Bullying rife in workplaces: survey

© iStockphoto.com/Robert Hadfield

Poll

Have you ever been bullied in the workplace?

This poll ended on 30 June 2011.

Yes

79%

No

7%

No, but I've seen it happen.

13%

This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

BULLYING is rife in Australian workplaces, a new survey shows, with one half of respondents saying they had witnessed the behaviour.

The Drake International survey of more than 800 employees also revealed 25 per cent had experienced bullying themselves.

Silence, isolation, verbal insults and sarcasm were the most common cases, with public humiliation ranking in second place.

Bullying from managers or supervisors represented about 50 per cent of cases, while 25 per cent of respondents reported being targeted by other employees.

Gender proved no barrier to the behaviour, with almost equal numbers of male and female perpetrators, the survey found.

Both sexes were also equally targeted by workplace bullies.

Poor management of the issue by companies was also revealed, with just 30 per cent of victims and 50 per cent of witnesses satisfied with their employer's response to incidents.

Drake International said the results were disappointing and worrying from an organisational perspective.

"Bullying is an identifiable psychological hazard in the workplace and therefore this is not just a conduct issue," Drake's national client services manager Judy Harper said.

"Organisations need to do more - as a minimum they have a statutory duty of care to manage and control this inappropriate and damaging behaviour."