How widespread is bullying and harassment at work?
There have been a number of complaints about bullying from members and safety reps, so UNISON has commissioned a survey on bullying to see if the situation has changed since the last one was carried out in 1997. It also covered basic questions on harassment given recent legislation on race, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, religion and nationality. Has much changed since 1997? Workplace bullying has doubled in the last 12 years, with one third of the 7,000 workers who took part experiencing bullying in the last six months. All respondents believe bullying is embedded in the workplace, 91% say bullies are able to get away with it and the same number are too scared to report it. The most common bullying behaviour reported included excessive work monitoring and criticism, exclusion and isolation, intimidation, the setting of unrealistic targets, public humiliation, withholding information needed to get the job done, given meaningless tasks, being treated in a
