Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

2 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 CANADIAN HR REPORTER WEEKLY More than half of Canadians have experienced bullying at work, according to a survey of 1,875 employees across the country. Fifty-five per cent admit they or a colleague have been bullied in the workplace. Verbal harassment was the most common form, at 58 per cent, while 21 per cent experienced physical bullying and 19 per cent experienced emotional bullying, according to the survey by Forum Research in Toronto. Two-thirds of employees who identified as having a disability, and 61 per cent of workers between the ages of 55 to 64, said they have endured or witnessed bullying on the job, compared to 57 per cent of those between 25 and 34. Results like this one year into the #MeToo era are perplexing, said Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research. "What planet is everybody living on? Like, really, where is everybody? In this day and age, yes, this is surprising." e culture of reporting in the workplace hasn't yet reached bullying in the same way it has for sexual harassment, he said. When the bully is a direct supervisor or boss, it can create an "awkward situation" or barrier in terms of reporting, said Bozinoff, as many workers want to refrain from "rocking the boat." "Maybe people don't want to get involved," he said. "Some of these people, it didn't happen to them personally; they saw it in the workplace, so they did nothing about it." Going over a direct leader's head to report to a human resources professional doesn't necessarily appeal as an alternative, said Bozinoff. Fifty-two per cent of respondents to the survey said they reported the bullying, but only one in three employers took action, he said. "at's a big stat. No action is being taken." And while two-thirds of workers said their organization has policies in place to target bullying, 37 per cent said the policy is ineffective, said Bozinoff. "Maybe there should be less focus now on the policy per se… and more focus on lowering the barriers to reporting it in the first place." Identifying bullying Going forward, employers will need to seriously re- flect on what is taking placing in their workplace, said Emily McDonald, lawyer and consultant at HR Atlantic in Charlottetown. Workplace bullying is "persistent conflict and behaviours between people," and is often more subtle and difficult to identify than other forms of harassment, she said. "Some individual acts that can be very subtle may appear at first glance to be really insignificant, but they all add up and lead to a feeling of bullying," said McDonald. "It can be harder to identify and then deal with because there's always going to be some amount of interpersonal conflict as people don't get along. e question is, really, 'When is it crossing that line?' And I think a lot of employers are doing work on that, but it's difficult because it really connects to workplace culture." Employers need to continually raise awareness of bullying in the workplace, not just in the onboarding process, said Lara Barley, director of human resources Only 1 in 3 employers taking action to end bullying: Survey Experts promote benefits of informal resolution to workplace conflict BY MARCEL VANDER WIER Sign up for the Canadian HR Newswire today for free and enjoy great content from the publishers of Canadian HR Reporter. HR News at Your Fingertips THE LATEST NEWS THE BEST COMMENTARY DELIVERED WEEKLY FOR READING ON ANY DEVICE Visit www.hrreporter.com/ canadian-hr-newswire

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