June 17th, 2013
New WBI Survey
Please take some time to complete the newest WBI Survey. How did you first discover workplace bullying?
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WBI BLOG
June 17th, 2013
Nursezone.com: Nurse Bullying
An Ongoing Problem in the Health Care Workplace
By Jennifer Larson
June 13, 2013
When children repeatedly torment other children at school, it’s called bullying, and it’s deemed a significant problem. Research shows that children who are bullied tend to experience increased levels of stress, anxiety and depression.
Unfortunately, bullying doesn’t stop at the playground gates, and children aren’t the only ones who engage in bullying behavior.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) reports that between 18 and 31 percent of nurses have experienced bullying behavior at work. Like schoolyard bulling, workplace bullying involves a real or perceived imbalance of power and repetition of the negative behavior. The behavior can be overt, such as yelling or threatening, or it can be more insidious and passive, like refusing to cooperate or perform necessary tasks.
Whatever forms it takes, bullying is a serious, complex and ongoing problem in the health care workplace that results in demoralization and decreased job satisfaction, as well as feelings of isolation, anxiety, sadness and depression.
Bullying can also result in harm to patients. In a 2008 Sentinel Alert that addressed disruptive behaviors, The Joint Commission noted that “intimidating and disruptive behaviors can foster medical errors and (lead) to preventable adverse outcomes.”
Continue reading this article… »
June 14th, 2013
Levo League: Mean Girls at Work
Regina: Oh, my God! I love your skirt. Where did you get it?
Lea Edwards: It was my mom’s in the ’80s.
Regina: Vintage. So adorable.
Lea Edwards: Thanks.
Regina: [turns to Cady] That is the ugliest effing skirt I’ve ever seen.
The above line is from the classic and brilliant film Mean Girls. The fake compliment was given by Regina George. George is a queen bee at a high school. She rules the social scene because she is a brilliant war strategist. Seriously General Patton has nothing on this girl. Everything looks effortless but every move is actually calculated. And though I would like to say this type of foul play only exists in high school and (wildly entertaining) movies, that is absolutely not true.
Woman-on-woman harassment is on the rise. Thirty-five percent of Americans reported being bullied at work, according to a 2010 survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute. Female bullies more frequently engaged in under-the-radar behaviors such as sabotage (53.7 percent of female vs. 39.9 percent of male bullies) and abuse of authority (50.2 percent vs. 44.7 percent), as compared to the more observable form of verbal abuse engaged in by more male than female bullies, at 57.5 and 47.1 percents, respectively.
Continue reading this article… »
June 13th, 2013
Let’s Talk with Kalola: Bullying is affecting my health
Dear Kalola,
When I started with this company as a Clerical Assistant for the data team I was happy outgoing and loved going to work. When I made a change because of a financially crisis at home, I was not doing good so I transferred to a FT position. Once I moved into this position I was quickly moved to another position without even being asked. I had no proper training and my manager didn't know much either so it made this job stressful because you had to meet quotas and they based your performance on that. I began to feel really stressed.
For my one year anniversary my manager threw the packet on my desk and walked away in front of my coworkers. I felt humiliated, embarrassed and ashamed. After 3 months of this stress I began to feel sick nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, losing excessive weight, and migraines. I was diagnosed with 2 bleeding ulcers, a gastric ulcer and a condition called gastro paresis which its a condition where the stomach does not empty. After 4 months of hostile environment I was diagnosed with anxiety, depression and high blood pressure.
I wrote to HR and I was ignored. I filled out FMLA, I wrote to the owner 3 times but that made matters worse. I am still being written up and ignored. They have succeeded in taking my chance in education, my school flex schedule was taken away, written up with no chance to transfer out of this hostile deptartment. Everyday I am being harassed, abused and humiliated, provoked...I am at the end of my rope sometimes I feel like Im losing my mind...I cant quit because financially I'm suffering with all the hospital bills, doctor bills, procedures and medication.
Because of being absent because of my illness I am not getting paid, my bills have accumulated and I have no money to buy my Rx one at $30 the other three $15 each. My health has deteriorated drastically from someone so full of life, happy and outgoing to a depressed, not wanting to go out, insomnia, worries of what will happen if I lose my job, hard time sleeping and shutting down my brain so I don't think about it. Everyday going to work my body begins to shake, my chest gets tight, I have a hard time breathing, the nausea starts then the vomiting, diarrhea, and migraines begin again I stay feeling anxious and all I do is cry uncontrollably. On the weekends I am fine come Sunday night and everything starts again.
Florida Worker
Continue reading this article... »
June 13th, 2013
Catholic school fires teacher stalked by abusive ex
A story of double jeopardy — a victim of domestic violence is treated like a criminal by her employer. Carie Charlesworth, 2nd grade teacher at Holy Trinity school in San Diego, warned her principal that her ex-spouse was on the grounds despite a court restraining order. The school went into lockdown. The abusive man subsequently went to prison for other crimes. Carie was fired and prevented from working for any other school in the diocese (district). Read the termination letter. Sadly, her four children enrolled at the school were also tossed out.
