One prominent advocate says the government is doing nothing to address systematic workplace bullying across New Zealand.
Workplace bullying has reached epidemic levels but the government isn’t doing anything about it – that’s the claim from one leading advocate who’s calling for an official inquiry.
“It is systemic across all of New Zealand,” says Allan Halse, director of Culture Safe NZ. “It’s high time that our politicians started taking some action on this issue.”
Halse’s comments come after it was revealed an investigation has been launched into claims of bullying at Auckland City Hospital mortuary. According to allegations, the bullying was so severe that one of the victims has since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Every single day I see how workplace bullying impacts people,” says Halse, who has advocated for hundreds of bullying victims. “It destroys them and it has to stop.”
A 2013 study by Statistics New Zealand found that 11.3 per cent of employees had experienced discrimination, harassment, or bullying at work in the previous 12 months.
Employers were also found to be at risk with 4.1 per cent saying they had experienced discrimination, harassment, or bullying at work in the previous year and 5.8 per cent of self-employed staff said the same thing.
“Not only does workplace bullying impact hundreds of people and their families, it also has far-reaching implications on our economy,” warns Halse, who says it also impacts New Zealand’s health system and productivity.
“This should absolutely be an election issue and I’m calling on the Michael Woodhouse to get his head out of the sand and finally address workplace bullying in this country by launching an inquiry into how far-reaching it is, the impacts of it on our economy and to examine the failings of our justice system in addressing workplace bullying head on.”
