that bullying in the workplace might be increasing.
It's actually called a blanket party. Code Red was from a stage play that became a movie and an invention of the author.
Will be called âoebullyingâ by the slackers who fuck off half the time and bitch about not getting a raise.
And he gets away with it because upper management loves him.
Oh jeeze! Figures! Oh well, like they say, there's a reason for everything...
At a particular IT job in telecom, there was this guy. Everyone knew he was as asshole. He decided to single me out and talk some serious shit. To make matters worse, he had this little group that followed him around. I came to think of them as "Mary's sheep". I was bewildered at first. I had never seen anything like this and was amazed that it was happening. On this amazement alone I let it slide and observed. However, I don't take shit from people. Further, I am violent when provoked. One day, I confronted him and his followers in the parking lot. I was surrounded by far more than enough coworkers to be fired over how that went down. But they got it. The end result was him and his merry band cowering in fear... and apologizing. Not only did it stop, his little group disbanded. He himself was later fired after going the every drawer in someone Else's desk like it was big deal, in front of about a dozen another people including a supervisor. No real point. Just my story. This was back in 2006 or so. For the record, there would have been no point in crying to management, except to make things worse.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
Or else...
Forcing "civility" is literally bullying workers to use meaningless banter in the workplace.
I personally consider myself to be civil 99% of the time. The other 1% is usually because there comes a time when discussion is over and a discission needs to made and enforced.
If being "rude" to someone is considered bullying then where does the passive-aggressive BS fall? Because I have worked with loads of people that might seem as nice as can be but that PA behavior is absolutely toxic. It is sneaky, underhanded, disingenuous and clearly designed to hurt and embarrass people. Yet it is tolerated, and sometimes even encouraged and rewarded, because on the surface it seems polite.
Sometimes I long for the days when you could just tell someone to fuck off. None of this "ohhh thank you Ed for your valuable contribution. We will certainly take that under advisement and devote to it all the attention it deserves.". In plain english, that's a stupid idea and I'm not going to spend another moment thinking about it. Now the first response might seem "nicer" but in fact it is phony and dishonest.
But you can't tell people to fuck off anymore or some snowflake is going to burst into tears and go running to HR. And then take two weeks off for "emotional distress". And then I get sent to "counseling" for an attitude adjustment. And everyone has to treat snowflake with kid gloves or we might just have a relapse. And all the other snowflakes in the office with circle the wagons and comfort the wounded snowflake with group hugs and empty words of encouragement.
Yeah - fuck off.
I was bullied ferociously by a manager at Google. I figured I could take it, but it messed with my mind over time and left me emotionally ruined. I quit after six months of unrelenting personal attacks and corrosive disrespect. The director seemed like an OK guy at first, but he knew that this manager was a monster and covered for him. The team's attrition rate was deplorable and this manager was certainly not good at cultivating new hires.
The same manager loved to dump on overlapping teams through the internal discussion forums--nasty personal attacks mingled with brilliant analysis. Once the SVP called him in and told him to tone it down with his online assaults. I won't name that SVP, but I'll tip my hat to him as a man with integrity.
That said, Google is particularly problematic for its willingness to accommodate bad actors and harassment. If you're important, Google will overlook your flaws and cover for you. See, for example:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/salvadorhernandez/google-kelly-ellis
http://www.businessinsider.com/kelly-ellis-claims-she-was-sexually-harassed-at-google-2015-3
This ia obligatory at this point: http://assets.nydailynews.com/...
I mean REALLY Evil.
The most EVIL of all the Pizza toppings including the dreaded Anchovy.
California. Of course.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
You don't think someone who shows up to work late should be fired?
I know, bound to be unpopular among the macho shutins of Slashdot...
People are rude and mean to each other all the time so if your boss does it doesn't mean anything.
love is just extroverted narcissism
But he posted about bullying AT WORK . Given that you, I mean he (cough cough) boasted about working one hour a day in a storage closet, one wonders *what* work?
creimer, who boasts about working one hour a day in a hidden closet and kept far away from the valuable employees, and probably spends most of his "work" time shitposting here and hatching one useless scheme after another, is worried about bullying *at work*.
not because I'm a bully, but because they're dumb as a fucking rock and the only way they finally get the point to stop asking the same GD questions is if I growl at them.
I don't mind the first question. Second time I'll tell you to write this down. Third time I'll tell you to refer to your notes and anytime after that, I'll probably yell at you for being stupid.
