Totally agree. I saw the Fed Gov trotted out is healthy workplace reform yesterday. TV images of people riding bikes along Southbank. All good - but a far more penetrative and lasting reform would be to expose workplace bullying in the public and private sectors with the tenacity of those hunting for spies.

Bullies are enemies of the state and should be removed from their positions and retrained.

A workplace full of idealised staff, full of vim and zeal for the job would no doubt engender nothing but the finest of feelings of satisfaction from an employer.

Sadly, in the real world, most workplaces have a minimum of such staff and lots of time-servers and unsurprisingly the time-servers tend to whine a lot. About 99% of the time their whining is about stuff that isn't bullying at all.

what's the cause of that? Well, Worksafe Victoria thinks it's because the word is used for things other than bullying. It also thinks that "Increased awareness" is the main reason it is used by people for all sorts of things that have no resemblance to bullying.

Unfortunately, the author is part of the problem rather than offering a cure.

Unfortunately, the author is part of the problem rather than offering a cure.
Antiseptic,
No need to read the article, I agree with you.

Show me a workplace without conflict and I'll show
you a workplace where no one gives a damn.
Wherever people are engaged, committed and fired up,
conflict and disagreement is bound to happen.
Bullying is not the same as conflict between people
(like having a fight) or disliking someone, even
though people might bully each other because of conflict
or dislike.

Most of us know what bullying is. Bullying is repeated,
unreasonable behaviour toward an employee or a group of
employees that creates a risk to health and safety.

It is:

1) enduring and repeated in nature.
2) inappropriate and aggressive.
3) results in physical or psychological distress.

It should not be tolerated at work. Every employee is
entitled to a safe working environment. Every employer
is entitled to his staff being productive. This stops
when bullying starts. Bullying is usually done by people
who have more influence or power over someone else, or
who want to make someone else feel helpless.
Most organisations have guidelines as to how to deal with
the problem. Often the problem can be resolved within the
department.

One thing I've learnt is that most large companies employ HR personel who turn a blind eye to bullying, call it something else, police compliance to hiearchical order, get rid of people they think are not abiding to line management.

get rid of people they think are not abiding to line management.
Rainier,
too right, Qld Public Service is notorious for that.