Three-quarters of employees report that they have either been targeted by a bully or have seen colleagues bullied in the workplace, impacting nearly 80 million workers in the U.S., Workplace Bullying Institute notes.
Jeffrey Adelson, general counsel and co-managing partner for Adelson McLean, suggests that human resources leaders in the U.S. looking to bolster their anti-bully policies should examine laws and regulations that foreign governments have embraced on this concern.
Sweden, for example, is a model as it became the first European Union nation to pass laws outlawing workplace bullying in 1993. Under the law, employers need to investigate, mediate and counter bullying occurrences in the workplace. They also are required to educate managers and put in place preventive measures.