Harassment, Bullying and Aggressive Behavior at the Workplace

According to the National Safety Council (NSC), about 2 million Americans reportedly experience varied forms of violence at their respective places of work (NSC, 2018). These forms of violence at the workplace take various shapes. For example, sexual harassment, bullying and aggression. This report by the National Safety Council is an indication of failure of both the government and private employers to create and maintain safe workplace environments for their employees. An understanding of the effects of violence at the workplace as well as creation of a prevention plan is therefore necessary if this vice is to be brought to an end.

Effects of Harassment, Bullying and Aggressive Behavior at the Workplace

Pulver (2018), reported that allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct have emerged in such industries as media and film production in the United States. Pulver ascertained that 94% of females in Hollywood suffer sexual harassment and assault from fellow employees and employers alike (Pulver, 2018). These assertions highlight the urgency within which private employers and the government need to inaugurate policies and measures for violence prevention at the workplace. The urgent call for action is down to the fact these experiences tend to leave long lasting damaging effects on the victims. Sometimes however, even the perpetrators of these acts as well as employment firms suffer the consequences of sexual harassment and assault. Some of these effects include trauma, creation of hostile working environments and loss of job for the perpetrators (“Sexual Harassment-Effects of Sexual Harassment,” 2018). Furthermore, firms also risk spending a lot of cash on settling lawsuits filed against them (“Sexual Harassment-Effects of Sexual Harassment,” 2018).

Workplace violence has also been reported to influence employee satisfaction and productivity (Trépanier, Geneviève, Fernet, Austin & Stéphanie, 2015). Trépanier, Geneviève, Fernet, Austin and Stéphanie (2015), investigated the relationship between workplace bullying and employee basic need satisfaction and functioning. The research revealed that employees who experience bullying at the workplace tend to manifest signs of dissatisfaction and are less productive. Dissatisfaction comes into existence due to the fact that bullying undermines the psychological needs of employees and promote burnout (Hanson, Perin, Moss, Laharnar & Glass, 2015). Productivity on the other side, is negatively impacted since bullying instigates poor work engagement as well as low employee turnover intentions (Trépanier, Geneviève, Fernet, Austin & Stéphanie, 2015).

Advancing the arguments above, bullying, harassment and aggressive behavior at the workplace leads to low firm marketability, and poor employee retention, injuries and sometimes, death (Wathen, MacGregor & MacQuarrie, 2016; NSC, 2018). Wathen, MacGregor and MacQuarrie (2016) explored the impacts of violence in the places of work and through this, they revealed that firms where employee bullying and harassment are prominent tend to have low marketability as well low employee retention. This is because few employees are always willing to risk suffering psychological harm and distraught even if these firms offer good pay. Employees already in the books of these firms are also known to quit their job positions due to fear of working for institutions with bad images in the job market. Regarding injuries and deaths at the workplace, The National Safety Council revealed through a statistic gathered in 2013 that workplace violence is the 3rd leading cause of deaths in the United States (NSC, 2018). The report also classified the forms of workplace violence responsible for these deaths. According to NSC, these forms of violence can be categorized into criminal intents, worker-to-worker, personal relationships as well as customer/client (NSC, 2018). Failure to provide enough security at the workplace is to blame for gun attacks in schools, hospitals and other social amenities. Some of the deaths have also resulted from employees taking their own lives as a result mental conditions resulting from workplace violence.

Workplace Violence Prevention Plan

The Occupational Safety and Health Act asserts that employers should ensure that the workplace environment is safe enough to guarantee health and safety of employees (Connolly & Crowell, 2017). On this note, employers should therefore develop a workplace violence prevention plan as an effort aimed at guaranteeing employee safety and health. The first strategy to preventing harassment, bullying and aggression at the workplace is by introduction of disciplinary actions. Leonard and Trusty (2015) described disciplinary actions as the measures that firms can use to regulate the behavior and actions of their employees. These measures are instituted onto employees who bully, harass or act aggressively towards workmates. According to Leonard and Trusty, some of these disciplinary measures are introduction of suspensions, working in collaboration with the judiciary so as to ensure justice is realized for victims of workplace violence, demotions and introduction of pay cuts or even firing of perpetrators (Leonard & Trusty, 2015).

Introduction of anger management programs at the place work is another plan employers can effect at the workplace to manage violence at the workplace (Martinez, 2016). Martinez (2016), described anger management as an intervention technique deployed to help keep one’s emotions in check and also offer solutions to situations that spark frustration and rage. Anger management is specifically practical in dealing with aggressive behavior at the workplace. In this case, adequate anger management classes should be afforded to all employees without bias. An effective anger management program can sufficiently help manage and marginalize occurrences of aggression at any workplace.

Provision of mental health services has also been identified to be an effective strategy in management of undesirable behavior and belligerence at the workplace. Efforts were invested to determine the roles of mental disorders in workplace violence. These investigations revealed that indeed mental disarrays play part in workplace violence (Swanson, et al., 2015). Mental health has for example been blamed for numerous incidences of mass shootings in schools and other public spaces in the United States. There has been public outcry exhorting the government to heighten mental health services as this will help reduce workplace violence (Swanson, et al., 2015). Apart from aggression and extremism resulting from mental instabilities at the workplace, research has also signposted that some people, harass and bully or are harassed or bullied by coworkers due to their poor states of mind. People suffering from mental health issues are likely to harass and bully others because they probably do not understand the impacts of their actions. On the other hand, employees reportedly suffering from mental problems are likely to be bullied and harassed because they are easy targets.

Conclusion

Harassment, bullying and aggressive behavior at the workplace is so prevalent in America today. The vice is a main concern and calls for action from different stakeholders due to the effects it bears on both the victims, committers and employers. One of the effects of violence at the workplace is that it imposes emotional and psychological problems on those targeted. Bullying, harassment and aggression at the place of work is also responsible for injuries, fatalities, low employee productivity, and employee satisfaction. It is easy to conclude the consequences of violence at the workplace are dire and far reaching. It is therefore advisable that the government as well as private employers come up with an effective scheme aimed at bringing this undesirable foible to an end. Employers are urged to invest in anger management programs as well as impose punitive measures on those found guilty of participating and encouraging workplace violence. The government on its side, is urged to enhance provision of mental health care services.

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