Surveys highlight growing problem of workplace bullying

A number of surveys conducted to coincide with Britain’s fourth annual ‘ban bullying at work day’ have drawn attention to the problem of workplace bullying. Among these surveys, a recent study published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) shows that bullying can take many forms and appears to be on the increase.

In November 2006, the results of a new survey on workplace bullying were published to mark the fourth annual ‘ban bullying at work day’. The survey was commissioned by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the UK’s leading professional body for those involved in the management and development of people. The CIPD survey suggests that bullying can take many forms and appears to be on the increase. Other recent research has produced similar results.

The ‘ban bullying at work day’ initiative is organised by the anti-bullying charity, the Andrea Adams Trust, and has attracted the support of many employers, as well as trade unions and voluntary associations.

Key research findings

In the CIPD survey, some 2,000 employees were interviewed, one in five of whom stated that they had experienced some form of bullying or harassment over the last two years. The figures were slightly higher for public sector workers, at 22%, compared with 17% of workers in the private sector. This finding may reflect the higher levels of stress in professions like healthcare and teaching. It may also indicate greater levels of awareness of the bullying issue among public sector employers and recognition of the need to deal with this problem.

The groups most likely to become victims of bullying and harassment are black and Asian employees, women and disabled people. Almost one third (29%) of ethnic minority groups reported experiencing some form of bullying or [harassment in the workplace](/search/node/areas OR industrialrelations OR dictionary OR definitions OR harassmentintheworkplace?oldIndex), compared with 18% of white employees. Workers with disabilities, at 37%, were twice as likely to report the problem as employees without disabilities (18%).

The CIPD report follows research findings published in 2005, which suggested that workplace bullying was starting to increase (UK0510107F). This is further supported by figures released in November 2006 from the latest bi-annual survey of workplace safety representatives, published by the Trades Union Congress (TUC). Accordingly, some 15% of trade union safety representatives indicated that bullying was ‘a major problem’ in their workplace; this figure is up from 12% in the previous survey and from 10% in 2002.

The CIPD report highlighted that bullying can take many forms, including ridiculing personal characteristics, making unfair criticisms or simply ignoring individuals, as well as physical or verbal harassment. These findings were backed by a survey conducted by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) among 512 managers, who reported that they had witnessed or were aware of a wide range of bullying behaviour in the workplace. This included misuse of power or position (reported by 70% of respondents), verbal insults (69%), work overloading and criticism (68%), overbearing supervision (63%), spreading malicious rumours (53%), blocking opportunities for promotion or training (47%) and threats to job security (43%). Most respondents believed that the problem was being exacerbated by increased levels of organisational change, competitive pressures and a lack of effective action by employers.

Policy implications

The CIPD survey concluded that bullying can lead to significant individual and organisational problems, including anxiety, depression, under-performance and staff turnover. It recommends that line managers should be trained to be more sensitive to the issue, so that they can recognise the signs of bullying or harassment early on, and feel confident about taking appropriate action. Employees also need to be advised that their organisation takes the issue seriously. They should be informed about how to make a complaint and feel reassured that this would not result in further victimisation. In addition to its survey, the CIPD has also published a guide, Bullying at work: Beyond policies to a culture of respect (550Kb PDF), designed to help employers to implement an effective policy in this respect.

Commenting on the research findings, the CIPD Employee Relations Adviser, Mike Emmott, highlighted:

Many organisations have anti-bullying and harassment policies, but changing people’s behaviour remains a challenge. Bullies don’t always recognise what they are doing and victims can be reluctant to complain. There is a real need for employers to explore the underlying issues, and consider, for example, if they should provide diversity training. People need to respect the contribution that others can make, regardless of gender, race and disability.

The TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, commented:

Bullying is bad for business and for people. Every workplace should have a policy which makes it clear that intimidating behaviour towards colleagues will not be tolerated and that those who persist in undermining their fellow members of staff will be dealt with severely.

Further information

For more information at European level, see the EWCO topic report, Violence, bullying and harassment in the workplace (TN0406TR01).

James Arrowsmith, IRRU, University of Warwick