Simply put, because the violent man broke his restraining order, teacher and mother Carie was punished.
Video from NBC-TV-7, San Diego
A 2011 study by Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center Project SURVIVE found that nearly 40% of survivors in California reported being fired or fearing termination due to domestic violence.
The full story at the TV station website.
June 10th, 2013
Inside the mind of a whistleblower: Edward Snowden speaks
Listen to the reasoning Ed Snowden, the self-confessed NSA whistleblower, describes. He chose to not remain “comfortable” while he watched top secret surveillance (of dubious constitutionality) turned on Americans grow year by year. He has sacrificed his career and safety to convince Americans that they should tell Congress to stop spying on its citizens. Watch the reactions.
Who will give him credit for bravery? Not Sen. Dianne Feinstein who spoke of a “culture of leaks,” and not the President whose pledge of transparency rings hollow in light of the evidence Snowden outed. Snowden is out of the U.S. and is certain he will be hunted like prey. Read the smears by New York Times columnist David Brooks.
The bullying, no the torture, of the whistleblower has just begun. Follow the assassination of his character as defenders of the status quo rally to brand him a traitor (he rebuts that argument in this interview). Reports about an abnormal childhood will surface. Former love partners will suddenly appear proclaiming him an inadequate young man. Coworkers will say he was always a bit “off” and “different.” His managers at Booz Allen will say they had no idea he was so untrustworthy. Here’s the job description to be Snowden’s replacement in Hawaii. Blah, blah, blah. All garbage manufactured by people with 1/100th of Snowden’s ethics.
The older ones among us remember the condemnation of Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the Pentagon Papers that showed government lying about Vietnam. Would we ever have left there without that disclosure? Unlikely. And it is Ellsberg who considers this leak the most important in American history.
We need truth tellers. Why must telling the truth cost principled people their jobs, careers and safety?
Those who are bullied at work and reveal the truth about the abuse and abusers are similarly discredited and blamed. All whistleblowers are bullied. Not every one bullied is a whistleblower. All are made to suffer for taking a principled stand.
I think the followers of WBI can identify with Snowden.
June 7th, 2013
Amherst Bulletin: UMass smart to address campus bullying
Amherst Bulletin Editorial
June 5, 2013
Bullying has become a major issue over the past few years, and rightfully so. The focus has been mainly on children and teens and the sometimes tragic results of the emotional battering that is still far too commonplace. But at least public schools in this state have taken a strong no-tolerance stand and imposed measures to educate children and swiftly deal with incidents. That does have an impact.
But bullying is not reserved for the young. Though it is not so openly discussed, adults are mistreated this way, too, and the workplace is an area where victims are particularly vulnerable, as their livelihoods are at stake. Therefore, we applaud University of Massachusetts Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy and other campus officials for publicly recognizing this and taking steps to improve the work environment for campus staff.
Troubled by statistics and comments gathered in an online survey last fall, Subbaswamy sent a memo to faculty and staff recently saying that although the UMass results line up with data gathered at other workplaces across the country, the university finds this unacceptable and is working on ways to eliminate bullying from campus offices.
Continue reading this article… »
June 6th, 2013
Let’s Talk with Kalola Special: Whistle-blowers
“The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self, our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe, as in my case, the price we pay is well worth holding on to our dignity.” … Frank Serpico
By Tom Hays and Colleen Long
April 28,2013
NEW YORK (AP) — After Officer Pedro Serrano decided to testify in federal court about what he sees as wrongdoing within the New York Police Department, a rat sticker appeared on his locker.
That was the least of his problems.
Serrano claims he’s been harassed, micromanaged and eventually transferred to a different precinct and put on the overnight shift.
“It hasn’t been a picnic,” he said in an interview this week. “They have their methods of dealing with someone like me.”
Serrano and other whistle-blowers took the stand in a civil rights case challenging some of the 5 million streets stops made by police in the past decade using a tactic known as stop and frisk. They believe illegal quotas are behind some wrongful stops of black and Hispanic men.
Continue reading this article… »
June 4th, 2013
WBI Study: Protecting workplace bullies
PROTECTING WORKPLACE BULLIES
WBI 2013-F Instant Poll
At WBI, we have documented how bullies rarely face personal negative consequences for their misconduct. Too often, complaints about bullying are discounted, dismissed or completely ignored. This indifferent response by the organization implicitly rewards the bullying. The uncoupling of bullying from negative sanctions outrages bullied targets. It is the injustice that infuriates targets.
WBI national American studies show that the vast majority of perpetrators (72%) are bosses. Organizational support for managers trumps support for non-supervisory workers.
In this survey, we sought to clarify the sources of support, or protection, for bullies. Protective support prevents punishment for bullies and blocks accountability. Of course over time, protecting bullies sustains a workplace culture that is bullying-prone and unsafe for prospective targets. Protection ensures that bullying continues with impunity.
Continue reading this article… »
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