Line managers are most likely to be responsible for workplace bullying, and are often a source of conflict or make conflict worse, finds a survey from the CIPD.
Two-fifths (40%) of employees who’d experienced bullying and harassment at work said their line manager was responsible, says a report from the CIPD.
The survey of more than 2,000 employers and staff explored their experiences of conflict at work over the last three years.
Some 29% said a colleague within their team was responsible for bullying, 18% cited colleagues elsewhere in the organisation, and 5% pointed the finger to a customer or client. According to the report, 15% of employees reported experiencing workplace bullying in the last three years, while 8% said they had experienced harassment in this period.
The report also revealed that a quarter (24%) of employees thought serious issues arising from workplace conflict such as bullying and harassment were swept under the carpet in their organisation.
More than half of the respondents reporting having experienced bullying said they hadn’t told their employer.
Of those employees experiencing workplace conflict, 21% said they had the most serious problems with their line manager, closely followed by a colleague in the same team (20%), and a third (32%) reported that their manager had made the situation worse.
Rachel Suff, CIPD senior employment relations adviser, urged employers to pay heed to the “wake-up call” and to place development of managers “at the heart of efforts to prevent inappropriate workplace behaviour”.
Almost two-thirds of line managers surveyed (60%) reported not receiving any people management training.