Workplace Bullying: How HR Can Get Toxic Behaviors Under Control

Workplace bullying is a pervasive issue that often leaves HR caught in the middle of uncomfortable work dynamics, navigating legal gray areas and probably doing so with little or no executive support.

In an episode of HRMorning’s podcast “Voices of HR,” workplace bullying authorities David Yamada and Dr. Gary Namie shed light on this complex problem and offered some practical advice.

First, it’s important to distinguish bullying from ordinary workplace conflicts. The experts defined bullying as intentional, and usually repeated, verbal or nonverbal mistreatment that causes documentable physical and/or mental harm. It often comes from higher-ranking individuals, making it challenging for HR to address.

Bottom-Line Impact of Workplace Bullying

Even though a handful of states have laws on the books that address workplace bullying, it generally isn’t something that employers can be successfully sued for. But that doesn’t fully protect employers from financial loss.

Namie, who is the director of the Workplace Bullying Institute, said bullying-induced turnover and decreased productivity is the business case that HR needs to present to senior leadership to take action, and at least craft a formal workplace bullying policy for your employee handbook.

“If they can show the documentable harm on productivity, then the C-suite has to care. And if they don’t care, that means they’re [prioritizing] personal politics or personal relationships … and they’re subordinating the work itself … and fiduciary responsibility because bullies are very expensive to keep,” he said.

Responding to Workplace Bullying

If an employee comes to HR with information that sounds like they’re the target of bullying, it’s important to listen empathetically, then carefully assess the situation and determine if there’s illegal harassment, discrimination or retaliation going on.

Once you’ve evaluated whether there are pressing compliance issues to mitigate, and after you’ve dealt with any related risks, here’s what you can do next:

• Investigate bullying with due diligence: Keeping an open mind, analyze any changes in the work environment that could be negatively impacting the targeted individual. For example, is their manager being pressured by senior leadership to do more with less because of layoffs? Are others complaining about the alleged bully? Document any incidents and witness accounts.
• Explore options. Taking your organizational culture, policies and the specific situation into consideration, consider potential solutions like mediation, counseling (including for the alleged bully), reassignment that doesn’t come across as a demotion, or progressive discipline, and
• Elevate soft skills. Challenge the notion that people skills are secondary to technical abilities. Shouldn’t treating co-workers with dignity be a core organizational value?

“The more difficult situations to unpack are where the behaviors are … covert, often behind the back, very situational. … It’s one thing to be left off of this email exchange, but it’s quite another thing to be left off of the … email exchange over and over and over again,” said Yamada, a Suffolk University law professor and director of the New Workplace Institute.

Addressing High-Performing Bullies

The main reason workplace bullying behavior gets ignored or tolerated in organizations is the perception that the perpetrator is a “high performer” whose results outweigh their toxic conduct.

“It’s written off as personality conflict or conflict in style. And so they get to continue. And as long as they can bully with impunity and not have their employment jeopardized, they stay,” Namie said.

Voices of HR host Berta Aldrich commented that bullies are “not for the company, they’re for themselves.”

Yamada and Namie argued that true high performers treat others with respect and don’t need to tear others down to succeed.

Namie warned that in many cases bullying perpetrators “have spent time working their relationships up the ladder. They have sought a sponsor higher than themselves, of higher rank, under the delusion that if and when … the bully is complained about, the complainant is the liar. And therefore that ingratiating relationship, that currying of favor, [leads] the C-suite dweller to say to the complainant, ‘I don’t know you and I think you’re lying.’”

Proactively identifying and addressing workplace bullying situations is crucial for holding all employees accountable for respectful conduct, regardless of their perceived value or performance, and protecting employee well-being.