Want skilled staff? Don't bully them

I have heard about a gaggle of halfwits who operate a company we'll call Clot and Co. They have NO occupational health and safety procedures whatever - and they are not alone.

There are hundreds like them. Nothing thought up, nothing written down, nothing reinforced, nothing ever said, except, "Hmmmmmm! Yeah!! communist pinko lefties thought that up. We're not like that around here."

Seriously, how can you be that thick and still get your hat on? It's the law!!

What would you think of the following organisation if you came across it?

When an employee approached a manager about a bullying issue and another approached the same manager about the poor way she was being managed, the manager in question (who I suspect won his job in a packet of Quaker’s Oats) ‘kindly’ told the employees that their view of bullying was mistaken and ‘kindly’ advised it was very dangerous to ‘go down that path’ - which is of course just more bullying - even victimisation under most Oc. Health and Safety Acts.

Employees are regularly sworn at, cursed, given the cold shoulder, gossiped about by supervisors, and (through nothing else than amateurish planning skills at management level) given last minute jobs at closing time and told to stay back in their own time and finish assignments, often until midnight or on weekends.

I heard about another employee who had similar complaints about unpaid overtime wanting to go out with her boyfriend ‘like normal people’ but added that she was told it would be better for her boyfriend to be willing to spend less time with her so she could work back more regularly - up to 5 hours on any given night in the week for no extra pay.

‘After all, we’re paying you, not your boyfriend!’ she was told.

This is 19th Century Ebeneezer Scrooging and in most civilised countries, apart from the fact that it is rude, crude and ugly, it is against the law as well - not to mention S.T.U.P.I.D.

QUESTIONS ANYONE?
You ask, ‘Why don’t the employees just leave?’

I reply, ‘Why should they? Why should employees be further disadvantaged by the likes of Clot and Co. ? They like the work. It’s interesting. It’s challenging. It’s a good salary. It’s just not a nice place to work.’

You ask, ‘Well why don’t they just shut up and quit whining?’

And I ask you, ‘Listen, Fossil! It’s the museum calling. They want to use what’s left of your mind in a microbe display. You keep placing all the responsibility on the employee to leave if he or she doesn’t like being bullied.’

We’re not talking about lazy, incompetent, disruptive, destructive fools here. We are talking about quality workers.

What about asking Clot and Co. to see employees as friends entrusted to them for 37.5 hours a week by their families to love and cherish and to be sent home happier and healthier than when they came?

If the Chief Clot could get his act together it could be a pleasant - even thrilling environment. Why should they volunteer to fall on their swords just so Clot can keep breaking the law? And wouldn’t Clot become more prosperous with happy and contented cows in the dairy?

You’d have to wonder why they don’t call in the Oc. Health and Safety Inspector and get Clot and Co. to do what they are required to do by law. It’s not an option for the company. It’s an obligation.’

SAD LEGISLATION:
I believe OHS rules are sad pieces of legislation but that doesn’t mean they're wrong.OHS legislation was put in place to protect employees from organisations and managers with little or no discernible character.

It’s not just about protecting apprentices from being stripped and doused in motor oil and set alight. It’s about day by day unpleasantness.

Only a manager with a seriously damaged character would allow anyone in his organisation to be laughed at, poked, bullied, shouted at, put down, slandered, exploited, sworn at, cursed, have their work output mocked, blow smoke in their air, keep them up half the night, threaten them with dismissal and make up charges of gross misconduct based on gossip, or any of the other petty disgraces we hear about.

Honestly if Clot gave an employee his puppy, ‘Chew-Chew’ to look after for a week and found it had been bullied, shouted at, poked, kept up all night, Clot would call the RSPCA in a flash with no thought of being called a commie pinko lefty. Yet he is quite happy to treat humans like Chew-Chew’s ‘doo-doo’ under his shoe-shoe.

When taking on a management role for a new employer

RULE 1: Check to see whether your employer has any clue about occupational health and safety and whether the organisation has it written down and publicly displayed.

If not don’t take the job. It could cost you tens of thousands of dollars in litigation and years of guilt at the harm you cause.

RULE 2: Read the policy and make sure it complies with your local authority’s standards. If not don’t take the job. It could cost you tens of thousands of dollars in litigation and years of guilt at the harm you cause.

RULE 3: Learn the OHS rules. Uphold them. Enforce them.

Colin Pearce
Speaker, Author, Coach

If all else fails... Character Works!