ONCE again council tax bills seem to have risen by several times the rate of inflation. In 1994, the Health and Safety Executive estimated the cost of stress to taxpayers and industry at over £4 billion a year. One of the main, but least recognised, causes of stress is bullying.

A survey by the Institute of Personnel and Development recently revealed that one in eight (over three million) people is bullied at work. A similar survey in 1994 by Staffordshire University Business School suggested one in two.

The purpose of bullying is to hide inadequacy. Good managers manage: bad managers bully. In insecure times, this is how inadequate employees keep their jobs.

For many, each day at work means constant criticism, isolation, exclusion, being singled out, humiliation, plagiarism, removal of authority, withholding information, denying leave, twisting everything one says and does, plus unjustified verbal and written warnings. These are not for performance enhancement; they are bullies' tactics for control and subjugation. The result is stress, leading to anxiety, lack of sleep, tiredness, tearfulness, irritability, headaches, aches and pains, frequent illness, depression, poor concentration and memory, fragility, shattered self-confidence and more.

The National Workplace Bullying Advice Line has now taken over 1,000 calls. With every other caller being a teacher, nurse, carer or social worker, taxpayers might like to ponder how much of their money is spent paying staff off sick with stress, paying supply staff to cover for those off sick, and paying bullies to continue bullying staff into being off sick with stress.

A free workplace bullying fact pack is available by sending a large stamped addressed envelope to: Workplace Bullying, Dept LN, PO Box 77, Wantage, Oxfordshire OX12 8YP.

TIM FIELD, Founder, National Workplace Bullying Advice Line (01235 834548)

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