You will have noticed that bullying claims are becoming increasingly frequent. There are some bullying claims that seem very clear-cut, for example kids being bullied at school; but others are sometimes very challenging. I have noted three particular groups who seem predominant. The first group are those who have had a WorkCover claim for a physical injury and had come back to work and it is clear they are not wanted, for a variety of reasons, usually because it is a small workplace and as far as the owner is concerned, either the worker does the usual work or there is no place for them and the owner tries to hound the person out of the workplace. The second group are those claimants whose performance has been problematic and who claim bullying after a performance review. The third group are those claimants who have had issues with work colleagues sometimes because others resented the claimant being promoted or being given special treatment and sometimes because the claimant had had a social relationship with the alleged bully and problems arose in their social relationship that spilled over into the workplace. My experience is that victims of bullying or alleged bullying arising in the workplace are difficult to interview and want to recount every instance of injustice.
I have been trying to sort out some sort of taxonomy of bullying as there are a number of other categories that I think should be included.
I would be interested to hear of your own experiences as I am writing a paper for conference later this year.
comments