The 2009 survey showed that nine per cent of staff had experienced bullying, harassment or abuse from their team leader and 13 per cent experienced it from colleagues.
Less than half had reported incidents of bullying and harassment, including those by other members of staff. Some 55 per cent felt that their trust took effective action in cases of bullying and harassment and one in 100 reported that they had been physically attacked by a manager with a similar number reporting attacks by colleagues.
The NHS has taken strong steps to eliminate this kind of behaviour in the
workplace but it is clear that problems still persist.
The costs of bullying and harassment include increased sickness absence, low productivity, high staff turnover, costs of potential litigation and damage to the reputation of the organisation.
Research shows that bullying and harassment can have the same negative impact on the observers as it does on the people being bullied, to the extent that observers may choose to leave the employer, particularly if they do not perceive the employer to be dealing with the bullying and harassment in a satisfactory manner.
Research by Professor Cary Cooper and colleagues at UMIST published in February 2000 revealed that out of 5300 employees in 70 organisations, 47 per cent reported witnessing bullying in the last five years, 1 in 10 (10.5 per cent) said they'd been bullied in the last six months and 1 in 4 (24.4 per cent) said they'd been bullied in the last five years.
Those who reported being bullied within the last six months consistently reported the poorest health, the lowest work motivation, the highest absenteeism figures as well as the lowest productivity compared to those who were not bullied. Those who witnessed bullying at work were also more likely to report poor health and low morale than those who worked in bullying-free environments. The survey was supported by the TUC and CBI and funded by the British Occupational Health Research Foundation (BOHRF).
Where can I find out more?
- NHS Employers and the NHS trade unions are working in partnership with the Department of Health (DH) throughout 2010/11 to assist NHS organisations in taking on board the recommendations made in the report on the health and well being of NHS staff commissioned by the Department from Dr Steve Boorman. NHS Employers has also produced ten top tips to help NHS organisations successfully implement the recommendations of the Boorman review.
- The TUC and CBI have produced Preventing workplace harassment and violence. The aim of the guidance is to provide employers and employees with information on how to prevent and tackle workplace harassment and violence. It also summarises the current legislation that covers this area; existing guidance and useful information on this and related issues.
- The Royal College of Nursing has put together a number of publications and tools to support organisations to deal with bullying and harassment.
- UNISON has launched a Bully Buster Campaign and their website includes information on the national campaign as well as tools and documents.
- The GMB’s ‘Respect@Work policy’ campaigns for workers to be treated the same as everyone else in their workplace.
- Unite the Union’s ‘Dignity at Work’ partnership aimed to identify effective ways of dealing with bullying and harassment and encourage employers to work in partnership with trade unions to a zero tolerance approadh to bullying and harassment. Organisations were invited to join the Partnership and to sign a charter expressing a commitment to pursuing dignity at work values. The Partnership cam to an end in May 2008 having achieved all its objectives.
- The Department of Health, through its Pacesetters programme, is working with six SHAs and 18 NHS trusts to develop and deliver equality and diversity improvements and innovations for patients and staff. One of the core workforce elements of the Pacesetters programme is to reduce rates of bullying and harassment by identifying and tackling the underlying causes. The aim is to spread learning and good practice across the NHS.
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