What does harrassment look like?

Harassment-a primer

A picture is worth a thousand words.

What does harassment look like to the un-initiated?

Go to

http://youtube.com/watch?v=gr8MMw0UqAs

This 4 minute video goes into some detail about what harassment looks like and what its potential impacts are.

The Canadian government is in on the act through the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Didn't know that the right to a safe working environment was a human right in this country?

Think again.

You have the right to work in an abuse free work environment.

If your work environment doesn't meet that standard, guess what.....?!!

Your employer and, perhaps your colleagues, are on the hook for damages.

Go to

http://chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/eng/content/what-discrimination#1

Defend yourself

My advice is that you start keeping a log of what you perceive is happening. It doesn't need to be detailed -minute by minute. But what you ought to do is to note:

• episodes,
• dates and times and
• who is present.

If you are married, or have a partner, tell him or her. A good partner will be your advocate and will notice if:

• you aren't sleeping,
• your appetite is off,
• you are lethargic,
• you are being self isolating
• you are self loathing
• you are distracted and moody.

Are you ill? Not your usually cheery robust self?

Your body never lies. A good indication that things aren't great is if you develop shingles.

Don't hesitate to go to your family physician. Tell him or her what is happening. (S)he may not be Marcus Welby MD but they do keep records, they do take you seriously and, they will send you on for another assessment.

Forget the usual company EAP program. These are short term, often fail to diagnose the problem and usually don't have the competence to know when they are in over their heads.

HR-a waste of time

Companies have the usual anti harassment policy. A part of the policy is that you, the victim , file a complaint usually to HR, who then may-or may not-do an internal investigation. My experience is that HR professionals are a bunch of boobs-certainly in the public service. The investigation never amounts to anything.

If you are unionized, go directly to your shop steward. Unions have a good reputation defending their members.
Not sure about where they stand? In a previous post, I gave a link for CUPE.

Use it. CUPE has a handbook which provides excellent guidance.
cupe.ca/stop-harassment-guide-cupe-locals

A great union!

If you are non unionized, go directly to a lawyer who specializes in this kind of litigation. Do not ..I repeat... do not go to you sister's friend's husband who happens to be a lawyer.

The Lawyer-choose wisely

One size does not fit all.

And, some lawyers are a lot better than others.

If the guy does not take you seriously in the 1st 15 minutes, leave.

Shop.

Ask for references before you go in.

If you do see a lawyer, bring:

• your log,
• your physician's telephone number,
• a copy of your HR file 
• you portfolio
• your log

Why your HR file??

Your file should contain your performance appraisals, an organization chart (where do you report in the structure), your work plan (if you have one) and your job description. Is there any work of which you are proud , for which you have earned praise in the organization and which was filed on your file?

 Bring a sample, if you can.

Why your portfolio?

What is this??

Another name for it is a brag book. It is popular nowadays with people out job searching. It gives a prospective employer an idea of what you can do.  There are lots and lots of examples of how to organize this, on the 'net. Typically it includes:

• your org chart
• your job description
• work samples not just from your current job but also from other jobs.
• letters of commendation

My advice is to make it colourful.

The visit-not an in and out experience

Don't expect Perry Mason or some slick bastard out of  The Wire or even Saul Goodman. Expect a guy who may want to represent you but who might not immediately see that you are in the pain you are.

So, what questions should you answer even if (s)he doesn't ask them?

Work assignment

1) has work been assigned unfairly? Just saying that you don't think its fair won't cut it.  

Demonstrate it.

Is your workload larger than others? And, is the workload being increased? How? What?

2) have you done good work that isn't ever acknowledged? What? How do you know it was any good? Did an outsider commend it formally?

Disrespect

3) are you subjected to ridicule privately or publicly?

Take a look at the Human Rts video above.

have you been disciplined publicly? When? Who was present?

4) has your work been discussed in meetings without you present? Have your colleagues been invited to comment on your work outside of your presence? Can you get quotes?

5) have you been isolated? Not invited to program functions, social functions, educational opportunities?

