I regularly work with Social Services and NHS staff – what are generally known as the caring sectors. Over the years I have been struck by how often delegates at training events complain about the conduct of their managers and colleagues which, not to put too fine a point on it, often seems to be bullying. In these caring organisations it is perhaps natural to assume that those employed in them will make extra special effort to behave decently to each other, which is why this behaviour can seem all the more shocking.

I have also been struck by how often delegates say they prefer to ‘give up and give in’ rather than pursue the problem, especially if the bully is their manager. The reasons usually cited are that ‘I’ll be sacked’ and/or ‘they’ll make my life hell’. This is all the more surprising considering that sackings, or indeed disciplinary hearings, in local government (and the public sector generally) are as rare as hen’s teeth, even when deserved. It has been tempting to consider that these delegates’ view of their world was exaggerated. But maybe not.

I’ve come across several stories in my personal experience recently that seem to indicate that it’s in the caring professions in particular where bullying, covert and overt, takes place. So, this month’s column is devoted to two websites that tackle this insidious and damaging disease – both from slightly idiosyncratic viewpoints, but both providing a wealth of resource for trainers, managers and indeed all employees to use. So, if you’re a trainer who thinks that maybe this is an issue you should tackle generally in your workplace, or perhaps if you’re someone who is feeling bullied, I hope there will be some help for you here.

I do have to confess to a personal interest too. I was severely bullied at school – at several schools, actually, as my parents moved often because of my father’s work – and, while I think I’ve turned into a reasonably okay adult (although my friends may dispute this!), this is despite rather than because of the bullying. I still harbour a faint but ever-rumbling desire for revenge on the worst perpetrators which, if nothing else, indicates just how long a bullying experience can live with you.

The first site is http://www.workplacebullying.co.uk and is run by Andy Ellis. Ellis has written a thesis on the topic and this seems to have been the springboard for his website. The first impression of this website is that it isn’t, shall we say, at the cutting edge of web design. Two rather unattractive photos, strange title text and bright blue buttons combine to give it a messy look. However, it is extremely easy to navigate and, since it’s one person’s work rather than that of a corporate team with money to burn, deserves closer inspection.

The main thrust of the site is explained very clearly on the home page: ‘Whilst bullying may only be perpetrated by the bully, we focus our attention on the industrial relations issues and advise structural and cultural changes in order to minimize the risk of such a problem developing.’

So there should be good advice here for organisations on how to manage their policies and procedures and for individuals on how to use these to best effect. And, for the most part, this is true. If you press the ‘Case Law’ button you are provided with several tribunal cases on various aspects of bullying. Be warned, though. Some of these are the full text of a case and are quite hard to make sense of without a legal background. The one I found most useful, in terms of both clarity and currency, was Harvest Press Ltd versus McCaffrey, which contains this useful piece of information in its summary: ‘If an employee reasonably believes that he or she is in serious and imminent danger because of bullying by a fellow worker, that employee may have a variety of statutory protections. Persistent bullying of an employee by a colleague may, where the employer fails to conduct an adequate investigation into that employee’s allegations, give rise to ‘circumstances of danger’ entitling the employee to walk out until the employer has remedied that danger.’ Employers, take note.

Sadly, on the days I was on the website, none of the links on the links page were working because of an internal error – sadly because some of them looked extremely valuable. If you can use these on your visit I suspect this will be more than worthwhile. There is a listserv (e-mail discussion list) to join which seems to have been reasonably active and certainly has a great many members. Slightly worrying though, when I was there on 2 July, the most recent message was dated 23 June and that was a ‘manage your debt’ spam. Nevertheless, looking back over the messages, obviously there have been some good discussions in the past and hopefully this bodes well for the future.

The two pages headed ‘Targets’ (meaning those who are being bullied) and ‘Employers’ probably provide the most useful overview of bullying and provide advice on how it can be counteracted. It’s also well worth reading Ellis’s thesis which looks at bullying in the retail industry in Gloucester and Somerset. However, there are some odd errors in it, for example hypotenuse instead of hypothesis, and these can bring you up short for a while.

It is this thesis that leads to one of my main queries about this whole field and links nicely to the next site on this subject. Ellis’s thesis was based on a sample questionnaire sent to 60 people. Thirty of these were returned, which is an admirable hit rate for any questionnaire. Of the 30 returned, 12 said there wasn’t a problem and the remaining 18 said there was. So, from this sample, 60 per cent said there was a problem and 40 per cent said there wasn’t. This is pretty horrifying. The danger, I think, is in extrapolating from these figures that 60 per cent of retail organisations have bullying problems. (To his credit, Ellis doesn’t do this.) However, on the next site – www.bullyonline.org – I got the feeling that I was being bombarded with figures without knowing much about their provenance and, particularly, the size of samples for surveys. (For those who want to know more about the dangers of taking statistics at face value and how easily we can all be manipulated, I thoroughly recommend the immensely readable How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff and Irving Geis.¹) I do get a little twitchy when I read opening text on a website’s welcome page that says, breathtakingly:‘Half the population are bullied ... most only realise it when they read this’. Judge for yourself though. Go to www.bullyonline.org/workbully/costs.htm and work your way through the mass of statistics.

This is a huge site and its design is such that it can be difficult to find your way around, particularly as it doesn’t have sidebar buttons. It took me a while to get to grips with the fact that at the bottom of each page – rather than at the more usual top or side – there is a series of page links. Once grasped though, it’s relatively easy to keep on track and if you do get lost then hit the website map link or use the website search box.

There is an astonishing amount of information here and this website pulls no punches. Unlike Andy Ellis, Tim Field who runs this website does not think much of using internal ‘legal’ remedies or grievance procedures to resolve issues. To support this, there is an excellent page for employers on policy development that makes it clear that it is culture that needs to be tackled.

Of the two sites I’ve looked at, Workplacebullying is the easiest to navigate and a good starting point for finding out more about bullying. However, Bullyonline is the meaty website. If you want tools, facts, figures and case studies to start raising the consciousness of your organisation about this important issue, then you’ll find everything you need here.

As ever, our thanks to Clare for this month’s thought-provoking contribution. Garry Platt will be in the web reviewer’s chair for the September issue of Training Journal.

Ratings
www.workplacebullying.co.uk
Content ***
Originality ***
Navigability ****
Presentation and graphics **
Downloads and freebies *
Links *
http://www.bullyonline.org
Content *****
Originality *****
Navigability **
Presentation and graphics **
Downloads and freebies *****
Links *****

Quick hits
www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1091350
****
This is an excellent article on the use and abuse of statistics. It will certainly whet your appetite to find out more.

www.ukspeedcameras.co.uk
***
Speed cameras – love ‘em or hate ‘em, you can’t avoid them. Or can you? This highly biased, but entertaining website tells you everything you might want to know. So, for instance, if you’re in Northampton you should know that, apparently, Northampton has more speed cameras than any other part of the UK and it is where many new developments in speed camera technology are tried first.

Reference
1. Darrell Huff and Irving Geis, How to Lie with Statistics, W W Norton, 1993.

Clare Forrest would be pleased to know by snail-mail, e-mail or carrier pigeon the URLs (web addresses) of any sites that you have enjoyed, loathed or found just plain indispensable so that she can bring them to everyone’s attention. She can be contacted at clareforrest@structuredlearning.com or visit www.structuredlearning.com

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