If you think the C-Suite isn’t aware of the havoc abusive bosses heap on their employees, think again. According to the startling results of the 2013 Zogby Survey conducted for the Workplace Bullying Institute just *15% of upper management still clings to the outmoded idea that bullying only happens in schools and playgrounds — and perhaps for those lucky few that’s true. In fact, nearly *70% recognize it is a serious problem. Unfortunately, despite this welcome increase in corporate insight, those of us who have been on the receiving end of abusive behavior can certainly argue that this new corporate awareness is less often reflected in how our complaints are addressed. Clearly it’s time to include enlightened employers in the discussions about prevention of abusive work environments. Here’s how Zogby broke down the survey responses:

22.5% HR Handles Incidents

17%     Raising Awareness

16%     Specific Policy & Procedures

6%       Top Corporate Priority

5%       Personal Intervention

66.5% Total

Note: 30 of the 315 poll takers chose “not sure” and WBI/Zogby excluded them from the results above.  

*For this question WBI/Zogby  came to these figures by excluding the 65 of the 315 who had no opinion to the question: “Which of the following best describes your opinion of “workplace bullying” (repeated abusive conduct, “status-blind harassment” that is currently legal) ? “

The WBI/Zogby Survey says: “The sample consisted of three groups of decision makers: Owner or partner (Owners); CXO/Adminis- trator/Director (CXOs); President/VP/Manager (VPs). There were 58 owners, 95 CXOs, and 158 presidents. One hundred ten respondents led companies with more than 500 employees, 47 led companies with between 201-500 employees, and 48 led companies with between 50-200 employees, and 106 led companies with less than 50 employees.”

Related articles

• “Malice” & The Healthy Workplace Bill (bullyinworkplace.com)
• The Dark Side of The Workplace Bully/Victim (bullyinworkplace.com)
• Workplace bullying costs companies billions, wrecks victims’ health (smartsign.com)
• MASSACHUSETTS: Using Anti-Harassment Laws For Workplace Bullying (bullyinworkplace.com)