May 25, 2023
Bullying rife in kiwi workplace
A Massey University study of workplace bullying found more than one in four workers says they are bullied at least once a week.
Study lead Jarrod Harr, its professor of management and Maori business, says as many as 90 per cent of workers experienced some bullying in the past year.
There was no marked difference from one type of business to another nor is there any difference with Maori workers.
He says bullying can include not only old school aggression but withholding information which affects job performance, or ignoring or excluding co-workers from group activities.
“When we get down to having a couple of these things every week it’s still 26 percent so one in four of us feel there’s withholding information or there’s gossip and rumours about us or we’re being insulted on a weekly basis or more. That’s the bit that really worries me, it shows that a quarter of the workforce are having this heavy bullying experience,” Professor Haar says.
Being bullied increases your chances of mental health problems around anxiety and depression.
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