Bradley Tate-Green, BA, BS, Ed.D, said there is an urgent need to end workplace bullying.
“First of all, let’s define the enemy,” Tate-Green said. “For the sake of simplicity, a workplace bully is basically anyone who makes your work life a living hell by contributing to, or creating, a hostile work environment. This is usually done by using intimidation, humiliation, and constant criticism (and no, I’m not talking about the “constructive” kind) to demean you and your work.
“Unfortunately, there’s much more to workplace bullying than merely the obvious stuff. Bullying at work isn’t all about belligerent yelling and screaming. Some of the more passive-aggressive and lesser-known bullying examples include purposeful exclusion from team meetings/activities, consistently taking credit for your work, sabotaging your work, overloading you with work or taking away all of your work, purposely withholding information from you, and spreading false rumors and gossiping.”
Tate-Green said good documentation of bullying was provided by terminated employees. He said a consistent pattern of multiple incidents of bullying behavior cannot be easily explained away – especially when the behavior is clearly creating a hostile work environment for hospital staff. He faults the hospital commission for not addressing it – and thus empowering the bullies.
“This isn’t a damn game – this is serious as a heart attack,” Tate-Green said. “And just like a heart attack, workplace bullying can ruin lives. There is no doubt in my mind that if we all band together with this singular cause, there is no force that can stop us from reclaiming our workplaces from the bullies once and for all. We have to do this. It is too damn important. Karma is a bitch. She’s mad as hell. And when the time is right, she’ll meet up with you to do a little bullying of her own.”