Appraisal

6) are your colleagues invited to evaluate your performance anonymously during the annual performance appraisal process?

7) does the performance appraisal lack substance? Your supervisor can't point to any facts which suggest that you have under-performed. In fact, you may find that the appraisal has nothing to do with your annual work plan.

8) does your supervisor not give credit where credit is due? As above, be prepared to support yourself.

Threats

9) does your supervisor refuse to meet with you to go over work or to address any questions you may have about the work?

10) have you been threatened?  This can be subtle. And, you may be so surprised, that it won't immediately register. Has your supervisor warned you that the last person who was assigned this project lost his/her job for poor performance?

11) have your colleagues berated you at a meeting and as a group?

12) has a colleague called you at home out of work hours to berate you?

13) has a colleague berated you in front of your supervisor and while the supervisor said nothing?

Fair Pay

14) has merit pay been with held without explanation?

A final word of advice if you go the lawyer route.

Bring your partner.

Nothing is more powerful than a concerned and angry partner!!!!

The next blog will deal with preventive measures. That is, how do you avoid such employers in the first place?

Have heart!

Its remarkably easy.

See you in a few days.

Now you are a bully

So-Now you are a bully

Happy?

Great!!

How much are you costing your employer? As I noted in an earlier blog, it is estimated that 20% of sick time is as a consequence of bad management and that 20% is a consequence of mental illness.

Cross reference Bill Wilkerson and the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addictions  and  Mental Health, for more information about this.
mentalhealthroundtable.ca/links.html

Or perhaps this is simply chalked up as the cost of doing business?
Wilkerson thinks not. In fact, the Roundtable has proposed a Charter of Mental Health Rights for employees.
mentalhealthroundtable.ca/feb_2004/Charter_February_2004.pdf

Take, as an example, the public health care sector in one of Canada's provinces-being New Brunswick.

Average sick time ranges from 10-12 days/employee/year. (Add to that 11 stat holidays per year and about 4 weeks holiday per year and you find that the average employee gets paid not to be working about 2-2.5 months per year. But that is another story)

Back to bullying and sick time.

There are about 13,000 employees. The math is simple. That means that there are between 130,000 and 150000 sick days taken per year. Using the albeit low income of $20/hr and a 7.5 hour work day, NB's taxpayers are coughing up between $19.5m and $23.4m/year to pay people for being ill.

20% of that is as a consequence of bad (aka bullying) management.

That means that NB's taxpayers (who pay amongst the highest personal taxes in Canada) are paying between $3.9m-$4.68m/year for managers to bully staff and, not be held accountable.
To read more about the impact of management behaviour on sick time, try reading Rhoades and Eisenberger (2002) or Tepper (2000) on this topic.

Oh, by the way, the number of  days lost which might otherwise be used to work are between 26,000 and 31200 days.
To get even more information on this topic, go back to Wilkerson's site and search the report :
Mental Health in the Labour Force
Literature review and Gap Analysis
By Watson Wyatt Canada ULC @
mentalhealthroundtable.ca/jul_07/WW%20GAP%20Report%20-May30_2007.pdf

If your aim is to be a corporate bully

So, you actually want to be a bully!

There are people-and I use the term advisedly- who actually go into management to bully.

These are typically the individuals who are incapable of functioning elsewhere in society or in the workplace. They are intimidated by talent, are devoid of integrity and are generally unskilled in the ways of delivering the service they manage.

They are promoted because they curry favour with their employers.

A true classic of how to advance without integrity or talent is demonstrated in the 5th season of the Wire.

Watch it.

A newspaper reporter, clueless about how to identify and build a story, is assigned a key piece based on his ability to parrot the publisher's desire to write a "Dickension article" about the homeless.

I won't spoil the season by describing exactly how he does this. But it is worth a watch and tells you everything you need to know about careerism, lying, theft of another's work and generally how to succeed without integrity.

I have learned from, and have been bullied by, the absolute best at this.

So, if you aspire to make your career as a bully,  want to know how to bully and not get caught, sued, or murdered in the workplace, here is how.

