The incidence of non-managerial employees observing workplace bullying in Australia and New Zealand and the numbers personally experiencing it have not changed in six years, according to new workplace research.

Over the same period, more organisations have adopted policies to deal with bullying yet fewer bosses believe it is occurring in their organisation.

The findings, from the L.E.A.D. (Leadership, Employment and Direction) Survey of workplace trends conducted by Chase Research for Leadership Management Australasia (LMA), are drawn from more than 4,000 respondents from around Australia and New Zealand, covering Leaders, Managers and Non-Managerial Employee sectors. LMA has been conducting the survey for 12 years. The current survey closed September 30. About 10% of respondents in each sector were from New Zealand.

Tourism, accommodation, cafes and restaurants was one of 17 industry sectors represented in the survey responses.

L.E.A.D. Survey found amongst:

Employees

• 34% have observed bullying in the workplace (33% in 2010, 34% in 2008, 33% in 2006)
• 4% are currently experiencing it (4% in 2010 and 2008, 5% in 2006)
• 15% say they have been victims at some stage (19% in 2010, 17% in 2008, 19% in 2006)

Managers

• 39% believe it is happening in their organisation (46% in 2010, 37% in 2006)
• 92% say their organisation has a policy to manage bullying (93% in 2010, 79% in 2006)

Leaders

• 28% believe it is happening in their organisation (43% in 2010, 35% in 2006)
• 87% say their organisation has a policy to manage bullying (90% in 2010, 78% in 2006).

( Note: There are no 2008 comparisons because there were insufficient responses at the time from Leaders and Managers to be statistically reliable).

What is staggering, according to LMA’s CEO, Andrew Henderson, there appears to be a lack of managerial commitment to the issue.

“There are more organisations today with a bullying management policy than six years ago, yet there is no apparent reduction in the incidence of bullying over that time which suggests managers and leaders are not policing the policies,” said Mr Henderson. 

“A third of employees say they have observed bullying this year but a surprisingly high 72% of leaders and 61% of managers don’t believe it is in happening in their organisation,” he said. 

Bullying was one of seven workplace issues explored in the research, along with inappropriate language, verbal harassment, inappropriate emails, discrimination, racism and sexual harassment.

Inappropriate language was the most observed issue by each workplace sector. Bullying was second most prominent from the employee perspective and third most prominent amongst managers and leaders behind verbal harassment.

Incidence of workplace issues (2012)

About the research. A total of 4077 respondents comprised 264 Leaders, 448 Managers and 3365 Employees with New Zealand respondents representing around 10% of each sector.