So I'll quit being mean to them when you quit hiring idiots.
Claimed he was being bullied. I looked at him and said "Son, you ever get a swirlie? A wedgie? Ever been pantsed while waiting in line, minding your own business? You get knocked down or tripped in the hallway every damn time you get up? Ever had a man reach across the table, lift you by the collar, and slam you into the nearest wall? Are people constantly jamming your locker, or fouling the contents? Ever had a group of people surround you and taunt you and hit you?" and he said "No, but..." and I cut him off and said "Because that's what people like me used to do to whiny shits like yourself when I was in school. Now you just count yourself lucky that all you get here is the occasional harsh word, and get the fuck out of my office!"
If you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. You can always work someplace with less pressure.
I expect a network engineer to know a MAC address is six octets not five.
This foolish company just gave bullies another tool in their growing arsenal. They can concern-troll, tone-police, and say you weren't civil when you criticized them. It's very easy to take away someone's psychological safety while staying within these codes because they require mere performance, a step beyond banning cursing. Imagine getting dressed down by a snooty British person.
Not even Google is stupid enough to address bullying through a "civility" code, and they have a full-scale crybully meltdown on their hands anyway.
The Wall Street Journal is trying to convince rich people that financial bullying is wrong?
Good luck with that.
People that are prone to be sensitive and have increased leverage for political correctness reasons are themselves frequently bullies.
What absolute bullshit.
Bullies prey on the weak and vulnerable. Bullies will not act without overwhelming support because they are inherently cowards.
Pointless rant against "teh Pee Cees gone madddddssdzzzss" is pointless. You have no idea what bullying is, especially bullying in the workplace.
Bullying amongst colleagues is easy to define, saying or doing something you've been told not to because it's annoying, upsetting or interfering with a colleague. If you think that the colleague is being irrational that is 6 times the reason to fucking stop. You're an adult, act like it and move on. If you think the workplace is too "Pee Cees" then its likely you are the problem and should move to a more abusive workplace.
Bullying from managers is a bit different, it follows the same basic definition as above but also includes being given tasks that are far beyond your role or capabilities that the manager knows you will fail at.
In fact, from my experience its the people who read the Daily Mail and think "teh Pee Cees gone madddddssdzzzss" are more likely to be bullies due to their tenuous connection to reality. The rest of us not in La-La land know how not to take a joke too far and know that gauging an audience before telling one is paramount instead of expecting everyone to put up with whatever nonsense exudes from your piehole.
Oh, I'm sorry, was that too "Pee Cees" for you, here's a nice cup of Harden The Fuck Up princess. I've worked in blue collar jobs (it was doing shit kicker work 2 days a week that paid for my education) and management didn't want to hear about bullying. so the bullies who thought they were tough were the ones missing a tooth when someone finally had enough of their bullshit and hit them with a brick, this tended to shut them up pretty quick and they pretty much became social outcasts. Management ignored that also, sometimes I wish I could do this to some of my colleagues in the white collar world (pretty much the only thing I really miss from those days). I'm pretty tolerant of people who have differing views to me, but a few people are just arseholes and have a face missing a fist, Usually the same people that hold extreme Daily Mail type of views.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
I'm convinced that leaving kids alone with other kids, where no adult relatives who would be looking out for them can be there to intervene, is the root of everything wrong with bullying at school. If the damn teachers can't protect the kids, somebody else needs to step in. Sometimes the bullies are probably just immature and need guidance, other times they might be much worse and need a good scare -read, an adult needs to put them in their place.
And to get really crazy... pepper spray doesn't do any permanent damage. Although your kid will get suspended/have to attend another school. Read this crazy account:
https://www.publicschoolreview...
in case you were wondering this is what creimer talks about at work. I wonder if this could encourage people to bully him?
As for my comment, I've heard stories of engineers retiring at 50, moving to Mexico and marrying underage girls. Since I work with ex-military, the Philippines is a popular retirement spot for marrying underage girls as well. It's all about getting the most bang for your retirement dollars.
https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11064719&cid=55123241
That only works if you retire to Mexico, build a mansion (by local standards), marry an underage sweet thing and bequeath all your possessions to the village.
https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11064719&cid=55122609
If all my assets were liquidated, I would still have enough cash to buy a new car and head off to Mexico to find a chica to marry.
https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11064719&cid=55125199
You're aware that are some states in the U.S. that allow underage marriage as young as 14 years old?
https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11064719&cid=55123829