Is your workplace turning into a playground — complete with bullies?

A new report from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), out of London, says bullying is a growing problem in many businesses and bosses aren’t doing enough about it.

One factor, researchers said, was the influence of today’s economy: pressure to do more with less and do it faster.

Seven out of 10 managers witnessed bullying over the past three years. Workplace bullying costs British employers about 100 million days of lost productivity a year.

But here are two interesting stats:

• 63% of survey respondents referred to bullying between workers — peer-to-peer, and
• 30% witnessed workers bullying managers.

How is all of this bullying happening?

• 70% of those surveyed cited a “lack of management skills”
• 57% pointed to “personality clashes,” and
• 48% blamed bullying problems on authoritarian management styles.

There was one bright note: More businesses reported implementing formal policies to prevent and punish bullying.

After all, we’ve seen that even Nelson Muntz — long-time bully on The Simpsons — has a warm and fuzzy side, if you just give him a chance.

Tags: bullying, business, report