Bullies at work

Tormenting their targets is job one for these aggressors

2001-01-10 - By Nancy J. White
The Toronto Star

She calls her former boss the Two-Headed Snake.

He was friendly and encouraging at first, explains the woman, a middle manager for a community outreach program. Then slowly he changed - taking credit for her work, withholding her operating funds and belittling her in front of others.

``His smile hid naked aggression,'' she says.

When he diverted her program funds for other uses, she alerted the higher-ups. The money was returned, she says, but the harassment intensified.
``The worst was how isolated I became. My co-workers gave me the cold shoulder,'' she explains. ``They could see I was a target and they wanted to keep their jobs.''

Eventually she went on short-term disability leave, then took a company buy-out. ``I was totally stressed and couldn't sleep. It's so insidious.''

It goes by different names: workplace bullying, psychological aggression, personal harassment. But the pattern is the same: persistent hostile treatment that erodes a victim's self-confidence, can seriously affect his or her health and may even ruin a career.

``I feel professionally raped,'' says a former teacher who suffered a nervous breakdown after several years of intimidation from her supervisor.

The culprit could be a toxic boss or a scheming co-worker. The bully - as likely to be a woman as a man - employs any number of tactics: teasing, constantly criticizing, insulting, gossiping, making unreasonable demands.

``It's the stuff you see in the schoolyard transferred up,'' says Julian Barling, associate dean at Queen's University business school.

As with the schoolyard variety, the bullying can escalate to violence. The tormentor may get physical or the victim might retaliate, sometimes tragically.

In 1999, Pierre Lebrun, a former Ottawa bus maintenance worker with a history of depression, killed four former co-workers and then himself after years of harassment over his stutter.

While his reaction may be rare, bullying isn't. One in six workers is affected by it, according to a U.S. study.

The bully, who often charms the top brass, may torment others simply for the thrill of power. Or he or she may feel threatened by the target, who is often highly competent.

``The target is often the kind of employee everyone should want,'' explains Gary Namie, president of the Campaign Against Workplace Bullying, a California-based non-profit group (www.bullybusters. - org). ``But the company lets the bully drive him out. It's an upside-down world.''

As a result of the Ottawa shootings, the Canadian Labour Code, which covers workers in federally regulated industries, is being revised to deal with root causes of violence, such as harassment. Also, a recent Ontario court case broadens employees' rights to fair treatment, says a labour law expert. But until all companies adopt zero-tolerance policies, bullying will flourish.

``It happens,'' says Barling, ``because organizations allow it to happen.''

From the start, the new foreman laid extra duties on the forklift operator because, he told other workers, the guy needed to shape up. In an argument one day, the foreman threatened to fire him.

``He was spitting on me as we talked,'' says the operator, who had been in the job for 12 years. ``I charged him with harassment, but nothing happened. It was just my word against his.''

(The foreman was good buddies with the top bosses.)

The bullying got worse. The forklift operator says the foreman frequently teased him, spread rumours that he drank on the job and made him work alone, which was unsafe. The forklift operator won a second harassment charge and the foreman received counselling.

But despite the worker's pleas, management ordered him to stay on the same shift as his tormentor. He knew he couldn't.

``My blood pressure was already at stroke level,'' says the man, who took a health leave.

He dreads returning, he says, but he lives in a small town with few job opportunities. ``I've lost money, sleep and my health over this, and they get away with it. It's not fair.''

Why did the foreman bully him?

``He was just a guy who needed to feel power,'' the forklift operator replied. ``It went to his head.''

Bullies tend to be insecure about their own identity and self-worth, speculates Carol Pye, a Halifax clinical psychologist studying the issue. ``It's a sad but common aspect of human dynamics. Some people feel better diminishing someone else.''

Bullies may be master manipulators and communicators, but register low in self-awareness, impulse control, empathy and sense of justice, says Namie, co-author of The Bully At Work. ``Their social development is incomplete. They're half-baked.''

Sometimes, aggressors may be mentally and emotionally unstable. Others may be poorly trained and socially awkward.

``It could be a skills deficit, not an internal pathology,'' explains Loraleigh Keashly, associate professor of urban and labour studies at Wayne State University in Detroit.

The work situation, especially a highly stressful and competitive environment, plays a big part. So does the corporate culture.

``The bully reads the cues in the workplace,'' says Namie. ``He or she sees what it takes to get ahead.''

The majority of tormentors - 81 per cent, according to Namie - are supervisors harassing employees. But co-workers, even underlings, can be devastating bullies.

``From the moment I walked in the door, she hated me,'' a former dean at a small university says about her assistant. ``My predecessor hired her and babied her. I was the stepmother.''

The assistant resented explaining anything and refused any new tasks, explains the dean. At meetings, she'd sigh loudly and roll her eyes.

Reprimanded once for not following instructions, the assistant pointed a finger at the dean and complained about her tone.

``I thought it was my fault,'' says the dean. ``I was tied up in knots - why can't I get her to work?''

The dean's boss wouldn't let her transfer the assistant.

Then the sabotage began. The dean says the assistant gave her wrong information and complained to higher-ups when she followed it. ``She deliberately put me in an indefensible position and turned me in.''

The dean was eventually fired for not being able to manage her staff. She still feels stunned by what happened. ``I never realized she'd go behind my back.''

The target is often non-confrontational and focused on work, not office politics, says Namie.

Frequently the victim develops headaches, sleeplessness, anxiety.

``Every morning I'd dress for work, get in the car, then run back to the house and throw up,'' says the former dean.

Many lose self-confidence and become depressed, Pye says. ``Their professional identity is under assault.''

Some develop post-traumatic stress disorder, including flashbacks and avoidance of anything related to the workplace.

There are collateral costs: Friends and family often tire of hearing the victim complain.

``Friends may say: `Get a thick skin,' '' explains Joel Neuman, director of the Centre For Applied Management at the State University of New York, New Paltz.

``If you're physically attacked, you get sympathy,'' says Neuman, a researcher on workplace aggression.

``But if you're doing an internal bleed, no one sees the injury. There's a real dark side to this.''

In the early stages, the target tends to shoulder the blame.

``An important turning point,'' says Keashly, ``is when the person realizes it doesn't matter what he or she did. The problem is the bully.''

How a target fights back depends on workplace policies. Confronting the aggressor may solve the problem - or make it worse. The target might turn to a union representative, a human resources official or higher management.

``Sometimes victims react very angrily and may seem unappealing,'' warns Pye.

``People react by blaming the victim, thinking: `You deserved it.' I've seen union representatives completely miss the boat.''

In Ontario, no specific legislation protects against workplace bullying. Some cases might fit under the Ontario Human Rights Code (if discrimination under its 13 prohibited grounds is involved) or possibly under health and safety legislation.

``You clearly have the right not to be beat up,'' says Barling. ``Whether you have the right not to be psychologically beat up is less clear.''

But Jeffrey Goodman, a partner in the labour and employment department of Heenan Blaikie, points to a recent case, Shah versus Xerox Canada.

The trial judge found that Xerox employee Viren Shah had received unjustified criticisms, warnings and probation letters from a new manager. Shah quit.

The judge found that Xerox had made Shah's position intolerable and awarded him damages equivalent to 12 months' notice. The decision was upheld on appeal.

``This case makes much clearer an employee's rights to be treated fairly,'' explains Goodman.

However, prevention in the workplace is the real key to employee rights. Companies need to expand policies to outlaw bullying, Namie says. They need to take complaints seriously, investigate (perhaps using an outside investigator) and take action - even fire the bully. ``This is not the time to circle the wagons,'' Namie insists.