Friday, February 8, 2013

Dealing with a workplace bully yourself is ineffective 97% of the time

The first key point of this article is compelling and prevalent in workplace bullying literature---once you are targeted by a bully your chances of losing or leaving that job as a result of the bullying are almost 80%.

Additionally, this article outlines your likelihood s of success under different strategies.  They are depressingly low, as seen in the following excerpted list (article here):


Strategies to Stop Bullying & Their Effectiveness (from Workplace Bullying Institute article)
Effectiveness ratings were limited to only the respondents who answered ‘yes’ to the adoption of a particular strategy.
1. Target seemed to not do anything (In other words, letting time pass hoping matters will improve by themselves) was adopted by 38% of targets. Most (62%) did try something.
Effectiveness of doing nothing: 3.25%
We consider “doing nothing” the baseline to which the effectiveness of all other strategies can be compared.
2. Target directly confronted the perpetrator — 69.5% did so
Effectiveness of confronting3.57%
3. Target asked perpetrator’s boss to intervene & stop it — 70.7% did so
Effectiveness of support from bully’s boss3.26%
4. Target told senior management/owner expecting support — 73.9% did so
Effectiveness of senior management/owners3.69%
5. If union present, asked union to intervene & stop it — 60.3% did so
Effectiveness of union8.84%
6. Target filed a formal complaint with HR alleging a policy violation — 42.8% did so
Effectiveness of HR4.7%
7. Target filed a complaint with an external state or federal agency — 18.7%
Effectiveness of EEOC, etc.: 11.9%
8. Target tried to find an attorney to file a lawsuit — 33.7%
Effectiveness of finding an attorney11.2%
9. Target did file a lawsuit — 8.9% (n=379)
Effectiveness of filing a lawsuit16.4%
The purpose of this study was to have individuals intimately familiar with bullying (those directly experiencing it or witnessing it) describe the effectiveness of various adopted tactics or strategies to stop the bullying.
The results are clear. Letting time pass (doing nothing) stopped bullying 3% of the time, an obviously ineffective tactic. However the other tactics — confronting, imploring the bully’s boss, filing an HR complaint, or telling senior management — were as ineffective as doing nothing. When discrimination is part of the bullying, it does pay to use current laws (the effectiveness rises to double digits).
For the few unionized respondents, the rate was double HR’s effectiveness. The most realistic conclusion from these findings is that whatever individuals try, the chances of success are miniscule with failure hovering around 97% for most strategies.


Thursday, January 31, 2013

Please sign a petition to help lyme suffers get diagnosed and treated

Follow this link to sign the petition and see links below for Under Our Skin:


Reform the Infectious Disease Society of America Treatment Guidelines for Lyme Disease

"Lyme disease is at epidemic levels, posing a significant threat to public health. Lyme can lead to chronic and debilitating effects if not properly treated. Lyme is leaving masses of people in progressive states of illness and financial ruin. The Infectious Diseases Society of America's treatment guidelines

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Article Link ~ 5 Tough Choices You Make When Chronically Ill or In Pain


I mostly skimmed this article (link here) so far, but the categories are good ones.  Sick people can relate, and healthy people who are interested can get a good glimpse into some of the challenges sick people face.

There is no way to describe illness to people adequately, and there is no way to make people interested if they aren't.  The choices we make regarding sharing of symptoms are important ones, and balance takes a very long time to find.  And the balance changes constantly, with our symptoms impacting our ability to find each new balance a lot of the time.

These choices apply much differently at work.  It is not your coworkers job to empathize, but if your