Costs of Bullying
Bullying costs an organization in many ways. Targets leave the college and have to be replaced. Targets don’t leave the college and are less productive than before. More sick time taken. More use of the college psychologist. People who witness the bullying leave the college and have to be replaced – the studies say that 20% of co-workers who witness bullying leave their jobs because of it.
Some targets of bullies don't quit, but, since they are already professionally marginalized, they further marginalize themselves to give them some time to regroup. They may withdraw from all committees and workgroups they were a part of. They may still do all they was asked to do in their job, but they aren’t asked to do much since bullies don't trust their targets and avoid working with them.
Other costs of bullying include increased sick time, loss of productivity and effectiveness, cancelled or delayed projects, loss of staff engagement, staff not participating in committees, loss of volunteer time, loss of giving to the college, a continuing bad reputation in the community, staff turnover and more.
People who have been marginalized and given only a couple of hours of work to do each day are a direct cost to the organization. Add up the salaries and benefit costs of all those targets of bullies who are underused. That’s a direct cost of bullying to the organization that is imposed by the bullies, not their targets. Getting rid of the underused staff is not the answer -- bringing them back into being effective and productive employees is.
Some targets of bullies don't quit, but, since they are already professionally marginalized, they further marginalize themselves to give them some time to regroup. They may withdraw from all committees and workgroups they were a part of. They may still do all they was asked to do in their job, but they aren’t asked to do much since bullies don't trust their targets and avoid working with them.
Other costs of bullying include increased sick time, loss of productivity and effectiveness, cancelled or delayed projects, loss of staff engagement, staff not participating in committees, loss of volunteer time, loss of giving to the college, a continuing bad reputation in the community, staff turnover and more.
People who have been marginalized and given only a couple of hours of work to do each day are a direct cost to the organization. Add up the salaries and benefit costs of all those targets of bullies who are underused. That’s a direct cost of bullying to the organization that is imposed by the bullies, not their targets. Getting rid of the underused staff is not the answer -- bringing them back into being effective and productive employees is.
Many of the quotes about bullying in the Links area are applicable to this topic...