Latest Trends in Workplace Violence & Bullying
By Shanti Atkins
For Law 360
March 11, 2010
The past year has been a challenge for employers and employees alike. Financial chaos, massive layoffs, record unemployment rates, and personal financial hardships have left an indelible imprint on a generation of workers.
Evidence of tension and turmoil are all around us. From fervent and often violent debates about health care reform, to anger over outsourcing jobs and immigration policies, to a highly offensive Facebook poll asking whether President Obama should be assassinated, to the senseless murder of a 16 year-old on the streets of Chicago, all captured on a bystander's cell phone.
For employers, this issue is magnified-with the workplace reflecting what's happening in society at large. And even though the recession has been declared "officially" over by some, the after effects are lingering with no clear end in sight.
As the September 2009 workplace murder of a Yale student reminds us all, our workplaces are vulnerable to the violence and anger that wells in many of our citizens-the very people who work for you, and work with your employees every day.
To underscore the magnitude of the issue, just consider the numbers:
- 20% of all violent crime in the US occurs in the workplace, injuring more than 2 million workers annually.
- Dana Loomis, Preventing Gun Violence in the Workplace (9/8/08)
- According to a US Department of Labor survey of organizations with 1,000 or more workers, more than 50% of those organizations reported an incident of violence in the preceding 12 month period.
- An estimated 1.7 million employees are injured each year because of workplace assaults.
- There are more than 800 workplace homicides each year.
- Workplace suicides increased a record 28% between 2007 and 2008 - the highest number ever reported.
- And more than 50 million US employees (or 1/3 of the workforce) feel they have been bullied on the job.
These are sobering statistics, and a call for action.
They help identify what I see as the top three trends in workplace violence and bullying.
Trend #1: The Economy
Workplace violence had been declining for nearly a decade. But in 2008, everything changed. And while experts are still crunching numbers and looking for a statistical link to the economic downturn, the rest of us know that employees have suffered in the past several years.
With the recent pressures of an economic downturn, mass layoffs, rising unemployment, escalating racial tensions and fierce debate over immigrant workers and off-shoring US jobs, it‘s no wonder that workplace violence is on the rise. The stress caused by these events and financial turmoil can and does push people beyond their limits.
Trend #2: Workplace Bullies
While murders and violent workplace crimes grab the headlines, workplace bullying is a much more pressing and prevalent concern. With more than 1/3 of US employees claiming to have been bullied on the job, and the ill health effects lasting for years, bullying is costing American businesses millions of dollars each year.
Workplace bullies terrorize coworkers, destroy productivity, damage cultures, drive good employees to quit, and create fertile breeding ground for unions. Left unchecked, bullying can quickly escalate into more violent behaviors and into unlawful harassment, exposing your organization to significant legal risk.
A growing number of states are now considering anti-bullying legislation. According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, legislation is currently pending in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, Oklahoma, Utah, Illinois, Oregon, Connecticut and Nevada. And even though these anti-bullying laws have yet to be enacted, some courts have jumped in and held bullies and their employers accountable based on existing employment laws.
Trend #3: Employers Are Getting Serious About Prevention
Here's the good news. Most workplace violence is preventable. Spotting warning signs, knowing how and when to report concerns, and knowing what to do if you find yourself in a potentially violent situation, can save lives. Employers now recognize that stopping violence and protecting employees requires coordinated and thoughtful efforts.
The first step? Look at all your policies (Codes of Conduct, Workplace Harassment, Safety and Security, and Internet & Technology Usage) and make sure these policies work together to support, in a unified way, the organization's anti-violence and bullying stance.
The second step? Proactively train your employees about workplace violence prevention, and the role each employee plays in keeping the workplace safe. Without relevant and engaging training, policies are nothing more than words on a page, and employees are left ill-equipped.
I wish I could end this article on an upbeat note, saying how violence and bullying are going to be dramatically declining in our workplaces soon...but I can't do that.
What I can do is remind you about the proactive steps you can take to protect your workplace, so that your organization doesn't become the next workplace tragedy headline.
The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Portfolio Media, publisher of Law360
I’m looking forward to this new phase of working even more closely with ELT to get thousands of King County employees trained on workplace harassment, and looking even more forward to the reductions of harassment claims and lawsuits in the near future.
Jennifer Hills Loss Control Manager
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