A few years back I was on an Maryland Psychological Association task force committee that worked in partnership with the American Psychological Association to identify and acknowledge organizations that promote conditions of psychologically healthy workplaces. The Psychologically Healthy Workplace Program has a nice newsletter that runs articles that should be of great interest to companies and work organizations interested in improving the mental health, physical health, performance and productivity of their employees.
In a recent newsletter, there was an article about workplace violence – – an area of great interest to me. What I liked about this article was that they gave nice, concrete tips on how to handle situations that might occur in your workplace, and they offered various strategies about how the organization could respond to (and hopefully even prevent) such situations. The article presented ideas that are close in line with what I’ve been recommending to companies for years during my consultations following these events.
Workplace bullying has severe consequences, including reduced effectiveness and high employee turnover. An employee who suffers any physical or psychiatric injury as a result of workplace bullying can confront the bully, report the bully to the HR department or to the trade union, if any, or bring a claim of negligence and/or a personal injury claim against both the employer and the abusive employee as joint respondents in the claim. If the law does not persuade employers to deal with workplace bullying, the economic reality will persuade them. Training sessions can help when combined with a confidential reporting structure, but it is difficult to alter the basic nature of some individuals, who may need counselling.
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Maxwell Pinto, Business Author
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