8 Proactive Steps to Stop Bullying

In yesterday’s Advisor, we featured attorney Allison West’s take on bullying in the workplace. Today, her guidance for dealing with the bully, plus an introduction to the all-HR-in-one-place website, HR.BLR.com.

West, who is principal at Employee Practices Specialists in Pacifica, CA, delivered her suggestions for dealing with bullying in the workplace at the SHRM Employment Law and Legislative Conference, held recently in Washington, D.C.

Here are West’s guidelines for dealing with bullying:

1. Start with Your Culture

• Be sure that respect is a core value.
• Teach/reward deliberate acts of kindness and decency.
• Start zero tolerance for bullying at top levels of management.
• Walk the talk—Don’t reward bad behavior.
• Institute a “no jerks at work” rule.
• Have a policy! Caution: Don’t have a policy if you don’t plan on following it, says West. Base your policy on:
• Civility
• Respect in the workplace
• Code of conduct
• Antibullying

2. Insist on Accountability

Tie all aspects of conduct, including bullying, to financial rewards, evaluations, career advancement.

3. Track Turnover

Keep track of turnover statistics by department, manager, and unit.

4. Fine-Tune Hiring

Fine-tune your hiring procedures, says West:

• Do reference checks with current coworkers, subordinates.
• Prescreen for professional competence; then focus more on “personal” traits and skills.
• Ask questions related to team and individual relationships, working style, longevity of subordinates.
• Involve candidate in some day‐to‐day activities—meals, meetings, etc. as appropriate.
• Consider a 360 interview panel, perhaps with unrelated departments.
• Remember, bullies will often hire other bullies!

5. Do Exit Interviews

Don’t be relieved when the target quits—there could be others.

6. Conduct Surveys

Conduct climate/attitude surveys, by department or companywide (but only if you plan on doing something with the information).

7. Pay Attention

Pay attention and assess the situation(s):

• Are you on notice, that is, required to take action?
• Are targets members of protected classes? Remember: Bullies are one step away from being “harassers.”
• Is the conduct a onetime occurrence or pervasive?
• Do you find yourself making excuses for the bully (bully is in a position of power, is a rainmaker, creates fear)?
• Don’t downplay an employee’s complaint or force him/her to confront the bully alone.

---

HR Audit Checklists ensures that you have a chance to fix problems before government agents or employees’ attorneys get a chance. For a limited time, try HR Audit Checklists as also receive the FREE REPORT: HR Training to Avoid Lawsuits, Audits, and Fines. Get it Now.

---

8. Follow Basic Rules

Follow these basic rules for training/coaching a bully, says West:

• Focus on remedial training meant to assist in changing unacceptable behavior.
• Individual training—training in a group typically won’t work.
• Not an investigation interview—it’s not about excuses or the bully’s version of the facts.
• Bully is often in denial and/or disagrees with the findings.
• Bully must state reasons for the training.
• Training should be interactive.
• Don’t bother training/coaching unless you have specific examples: dates, places, content, conduct.
• Be direct: “People are afraid of you, staff doesn’t feel safe.”
• Avoid “Please be nicer!”
• Consequences are an absolute must. Bullies won’t change unless motivated.
• Don’t try to understand why bullies bully—this is not therapy!
• Give the bully tools to:
• Change his/her conduct.
• Be a better communicator.
• Effectively handle conflict.
• Give constructive feedback.
• Make good on threats—Terminate the bully!

Dealing with bullies—just one more daily challenge. In HR, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. Like FMLA intermittent leave, overtime hassles, ADA accommodation, and then on top of that, whatever the agencies and courts throw in your way.

You need a go-to resource, and our editors recommend the “everything-HR-in-one website,” HR.BLR.com. As an example of what you will find, here are some policy recommendations concerning e-mail, excerpted from a sample policy on the website:

Privacy. The director of information services can override any individual password and thus has access to all e-mail messages in order to ensure compliance with company policy. This means that employees do not have an expectation of privacy in their company e-mail or any other information stored or accessed on company computers.

---

Using the “hope” system to avoid lawsuits? (We “hope” we’re doing it right.) Be sure! Download the FREE REPORT, HR Training to Avoid Lawsuits, Audits, and Fines, and also try HR Audit Checklists on us for 30 days. Learn More.

---

E-mail review. All e-mail is subject to review by management. Your use of the   e-mail system grants consent to the review of any of the messages to or from you in the system in printed form or in any other medium.

Solicitation. In line with our general policy, e-mail must not be used to solicit for outside business ventures, personal parties, social meetings, charities, membership in any organization, political causes, religious causes, or other matters not connected to the company’s business.

We should point out that this is just one of hundreds of sample policies on the site. (You’ll also find analysis of laws and issues, job descriptions, and complete training materials for hundreds of HR topics.)

You can examine the entire HR.BLR.com program free of any cost or commitment. It’s quite remarkable—30 years of accumulated HR knowledge, tools, and skills gathered in one place and accessible at the click of a mouse.

What’s more, we’ll supply a free downloadable copy of our special report, Critical HR Recordkeeping—From Hiring to Termination, just for looking at HR.BLR.com. If you’d like to try it at absolutely no cost or obligation to continue (and get the special report, no matter what you decide), go here.