Workplace bullying key employment issue of today

Many employees are making excuses for the fact they are being bullied at work, leading the problem to become one of the key employment issues of the day, according to one expert.

Lyn Witheridge, chief executive of The Andrea Adams Trust, has described how workplace bullying goes far beyond the kind of teasing experienced by children in the school playground.

Instead, she says, it is a brutal form of psychological intimidation, as a result of which, her charity has seen nine cases of suicide and many instances of mental breakdowns.

Ms Witheridge said: People struggle and use euphemisms like strong management and personality clash to cover up for the fact that they are being bullied.

Just as concerned at the problem, ClickAJob Marketing Manager Anders Jensen also has a solution to offer.

It gets back to job-fit and how well people are in tune with the work they are doing, exactly the sort of thing testing will show up he explains.

Though a skills test might show the right dexterity for the job, a psychometric test on the same person might show a square peg in a round hole.

And managers need to remember, it's not just how people relate to their jobs that needs to be tested, it's how they relate to each other, he points out.

Bullying is a sign that inter-relationships aren't working, somewhere there's someone with an attitude that's awry, he continues.

A quick test through our ClickATest online assessment facility can immediately show how compatible that someone is - and knowing the cause, managers can take action.

According to the National Workplace Bullying Survey, 51 per cent of respondents said that they had taken time off work because they were being bullied and 61 per cent said it affected the quality of their work.