Workplace safety worsens under bullying bosses

A new study suggests that bullying bosses aren't just bad for employee morale and well-being—they can also be bad for workplace safety.

The researchers surveyed airline pilots and manufacturing technicians and found that employees' safety behavior can be worsened when they're treated in ways that detract from their bonds to a work group.

The study was published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

What the researchers say: The lead researcher said that bosses' behaviors can strengthen or weaken employees' sense of belonging to the work group by supporting or undermining their status within the group. Poor treatment from a boss can make employees feel that they're not valued by a group. As a result, they can become more self-centered, leading them to occasionally forget to comply with safety rules or overlook opportunities to promote a safer work environment.

She said this was especially true among employees who were more uncertain about their social standing within the group.

"When people are unsure about their strengths and weaknesses and their status within a group, they become more sensitive," she said. "They're more likely to respond negatively to their boss' bullying behaviors."

The researchers said workplace safety is a critical issue – and more so in an environment where one employee's failure to behave safely can create circumstances where other people are likely to be injured.

"Organizations need to understand how important it is to curb leaders' bad behavior and to create positive team dynamics, so that there will be fewer negative safety consequences for employees or customers," they said. "It's really critical to manage such leader behavior, support victimized employees and prevent such issues."

Among the study's recommendations:

• Implement training programs that can improve leaders' skills in interacting with their employees, to provide feedback and discipline in ways that are neither offensive nor threatening.
• Promote a more civil and engaged work environment that strengthens social bonds between employees and creates a buffer against the negative consequences of their boss' bad behaviors
• Implement transparent performance evaluation processes so employees have less uncertainty about their social status in the workplace.

So, what? Bullying is one of the greatest workplace stressors—something that Alicia and I researched in detail while we were working on Obama’s workplace stress reduction initiative. One of the problems is that bullying activates a victim’s sympathetic nervous system—the automatic flight, fight or freeze mechanism. This causes the body to be flooded with stress hormones—especially cortisol. Cortisol makes the heart beat faster, the breathing heavier and gets the body ready for offensive or defensive action.

Too much stress and the system becomes overloaded. A bullying boss causes employees to become angry and careless. Many studies have shown that anger and stress lead to accidents.