Preventing and Responding to Workplace Bullying: Best Practices Guidelines

BULLYING IS A WORKPLACE HAZARD Workplace bullying is a significant hazard in New Zealand. It affects people physically and mentally, resulting in increased stress levels, decreased emotional well-being, reduced coping strategies and lower work performance. Employers who don’t deal with it risk breaching the: Employment Relations Act 2000 (ERA), Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 (HSE Act), Human Rights Act 1993 (HRA), Harassment Act 1997 (HA). BULLYING IS BAD FOR BUSINESS Its effects can reduce productivity and disrupt workplaces through: impaired performance, increased absence, low morale, more mistakes and accidents, loss of company reputation, resignations and difficulty recruiting, poor customer service and/or product quality. Factors associated with workplace bullying include a lack of organisational strategies for managing psychosocial hazards including: ineffective leadership, low levels of resourcing, poor work organisation, poor human resources practices. This guideline was developed by WorkSafe New Zealand (WorkSafe NZ) and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to assist workplaces, employers and employees to address the issue of workplace bullying. It also aims to reduce the risk for employers and employees of failing to comply with the duties of the HSE Act and other relevant legislation. This guidance shows how to: identify, assess and manage behaviors that cause distress to an individual or group (whether intended or not), stop the unreasonable behavior and reestablish healthy work relationships. Six stakeholder focus groups facilitated by MBIE reinforced the need to include advice on how to develop positive and healthy workplaces. The guideline also includes several tools to help employees and employers improve their workplace culture and develop positive environments where bullying behavior can’t thrive. The guideline is supported by a suite of online tools. For more information, refer to the Preventing and responding to bullying page at http://www.worksafe.govt.nz

Preventing and Responding to Workplace Bullying: Best Practices Guidelines

BULLYING IS A WORKPLACE HAZARD Workplace bullying is a significant hazard in New Zealand. It affects people physically and mentally, resulting in increased stress levels, decreased emotional well-being, reduced coping strategies and lower work performance. Employers who don’t deal with it risk breaching the: Employment Relations Act 2000 (ERA), Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 (HSE Act), Human Rights Act 1993 (HRA), Harassment Act 1997 (HA). BULLYING IS BAD FOR BUSINESS Its effects can reduce productivity and disrupt workplaces through: impaired performance, increased absence, low morale, more mistakes and accidents, loss of company reputation, resignations and difficulty recruiting, poor customer service and/or product quality. Factors associated with workplace bullying include a lack of organisational strategies for managing psychosocial hazards including: ineffective leadership, low levels of resourcing, poor work organisation, poor human resources practices. This guideline was developed by WorkSafe New Zealand (WorkSafe NZ) and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to assist workplaces, employers and employees to address the issue of workplace bullying. It also aims to reduce the risk for employers and employees of failing to comply with the duties of the HSE Act and other relevant legislation. This guidance shows how to: identify, assess and manage behaviors that cause distress to an individual or group (whether intended or not), stop the unreasonable behavior and reestablish healthy work relationships. Six stakeholder focus groups facilitated by MBIE reinforced the need to include advice on how to develop positive and healthy workplaces. The guideline also includes several tools to help employees and employers improve their workplace culture and develop positive environments where bullying behavior can’t thrive. The guideline is supported by a suite of online tools. For more information, refer to the Preventing and responding to bullying page at http://www.worksafe.govt.nz

Preventing and Responding to Workplace Bullying: Best Practices Guidelines

BULLYING IS A WORKPLACE HAZARD Workplace bullying is a significant hazard in New Zealand. It affects people physically and mentally, resulting in increased stress levels, decreased emotional well-being, reduced coping strategies and lower work performance. Employers who don’t deal with it risk breaching the: Employment Relations Act 2000 (ERA), Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 (HSE Act), Human Rights Act 1993 (HRA), Harassment Act 1997 (HA). BULLYING IS BAD FOR BUSINESS Its effects can reduce productivity and disrupt workplaces through: impaired performance, increased absence, low morale, more mistakes and accidents, loss of company reputation, resignations and difficulty recruiting, poor customer service and/or product quality. Factors associated with workplace bullying include a lack of organisational strategies for managing psychosocial hazards including: ineffective leadership, low levels of resourcing, poor work organisation, poor human resources practices. This guideline was developed by WorkSafe New Zealand (WorkSafe NZ) and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to assist workplaces, employers and employees to address the issue of workplace bullying. It also aims to reduce the risk for employers and employees of failing to comply with the duties of the HSE Act and other relevant legislation. This guidance shows how to: identify, assess and manage behaviors that cause distress to an individual or group (whether intended or not), stop the unreasonable behavior and reestablish healthy work relationships. Six stakeholder focus groups facilitated by MBIE reinforced the need to include advice on how to develop positive and healthy workplaces. The guideline also includes several tools to help employees and employers improve their workplace culture and develop positive environments where bullying behavior can’t thrive. The guideline is supported by a suite of online tools. For more information, refer to the Preventing and responding to bullying page at http://www.worksafe.govt.nz

Mobilising research ethics: Two examples from Aotearoa New Zealand

(Im)mobilities are considered to encapsulate a broad range of projects that establish a ‘moment-driven’ social science. I argue that moment driven research needs to be in conversation with an ethical document. It is how the ethical landscape responds to this increasingly dynamic and radically open interaction, while avoiding the excess dangers of institutionalised review that warrants more attention. Through the lens of two research projects, one based around relocated populations from post-disaster Christchurch and the other on sharemilkers in the Waikato, mobilities and ethics are discussed. In short, the mobilities of participants altered the ethical dynamics of research

Bullying: An ecological approach to intervention in schools

Bullying is a major concern in education worldwide, particularly in countries such as New Zealand that are reported to have high rates of bullying in schools. In this article it is proposed that, in order to effectively prevent or substantially reduce bullying in schools, a systemic approach needs to be adopted, with interventions organized at various levels. An ecological model for bullying prevention is presented that suggests strategies and interventions at the levels of teachers, schools, communities, and society. Examples of interventions that have been found in the literature to have evidence supporting their effectiveness have been outlined at each of these levels. Guidelines are presented for schools adopting such an ecological model for addressing bullying and for bringing about the changes needed to implement it successfully