​Management should be a staff member’s first port of call when faced with bullying in the workplace. But what happens if bullying takes place between a manager and staff member, regardless of whether it is upwards or downwards bullying?

A US study revealed that workplace bullying could cost businesses $250 million per year. Workplace bullying can impact a business financially, as well as contribute towards reputational and performance damage.
Businesses should take action against upwards and downwards bullying, and protect their organisations.

Downwards Bullying
While often workplace bullying refers to that which takes place between staff members, it can also take place between managers and their subordinates. downwards bullying refers to managers who bully their staff, or a certain member of staff.

With 80% of workplace bullying cases taking place from a position of power, downwards bullying can be unfortunately commonplace in many working environments.

We spend much of our lives in the workplace, forming relationships with co-workers. However, when a manager begins to bully a staff member, it can have lasting consequences, not only on that individual, but on the rest of their staff and the wider organisation.

How Can a Manager be a Bully?
While some managers are simply tough, bullying managers will be guilty of giving an employee unattainable tasks that either the individual is not trained for, or cannot complete under the deadline.

A manager may bully a staff member through overbearing supervision, or constant criticism of their work. Rather than provide constructive feedback, an effective management style, leaders may choose to bully staff by giving them constant negative feedback about different aspects of their work.

Another way in which downwards bullying can take place within the workplace, is through the blocking of promotion of certain staff members, or a manager threatening a staff member over their job security from no fault of that individual.

The Impact of Downwards Bullying
Top-down bullying can have a lasting impact, not only on a manager’s team, but also on the organisation as a whole. If a staff member is a victim of bullying from their manager, this will inevitably lead to a breakdown in communication between these two individuals.

Staff members may feel intimidated or even humiliated. This can lead to absenteeism, ultimately affecting the performance of that individual team, and the organisation.

Leading on from this, if an organisation failed to act upon any complaints against a bullying manager, their reputation amongst stakeholders and wider internal and external publics could also be damaged.

Upwards Bullying
While downwards bullying may be more common, upwards bullying can also take place within any working environment, large or small. Upwards bullying takes place when a subordinate staff member bullies their own manager, or another member of management in their workplace.

A recent Irish case saw a victim of upwards bullying, Geraldine McCarthy win a Court of Appeal against her employer, ISS Ireland Ltd, for not providing a safe place to work.

Between May 2009 and February 2011, the supervisor was subject to five separate incidents, where her subordinates displayed aggressive, abusive behaviour. Despite making a complaint to the employer after the first incident, no action was taken, leading to an unsafe workplace for McCarthy.

How Can a Subordinate be a Bully?
A subordinate may bully through spreading gossip or falsehoods about their supervisor or manager. Just as in the above case, subordinates can also bully management through verbal or physical aggression, leading to intimidation or humiliation of the manager.

Upwards bullying can also take place when an individual may gain a new management role in a new organisation or department, tasked with supervising staff members who may be longstanding. While the new staff member may be at a managerial level, they may feel intimidated or threatened by longstanding, subordinate colleagues.

The Impact of Upwards Bullying
Upwards bullying can make a significant impact on the ability of a manager to do their job. The dynamics of a workplace can be affected, with employees losing respect for that manager, and vice versa.

In turn, managers may become disengaged or ‘absent’ in their roles. Their health could also deteriorate as a result of stress and humiliation.

As with downwards bullying, the disengagement of management as a result of upwards bullying can lead to a breakdown in communication between staff. This could have lasting consequences for an organisation, as subordinate staff members become harder to control or negotiate with, affecting the performance of a company. Again, this can also lead to a deterioration in an organisation’s reputation.

Paired with the possibility of increased staff turnover, both downwards and upwards bullying can be costly to an organisation, leading to performance and reputational damage.

Take Action
Tackle any cases of upwards or bullying as soon as possible. By dealing with such situations head-on, organisations can protect their own reputation and performance, as well as ensuring healthy working environments for all staff, regardless of role.

While it can be difficult for victims of downwards bullying to report to management about their colleague, employees should be assured that a company’s HR team has an onus to deal with bullying. In Ireland, workplaces have a legal duty to ensure that their environments are safe places to work.

