Workplace Bullying Increases Sleep Disorder Risk – Already a Problem for Shift Workers
Bullying in the workplace can range from one extreme – physical violence and homicide, to verbal insults, threats, teasing, ridiculing, and making false accusations – at the other end. Sometimes bullies use name-calling, talking about a person behind their back, ignoring a person, and making false accusations to set a co-worker up for failure. The targeted person may be a boss, insubordinate, or peer. No matter who’s being targeted, bullying in the workplace has been proven to decrease morale amongst all workers, and if allowed to continue, bullying will detrimentally impact business results, possibly in a material way. A new study has found that current or past bullying is associated with increased sleep disturbances. Makes sense, right? A person who is being bullied is probably a nervous wreck, so having trouble sleeping seems logical. But, it turns out that bullying has detrimental effects on sleep even when it’s being experienced indirectly – by observing it as a co-worker.
The new study, in the September 1, 2009 issue of SLEEP, indicates a high level of bullying in the workplace. The study researchers, headed by Isabelle Niedhammer, PhD, epidemiologist at the UCD School of Public Health & Population Science at the University College Dublin in Ireland, executed a survey among the general working population in the southeast of France. The study population was a random sample of 3,132 men and 4,562 women with a mean age of 40 years. The extent of workplace bullying was assessed using the French version of the Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror, which measures the experience of 45 forms of bullying.
The study’s outcome indicates a high prevalence of workplace bullying. Hostile behavior was experienced at work at least weekly and for at least six of the prior 12 months by 11% of women and 9% of men. After adjusting for age, occupation, weekly work hours and symptoms of depression, exposure to bullying was significantly associated with self-reported sleep disturbances. Men who were currently experiencing workplace bullying were two times more likely to have disturbed sleep.
A significant number of employees surveyed indicated that they’d observed workplace bullying in the prior 12 months, 32% of women and 31% of men. Men who’d observed bullying had a 60% increased likelihood of experiencing sleep disturbances and women were 20% more likely to have disturbed sleep. And, the rate of sleep disturbances was more than two times higher for men and nearly two times higher for women who both observed and experienced bullying.
In the survey, sleep disturbances – defined as either trouble initiating sleep or trouble returning to sleep after a premature awakening – were reported by a self-administered questionnaire. Results indicate that 22% of women and 17% of men reported having “some or a great deal of trouble” sleeping. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, insomnia is often associated with an identifiable stressor, such as occupational stress and disputes in interpersonal relationships. The sleep disturbance may be accompanied by waking symptoms such as anxiety, worry, depression, muscle tension and headaches. Up to 15-20% of adults are thought to experience insomnia at any point in time. Typically, insomnia lasts no more than three months, but it may persist if the precipitating stressor doesn’t go away or if the individual is unable to adapt to a chronic stressor.
The authors state that the study did not allow them to evaluate causes of the workplace bullying. But they did conclude that the association between workplace bullying and sleep disturbances is strong, and efforts to prevent bullying in the work environment should be increased.
Other studies/surveys about bullying:
A study by the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology reported that bullying happens more in the public sector (19% say they’ve been bullied) as compared to the private sector (12% report being bullied). Only 8% of volunteers reported having been bullied.
In health care (a higher level of detailed specifics about bullying is gathered for this industry (especially outside the US):
• A survey of workplace bullying in a health organization in Australia showed that 50% of respondents had been exposed to bullying within the previous 12 months; many by fellow workers.
• Another survey of 1100 employees of a health care group in the United Kingdom reported that 38% of workers had experienced bullying.
• In a separate UK study, nearly 17% of nurses reported bullying by a colleague; 30% by minority nurses.
• In a survey of third year nursing students, nearly half of respondents (46 percent) reported they had been verbally abused by patients, patients’ relatives or fellow staff.
Nearly 35% of human resource executives have either suffered from or witnessed workplace bullying.
In a 2007 survey of 1,000 U.S. workers, 44% said they had worked for a boss they considered abusive.
What can workers do if they are being bullied?
1. Get help by talking with a family member, friend, or co-worker about it.
2. Keep a log of the bullying incidents.
3. Find out what your organization’s policies are about bullying – seek out human resources.
4. Be strong and try not to take the bullying personally.
5. Consider confronting the bully – stick to the facts and don’t be a victim.
6. Remain proactive about your choices – seek out solutions.
7. Discuss any sleep disturbances with your medical provider – let them know about how bullying may be impacting your sleep.
What can employers do to reduce the likelihood of bullying at work ?
1. Implement an anti-bullying policy that applies to everyone in the organization, from chief executive to cleaner, from permanent full-time staff to contractors.
2. The policy should state that bullying is a disciplinary offence – and clearly links the bullying behavior to existing disciplinary procedures.
3. The policy must state that confidentiality is guaranteed.
4. Develop a two-tier approach – first and informal stage and then a formal one.
5. During the informal stage, the person who believes they are being bullied needs to be able to discuss what’s happening with someone who is trained in these issues. Also during the informal stage, you will carry out an informal investigation to try and understand if there is bullying going on, and if so, what type. Sometimes bullying is done without the bully even realizing it – making the bully aware and reminding them of the consequences may be enough. For a more serial type bully, during the informal stage, the bully will have to be reminded that bullying is a disciplinary offence and repeated incidents may result in a formal procedure which might result in a disciplinary action.
6. Moving onto the formal stage, human resource procedures should state clearly in writing what the formal process involves and what the potential outcomes will be. More investigation will be necessary in order to solicit input from other employees who may have witnessed the bullying. Again, experienced professionals should carry out the investigation.
©2009 Circadian Age, Inc. – ‘Working Nights’
Tags: diversity, homicide, Human Capital, insomnia, mental health, Productivity, sleep disorders, stress
