|
Introduction
Bullying, which
I call employee abuse, is common across the country, if not rampant. I
haven't been able to find any statistics for the U. S., but according to
the Australian Bureau of statistics, about 50 percent of the workers in
that country report they have been bullied at work. Australia's worker's
compensation paid 6,523 mental health claims in 1993-94 and 6,716 in 1994-95,
and there's no reason to think that current statistics in the U.S. wouldn't
be comparable.
Since I
can't find any studies or statistics on bullying/employee abuse in
the U. S., I'm doing my own. Therefore, the information on this site comes
from what I've learned so far from my research and my personal experience
in a mentally-abusive work environment. Although I offer suggestions about
legal and mental health issues, I am not a lawyer or a mental health
professional.
The last section
(VIII) is a questionnaire designed to:
-
a) help you know
if your boss is mentally abusing you (If you check just one or two items,
he/she/ probably is.);
b) let you know
you aren't the only person in the world who is being treated the way you
are and feels the way you do. (During the last three months in my abusive
work environment, I would have checked off every item); and
c) help me learn
more about employee abuse, add information this site, and get the problem
out of the closet so public agencies, doctors, and mental health providers
might recognize and do something about it.
There's also a text
box where you can ask a question or two, which I will answer if I can.
Please help me, too,
by sending your answers to me. If you have suggestions for items that should
be added to the questionnaire or information that can help abused employees,
please use my message center. I will update this site as I get more information,
so please check back every once in a while.
I highly recommend
two web sites that will answer every question you can think of about bullies
in the work environment. I love what the author of one, Tim Field, says:
"Those who can, do. Those who can't, bully." Click
here to read what he has to say about bullies. The other site has a
great URL as well as good information: bullybusters.
Back
to directory.
|
