We can’t stay indifferent to suffering of those workers who are the victims of workplace bullying behaviour.
They don’t ask for help. They don’t know why it happens. They are silent, insecure, defenceless, vulnerable.
They are victims of workplace bullying violence twice. Firstly, when workplace bullying practices hit them and forced them to resign or lose job, then when they lost their health.
Workplace bullying nature is non-transitory and the worst downsides are the following three:
- the psychosocial risks
- the radical changes in workers’ lives
- the irreversible and often dramatic consequences of victimization.
The results of a recent study about workplace bullying, violence and harassment at the behest of the European Agency for Safety and Health Administration (EU-OSHA) on a population of bullied workers with the support of a team of psychologists, sociologists and trade unionists are quite self explaining and dramatically shocking:
- 39% of the interviewees changed their job,
- 28% separated/divorced from their spouse,
- 54% isolated themselves from friends,
- 33% faced economic problems,
- 49% suffered from various psycho-physical pathologies,
- 75% were demoted,
- 40% stopped working,
- 53% turned to the courts
- one interviewee committed suicide.
Not only does work satisfy economic needs, it also gives a social status that allows individuals to express themselves. But if you’re a victim of workplace bullying, work can become the root cause of great suffering and bad life changes.
Building and raising awareness is a moral obligation and a social need in order to make business and workplaces healthier and human-centered.
