The Bully Is About To Be Bullied

So what do you think happens when a high-school bully enters the work world and has a bully for a boss? The bully learns how the business world works through the eyes of another bully. In fact, the bully becomes just like his boss - so much so that he becomes almost a mirror of his boss. So when it comes time for succession, guess who gets the nod? The guy just like the last guy.

The province of Ontario is set to pass a bill (Bill 168) making workplace harassment illegal. The new law will come into effect this month. It requires employers to develop and communicate workplace violence prevention policies, assess the risks of workplace violence, and take reasonable precautions to protect workers from domestic violence in the workplace. Ontario will be the third province to legislate against workplace violence and harassment, along with Quebec and Saskatchewan.

New research from Queen's University's School of Business indicates that workplace bullying can be more damaging than racial or gender harassment.

"While ethnic harassment and gender harassment can both be attributed to prejudice, general workplace harassment is a subtle form of mistreatment that masks underlying motives, and is not as easily attributed to bias," say report authors Jana Raver of Queen's School of Business and Lisa Nishii of Cornell University,

Caucasians reported higher levels of general workplace harassment than minorities, and women were not more likely than men to experience either gender harassment or general workplace harassment.

Raver and Nishii also found that general workplace harassment may be especially detrimental because unlike gender and ethnic harassment, it is not illegal in most of North America. A study released by Queen's University in 2008 also found workplace harassment to be more harmful than sexual harassment because of a lack of recourse for victims.

So, even if you're not in one of the three provinces affected by the new legislation, are you ahead of this or will you wait until the very last minute - until your legislated to do something about it? You can help your own Corporate Safety & Wellness Culture by being ahead of the legislation.

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Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711
Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!