{"id":3125,"date":"2019-05-15T08:32:47","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T22:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/2021\/09\/11\/workplace-bullying-observations-from-our-investigators\/"},"modified":"2021-09-11T08:32:57","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T22:32:57","slug":"workplace-bullying-observations-from-our-investigators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/2019\/05\/15\/workplace-bullying-observations-from-our-investigators\/","title":{"rendered":"Workplace Bullying: Observations from Our Investigators"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Like schoolyard bullying, workplace bullying is far from a new phenomenon. When people who may not have much in common outside work are thrust together on a daily basis, there are bound to be disputes, friction and potentially even outright hostility.<\/p>\n

Of course, any serious matters need to be dealt with by conducting a thorough workplace investigation. Recently, our investigators have noticed a number of trends in workplace bullying during the course of their work.<\/p>\n

We are seeing more bullying in the not-for-profit sector, a rise in false or malignant allegations of bullying, and increasing use of workers’ compensation claims during the investigation process.<\/p>\n

increase in bullying allegations in the non-profit sector<\/h3>\n

There have perhaps been less instances of workplace bullying in the non-profit sector than in the more cutthroat ‘for profit’ world. However, investigators are noticing that these organisations seem to be experiencing an upturn in bullying allegations.<\/p>\n

This might be because many boards have recognised that, despite their non-profit nature, it is becoming increasingly difficult to remain a viable entity without a certain degree of commercial acumen. This often results in the hiring of personnel from more traditional commercial roles, which in turn flows through to a change of management style and a shake-up of the way things have always been done.<\/p>\n

Existing staff may perceive these types of changes as ‘bullying’. It is therefore important that any measures taken by the organisation, such as performance management or disciplinary proceedings can be demonstrated to be ‘reasonable management action’.<\/p>\n

false allegations of bullying<\/h3>\n

False complaints of bullying also seem to be on the rise. A classic example here could be a situation where a team member has been advised by their manager that they are being informally performance managed and can shortly expect a formal process to commence. That team member may attempt to avoid the – appropriate – disciplinary action by claiming that they are being bullied by the manager.<\/p>\n

In other cases, the bullied may turn out to be the bully – making allegations as a defence against potential complaints.<\/p>\n

worker’s compensation<\/h3>\n

Another trend observed by WISE investigators involves staff who are being investigated for their conduct claiming workers’ compensation, perhaps for stress leave or mental health issues arising from workplace bullying or harassment.<\/p>\n

Although there are certainly instances of legitimate workers’ compensation claims in these circumstances, it can also be a way for employees to maintain their income and ensure their continued employment while an investigation takes place.<\/p>\n

This is because, regardless of the outcome of any investigation into the employee’s conduct and any determination made as a result, no disciplinary action can be taken until the lengthy workers’ compensation process is complete.<\/p>\n

This can be frustrating for employers, who are hamstrung in their ability to follow through on reasonable and necessary management actions as a result of staff who may be attempting to circumvent the system and avoid termination.<\/p>\n

WISE has been a national provider of workplace investigation services for over 29 years and has assisted countless organisations through the formal processes. Our highly skilled team has the experience to help organisations navigate the challenging issue of investigating workplace misconduct and internal grievances. We are experienced with dealing with all types of misconduct, including bullying and harassment claims, providing our clients a level of comfort that the process can be relied upon to ensure it is procedurally fair, and false allegations or delay tactics are identified quickly and the matter resolved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Content retrieved from: http:\/\/www.wiseworkplace.com.au\/_blog\/WISE_Blog\/post\/workplace-bullying-observations-from-our-investigators\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Like schoolyard bullying, workplace bullying is far from a new phenomenon. When people who may not have much in common outside work are thrust together on a daily basis, there are bound to be disputes, friction and potentially even outright hostility. Of course, any serious matters need to be dealt with by conducting a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[249,117,109,116,178,188],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}