Explicitly, approximately half of all workers are affected by workplace bullying or harassment at some point in their working lives.

Bullying and harassment can not only occur in any workplace, but also to any worker, regardless of their position.

Evidently, workers suffering psychological distress take 4X more sick days, at an average annual cost of over $6,300 per person. But aside from the obvious costs of absenteeism and compensation claims, bullying also adds to the growing cost of presenteeism.

To clarify, presenteeism is when people go to work but aren’t productive due to psychological or physical illness. For instance, 50% of bullying and harassment victims claim to lose significant work time worrying about interactions with the perpetrator.

As a matter of fact, workers that are suffering from psychological distress exhibit over 150% higher performance losses.

Recently, a Melbourne company and its director were convicted for bullying workers and fined over $116,000. Particularly, the director yelled and swore at workers, and used sexist and racist descriptors.

Further, the director made inappropriate contact and suggestive sexual remarks, threatened to withhold pay, and encouraged managers to be aggressive.

The bottom line is workplace bullies are far too harmful and expensive for organisations to keep around.

In addition, these environments also threaten to increase employee turnover and add the costs of replacing personnel. Furthermore, an organisation’s reputation may suffer if stakeholders believe its culture allows for bullying or harassment.

However, the most significant thing is how that abuse impacts the health and well-being of individuals.

To that end, managers play one of the most important roles in developing positive work cultures. Not only by implementing strong, clear policies about what is expected, but also through proactive leadership and setting good examples.

Managers not only have the ability to create safe environments for workers, but also the responsibility.

Firstly, interact with workers and colleagues on a regular basis will help managers stay apprised of any concerns. Additionally, offer training and development, and implement clear and accessible reporting and response procedures.

Further, good communication, clear duties, and providing necessary resources will help reduce issues that may lead to abusive behaviour.

But it’s important when handling any claim or complaint to:

For starters, eLearning can be easily delivered on a large scale with great flexibility for different learners and schedules. This can be beneficial, for instance, when implementing policies, as it ensures that all workers are on the same page.

ELearning is not only incredibly cost-effective, but also helps to make certain that all workers actually undergo training. Additionally, interactive elements, like quizzes, ensure that learners comprehend training, which reduces the risk of inappropriate behaviour in the future.

Furthermore, the ability to prove training was provided mitigates the risk of potential legal costs if compliance issues arise.

Chiefly, bullying and harassment eLearning courses can display clear visual examples of acceptable behaviour and appropriate conduct. As a result, there can be no confusion about what is expected of workers. Moreover, courses can provide relatable examples of potentially distressing scenarios that workers can identify with, and offer understandable solutions.

ELearning can also be quickly and easily customised and tailored to suit the specific requirements of any organisation.

Significantly, Business Training-TV can be used in any workplace, regardless of size or industry, to tackle behavioural compliance issues.

We provide a great collection of engaging, high quality live-action video eLearning on bullying and harassment for managers and employees. To explain, our management courses focus on implementing policies and handling issues, whereas employee courses target expected behaviours and practices.

Above all, our courses help build safe and respectful workplaces for all members, and help avoid compliance and legal risks. Implement our ready-to-use pre-built courses immediately, or alternatively, create unique bullying and harassment courses with our free Course Builder.

Find out more about our video eLearning courses on Workplace Bullying and Harassment. And discover how you can utilise Business Training-TV in your organisation or training environment.