I recently presented on the witness’s perspective of bullying in the workplace at a conference at Shippensburg University, PA. The National Workplace Bullying Coalition hosted the event called “#Dignity15, Restoring and Protecting Dignity at Work: Addressing Discrimination, Harassment, and Bullying in the Workplace.

http://www.workplacebullyingcoalition.org/#!2015-conference/cwmr (I am front row, sitting, first on the left)

The conference was successful, they recorded all of the presentations and they will be put up on the Workplace Bullying Coalition’s website. The presentation I presented was from my study  conducted in 2013, (http://gradworks.umi.com/3570580.pdf) . I referenced that in some cases the witnesses impacts were worst than the actual victims and the health aspects are unreal but believeable. Some will find that hard to believe, but I truly understand and have seen this myself. People think how can you watch and not do anything when a supervisor is slamming your co-worker via humiliation, yelling, cursing, could be throwing things, and telling lies. It’s hard and there are plenty of reasons why. It’s about fear-am I next?, I need my job..the stress, all of this leads to medication, and lack of job satisfaction. One of the participants of the study says “I used to throw up on my way to work, I hated it, I went to the doctor and now on medication for high blood pressure”. Another shared “I work in a toxic environment”.

Organizations do not realize when they allow bullying in the workplace, it is costing them. Most bullying is done by the supervisor or manager. A change needs to come in the workplace, if organizations want to retain and recruit good folks into their organizations they need to change the culture. Now is the time! Join the coalition…it might be coming to your state next. Or visit the http://www.workplacebullying.org