Has bullying become the norm in America's workplaces? We hear a lot about bullying in the schools, but recently we're hearing more about bullying in the workplace. But what is bullying – and how do you protect your workplace from it?

While lawsuits and news reports spotlight egregious acts of violence and abuse in the workplace, it's often the subtle things at the office – the painful little incivilities among co-workers or between a supervisor and her/his staff that affects your workers, the work unit, and the organization's effectiveness and bottom line – and can turn into costly lawsuits.

Though the United States has no actual anti-bullying laws, employees are getting creative in fighting their victimization, and have discovered other types of laws to sue their employer and their bully when targeted by the abuse.

So what's an organization to do to remedy the increasing complaints of workplace bullying? If you are a manager, or even an employee who witnesses the misconduct, how do you respond? Would you know what to do if you suspect that someone is being bullied? Do organizations need policies specifically addressing bullying, and if so, what elements should be included?

Learning Objectives:

By attending this informative training session, you and your team will be able to:

• Define behaviors that constitute bullying
• Identify the categories of bullying behavior
• State the legal, emotional, and cost implications of the misconduct on the target, the bully, the witnesses, the work unit, and the organization
• Learn prevention and intervention strategies organizations should implement to reduce the misconduct