Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Is legislation the only way out?

There’s a silent epidemic of workplace bullying... Is legislation the only way out?

Not all measures need to be so drastic though, as Dr. Mallary Tytel, President of Healthy Workplaces, shares, “As an employee, you can document occurrences in detail with dates, times, places, what was said or done and who was present at the time, and then work with the employer or a trusted advocate to solve the problem. One must understand that bullying is about control and power, not performance.” Research by Nathanael Fast, Assistant Professor of Management & Organisation from University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, affirms, “It was those individuals who had power and also felt incompetent who were most likely to treat others badly. It does appear that bullying could be a sign of inner weakness.” Thus he validates what many of us already suspected to be true – bullies are just insecure about themselves.

The job of senior management is to pluck out such elements from the system and ensure that the top leadership sets an example for others to follow. S.Y. Siddiqui, MEO – Administration (HR, IT & Finance) at Maruti Suzuki India, is a believer in the zero-tolerance policy, and says that a clear code of conduct needs to be set by the company. Garry Mathiason of the employment and labour law solutions firm Littler Mendelson seconds this view, stating that the best solution is to prohibit bullying as a company policy. He clarifies, “A ‘policy’ is very different from a ‘law’. View it as a yellow light highlighting conduct that the employer wishes to eliminate, as it violates employer policies, but is not yet illegal.”

It is not likely that such legislation will hit Indian shores soon, but this does serve as a reminder to companies operating here. Employers must demonstrate their commitment by equipping their employees with tools like awareness sessions, open-door policies, and speedy redressal of grievances to tackle such issues even without talk of a law. Prevention, really, is better than cure.


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