Prerequisites of a bully

• be incompetent or just barely competent to get a job done
• move from position to position within an organization just before you are discovered as incompetent
• it helps a lot to be devoid of any integrity
• lie about your work
• steal another's good work and put your name on it
• don't give credit where credit is due (especially critical if you work on a team)
• take courses as offered but absolutely don't implement what you learned
• try nothing new, take no risks and blame others if something goes wrong.
• be a careerist
• maintain optimal visibility with your superior. But always credit the superior with a good idea . Repeat their ideas as though they are brilliant. They likely aren't and everyone knows it. But, hey. You aren't try to impress any one but your boss.

Where might bullies flourish?

Like all vermin, pests, rodents and bottom dwellers, bullies flourish best in large organizations where performance is not closely monitored. This allows you, the aspiring bully, to grow as a fat as a tick by sucking the blood out of co-workers and staff without getting caught as the thief you are.

So, where is best?  

• An organization where sick time is high-10-12 days per employee is a good environment for bullies.
• It helps if the organization emphasizes compliance training over professional development
• A large bureaucracy where attention to policies takes priority over performance
• A bureaucracy which doesn't publish its policies. Keeping policies secret-especially HR policies- means that you can plausibly deny that you did anything wrong-if by chance you are caught. It very much works to your advantage if the organization is in the midst of digitizing its policies. That way, no one has access to any guidelines-usually ever.
• An organization where senior management positions are constantly changing is good. This allows you to continue your work as a bully unimpaired by nasty and unwanted responsible oversight.
• High turnover is important amongst staff as well. That way, you won't get targeted like, say, Bill O'Reiley or Roger Ailes.
• If there is a Board of Directors, it helps if the board is kept in the dark about Quality Improvement and Risk Management strategies. That way they can't ask embarrassing questions about performance, satisfaction and productivity. There is therefore much less chance that you, the bully, will get outed.
• It is very  helpful to you, as the aspiring bully, if senior managers (and no one else for that matter) can define "Quality" or "Risk" (Quality, by the way is defined as the ability to meet a customer's expectation first time every time at the lowest possible cost). That way, you can never be evaluated based on how your teams are performing-because no one knows how they should perform.

My next blog will give you "a how to" of bullying, and some markers to evaluate your successful impact on the team, the program, and the organization. 

Bullying in the workplace-ever happened to you??

Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace:

      What's it like working in a provincial civil service?

We should first define our terms.

Bullying is a pernicious form of harassment and can be:

• covert
• overt
• belittling
• defaming
• and is a direct assault on a person's dignity and psychological well-being.

Typically, Canadian unions have a good information for their members. The one union I prefer is CUPE (Just a personal preference). Go to their site to get their handbook at:

http://cupe.ca/stop-harassment-guide-cupe-locals

In any case, how do you know if you are being bullied?

Well, here are some markers.

• malicious rumours, gossip or innuendo is spread about you
• your supervisor persistently criticizes yo, demeans you or ridicules you (either privately-tough to prove, therefore; or publicly-not so tough unless your co-workers are afraid of her/him)
• is your work continually undermined or deliberately impeded?
• are you excluded or isolated (as in from meetings, office social events, educational opportunities)?
• are you subjected to threats or verbal abuse?
• have these threats turned physical?
• have you been called derogatory names?
• are you being incessantly teased or are you the butt of jokes?
• are you subjected to hazing?
• do co-workers-or does your supervisor-make threatening or aggressive gestures?
• are you subjected to public ridicule or discipline
• have your applications for vacation, leaves, educational opportunities, training been unduly refused?

At first, you can't believe that this is happening to you. Then, you descend into a sort of fog and then you get sick and your sick time starts to increase .

You are not alone.

Some indicators that there are problems in the workplace include:

• high staff turnover
• poor productivity
• high sick time

20% of sick time is as a consequence of bad management and

20% of sick time is due to mental illness caused by

bad management.

What are some specifics?

More on this in a few days