Experts are warning the financial toll of workplace bullying on businesses extends far beyond just workplace morale.
The Mental Health Foundation says one in five New Zealand workers have experienced bullying in the past year, with workplace bullying estimated to cost businesses around $1.34 billion annually through absenteeism, lower productivity, staff turnover, investigations and formal complaints.
“It can be the intimidation, threatening behaviour, it might be humiliating people in front of other staff, but a lot of what you don’t see is that covert behaviour,” Mental Health Foundation workplace wellness lead Kylie Ryan said.
“Like being overloaded with work compared to colleagues… or being set up to fail.”
Ryan said businesses frequently underestimated how toxic workplace culture could affect entire teams.
“You lose the knowledge that they take away,” she said.
“And the people around them notice it. So everyone kind of hunkers down and isolates a little bit, and that’s not a culture that’s going to support development of the business.”
Meanwhile, chief executive Shaun Robinson said the impact on workers could be profound. He said workplace bullying “makes someone feel unsafe, like to the point of being frightened and scared and not wanting to be in that space.”
“It makes people feel less than and that they’re not good enough, that they’re not okay.”
The Mental Health Foundation said many workers subjected to bullying eventually leave their jobs, with some only lodging formal complaints after resigning.
It said policies and reporting systems were important, but meaningful change only occurred when staff felt genuinely safe speaking up.