September 2012 - Page 2 of 2 - Corra Daily Planet

Workplace Bullying Has Serious Financial Impact

I recently wrote an article entitled, Workplace Bullying is Even Worse Than Thought. Now the SFGate reports about the financial impact of workplace bullying.

The article cites four major impact where workplace bullying can create a financial drain. Reduced productivity; employee turnover; lost time on the job; and of course the damage caused to a company’s reputation. All serious stuff. Add to this that when you enable or allow workplace bullying, employees suffer physically and most often psychologically.

The article reports, “Workplace bullying can include verbal abuse, intimidation, humiliation and sabotage. These mistreatments are typically not one-time occurrences; they happen over a significant length of time and cause the victim to suffer a loss of self-esteem and possibly even long-term physical or mental health issues. Aside from the damages to the victims of bullying, organizations are finding that workplace bullying costs money as well.

Best advice, get out in front of workplace bullying. Establish a comprehensive policy where among other things employees can report incidents to their managers. And make it clear, workplace bullying will not be tolerated in you business.

Elderly Worker Sentenced for Workplace Violence

I have written quite a bit about workplace violence. I have reported on surveys on workplace violence, various studies, and have commented on the more egregious incidents. One such article is Workplace Bullying is Worse Than Thought. However, few things prepare you for an article about a 75-year-old worker beating on his fellow employee. Not only did he beat on him, but with a custom made club with thirty odd screws protruding from the end. Ironically, or not, I have seen a number of elder man carrying such a weapon. I don’t remember any of them bringing these war sticks to work.

According to The Mercury, ” A 75-year-old maintenance worker is headed to jail after he was convicted of charges he used a homemade club with 32 protruding screws to attack a co-worker at the Montgomery Township business where they worked.”

Montgomery County, Philadelphia, essentially, is my old stomping grounds as a kid. It’s a decent area, not overly known for indecent acts of violence.

The assailant will be doing between eleven and 24 months of jail time and then at least two years of probation. That’s a lot of time out of life when you are 75-years-old. Not the smartest thing anyone has ever done. What’s more the poor victim was nearly scared half to death, according the witnesses.

So, I guess, young or old everybody can get in with the ever expanding trend of workplace violence. Oh my.