In terms of upwards bullying, affected managers can demonstrate their authority by calling on their superiors for help to tackle subordinate bullies, in a sufficient and decent way. 

By instilling an intolerance towards bullying in the workplace, an organisation can ensure that such incidences do not take place. If peers champion this culture, workplace bullies can be dealt with quickly. This will ensure that a business’ performance will not be affected, while remaining a safe place to work for employees.

Faced with an array of HR challenges, it can be easy for businesses to focus on areas other than senior leadership when seeking the source of an issue.
Absentee leaders have been highlighted as a detriment to a workforce, with employees criticising this type of leadership more so than other forms of poor management.
This article focuses on the impact that absentee leadership can have on an organisation, and how companies should avoid it.

What is an Absentee Leader?
In short, an absentee leader is in the office in body but not in mind or spirit.

A recent Forbes article described absentee leadership as ‘emotional disengagement’ with their role and purpose.
While this ‘leader’ may be present, their lack of guidance or advice to staff as a mentor and management figure can make a lasting impact on their team and company.

While troublesome staff members are often guilty of disciplinary-worthy actions, absentee leaders can often become detrimental for an organisation on a long-term basis.

Whether it’s frequently cancelled meetings, multiple unanswered emails or little to no feedback, a leader who maintains an absent attitude to their role, their staff and their organisation can leave a lasting impact.

How can Absentee Leaders Impact their Staff?
Just as absentee leaders project a poor attitude, fellow staff can become demotivated towards their work or their role within an organisation. By not receiving appropriate feedback, staff may struggle to imagine a future within an organisation.

Not only can their own staff become impacted, but fellow senior leaders may be forced to pick up an absentee leader’s workload. Other managers who may also be causing trouble in more obvious ways will be focused upon, allowing absentee leaders to continue their poor management, leading to consequences for an organisations in the future.

What about Organisational Impact?
Poor management from an absentee leader may take some time to impact an organisation, but the consequences can be bad news for any company.

With demotivated staff comes an unproductive organisation. The Workforce View in Europe 2018 found that absentee leaders were one of the worst causes of unproductivity for organisations.

As staff become disenchanted with an organisation and how it is managed, many may consider or follow through leaving. Not only will this result in a loss of talent, but a company could face significant skill shortages.

An organisation’s performance will also inevitably suffer. While some managers face criticism for ‘micromanaging’, absentee leaders can lead to a toxic reduction in an organisation and its standing with its publics.

How can Absentee Leaders ruin your Organisation?
Hogan Assessments CEO Scott Gregory has shed light on the top five ways that an absentee leader can affect, or even ruin an organisation.
With a simple infographic, the consequences of failing to deal with absentee leaderships are plain to see.

​If an absentee leader fails to ensure staff are certain of their role and purpose, this will affect organisational productivity in the near future. By failing to provide feedback, absentee leaders can cause uncertainty for staff on their own performance, and their responsibilities within their own roles.

Other ways in which an organisation may be ruined by absentee leadership is increased employee dissatisfaction and staff turnover. A lack of feedback or understanding can lead to demotivation. In turn, staff will seek career fulfilment elsewhere, affecting an organisation’s ability to retain talent and superior performance over competitors.
Absentee leaders can cause further stress for staff. As job dissatisfaction rises, staff burnout can become inevitable, affecting staff health as they tackle increasing workloads as a result of frequent staff turnover. 

What should you do about it?
Absentee leaders are clearly toxic for any organisation and its staff. If their own leadership is not engaged and ready to serve their purpose, other staff will become demotivated and follow suit. As job dissatisfaction increases, staff turnover will follow, leading to skills shortages and performance reduction.

Organisations should protect their own reputation amongst both internal and external publics. If an absentee leader is identified, an organisation should strive to understand why they disengaged in the first place and work to motivate this person towards their role and purpose with an organisation.

By taking a top down approach to this HR issue, organisations can ensure their success continues, and that all staff are certain and motivated towards their roles.

For more helpful HR tips and advice, CLICK HERE to sign up to our weekly newsletter.