Many workers feel bullied by their bosses

Websites and books offer 'Bullyproof' advice for workers

February 9, 2000
Web posted at: 11:06 p.m. EST (0406 GMT)

From Correspondent Don Knapp

OAKLAND, California (CNN) -- Not all bullies can be found on school playgrounds. Some have grown up and gotten jobs, according to a campaign to end workplace bullying.

Darla Webster has prizes and awards to back up her claim of being a good waitress.

But her stock fell rapidly when a new manager took over the restaurant.

"The first thing out of his mouth was, 'Well, I got rid of all the old ones at the last place,' " recalled Webster.

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She said the manager couldn't just fire her, so he made her life miserable.

"I worked two shifts on Friday, two shifts on Saturday, I worked Sunday day. And then at the end of that shift, at 6 o'clock in the evening, he forced me to come in to work from 7 o'clock that night, to 10 p.m.," said Webster.

Why was he piling on the work, she was asked.

"He was bullying me," said Webster.

As many as one in five workers claims to have been significantly mistreated on the job, according to a new, unpublished study by labor experts at Wayne State University.

Webster, right and Namie both say they were subjected to workplace bullying

That national figure of abused workers was extrapolated from a study of workers in Michigan.

"Most of it is done behind closed doors and over time, cumulative nit-picking: 'You're incompetent, you're a fool, you can't do anything.' But couple that verbal barrage over time with the denial of resources, and you've been set up" to fail, said Gary Namie of the Campaign Against Workplace Bullying.

Namie and his wife Ruth conduct workshops to help people recover from the emotional and physical damages of being bullied, something Ruth Namie said she experienced herself.

"It was a horrible year. I, too, ended up in the hospital, suicidal. And I kept thinking, 'I'm a psychologist, this isn't supposed to happen to me,' " said Ruth Namie.

The Namies counsel 2,000 people by phone each month. Their Web site -- Bullybusters.org -- gets 40,000 monthly visits. And their book, "Bullyproof Yourself at Work," offers more advice.

So does the book by Ruth Schwartz, titled "Mobbing." She said those who have been bullied know the meaning of the title.

"They go 'mobbing' -- that's exactly what happened. It was a whole gang of people, in fact, it's the whole organization against that one person," explained Schwartz.

The Namies say they're trying to build a national movement to get laws to protect workers from workplace bullies.

Campaign Against Workplace Bullying
What's Bullying?
Global Allies in the Campaign Against Workplace Bullying

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