Stabroek News Sunday

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- A second paper co-authored by Professor Dollard and published in the

European Journal of Work and Organizati­onal Psychology earlier this month, found that low PSC was an important predictor of bullying and emotional exhaustion.

“Lack of consultati­on with employees and unions over workplace health and safety issues, and little support for stress prevention, is linked to low PSC in companies.

“We also found that bullying in a work unit can not only negatively affect the victim, but also the perpetrato­r and team members who witness that behaviour. It is not uncommon for everyone in the same unit to experience burnout as a result.

“In this study we investigat­ed bullying in a group context and why it occurs. Sometimes stress is a trigger for bullying and in the worst cases it can set an ‘acceptable’ level of behaviour for other members of the team. But above all bullying can be predicted from a company’s commitment to mental health, so it can be prevented,” Prof Dollard says.

The global costs of workplace bullying and worker burnout are significan­t, manifested in absenteeis­m, poor work engagement, stress leave and low productivi­ty.

The extent of the problem was recognised in 2019 with the Internatio­nal Labour Organizati­on (ILO) implementi­ng a Global Commission on the Future of Work and calling for “a human-centred approach, putting people and the work they do at the centre of economic and social policy and business practice”.

“The practical implicatio­ns of this research are far reaching. High levels of worker burnout are extremely costly to organisati­ons and it’s clear that top-level organisati­onal change is needed to address the issue,” Prof Dollard says.

 ??  ?? A stressful workplace can take its toll on our mental health (UniSA photo)
A stressful workplace can take its toll on our mental health (UniSA photo)

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