Abstract and Introduction
Abstract
Objectives: The specific aims of the study are to explore the prevalence of workplace bullying and to understand the impact of bullying on individual wellness in order to facilitate the development of future organizational solutions to mitigate workplace incivility.
Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected via a web-based survey to gather exploratory demographic information and to assess the relationships between intensity of the exposure to the negative acts with laboratory productivity. Associations between laboratories offering resources to employees and their impacts on productivity and professional job fulfillment were also explored.
Results: Results of the survey showed that over two-thirds of laboratorians (68.56%) were classified as victims of workplace bullying, and the perpetrator is most likely a peer of the victim (55.3%). The study revealed the intensity of workplace incivility was positively correlated with the number of sick days taken by the laboratory practitioner (F(2, 217) = 24.245, P < .001). Facilities with a supportive work environment were also associated with a reduction in the number of sick mental days taken (P < .001), a proxy for improved work and health outcomes.
Conclusions: The results of this study shed light on the prevalence of incivility at the workplace and offer evidence on the importance of providing a supportive work environment toward reducing workplace bullying.
Introduction
The word bullying often invokes images of elementary or middle school playgrounds. Research has shown, however, that around 30% of US employees have been bullied in the workplace, with even higher numbers for remote workers—namely, over 43%.[1] Bullying is defined as any act or situation in which someone is subjected to recurrent, systematic, serious negative or hostile, and long-lasting acts that are oppressing and abusive toward another person.[2,3] Bullying consists of a wide range of behaviors, including belittling, humiliating, personal attacks; verbal criticism; and exclusion.[3] Anyone can be the target of bullying, regardless of rank in the organization, socioeconomic background, or demographics, including age, sex, ethnicity, and levels of ability.[3]
According to a 2021 survey conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute, 30% of workers have been bullied and 19% have witnessed workplace bullying.[1] Remote workers have experienced even higher levels of bullying—namely, 43.3%.[1] Remote bullying has occurred mainly through virtual meetings (namely, 50%), and 9% has occurred over email.[1] In fact, in contemporary working life, bullying is seen as one of the most detrimental stressors.[4]
The consequences of bullying can be severe, on both an individual and an organizational level. Organizationally, bullying can have negative impacts such as higher turnover, decreases in performance and productivity, and more mistakes and medical errors.[3,5] For individuals, bullying can cause mental distress, anxiety, depression, musculoskeletal problems, posttraumatic stress disorder, and chronic headaches and pain.[2,6] Furthermore, bullying can cause absenteeism, socioeconomic consequences, and work-related suicide.[2,6]
One study showed that even witnesses of bullying can suffer consequences.[6] This indicates that workplace bullying is an issue for the entire organization, not merely the individual targeted. Specific consequences that witnesses of bullying can suffer include an increase in mental stress, sleeping issues, and health issues such as headaches and fatigue.[6]
There has been a lack of studies on the impact of workplace bullying intervention, both on supporting victims of bullying as well as restoring organizational culture and rehabilitating workplace bullies.[4] One study indicated that antibullying tactics had a positive impact but less on the prevention side and more on increasing knowledge and awareness.[7]
Some challenges to mitigate bullying in the workplace are that employees might be reluctant or hesitant to share that they are bullied for fear of embarrassment or even retribution.[2] Additionally, many of the actions taken by leadership facilitate bullying.[1] Such actions include encouraging, defending, rationalizing, denying, and discounting the bullying.[1]
In health care, one study on bullying in nurses showed that bullying can negatively affect patient care.[5] Specifically, 94% of nurse respondents surveyed believed it negatively affects patient outcomes.[5] To date, there has been no research, to our knowledge, conducted on bullying in pathology and laboratory medicine. Since laboratory science is crucial for high-quality patient care, increased laboratory errors caused by potential bullying can have devastating impacts on patient care.[8,9] Therefore, it is important to examine the extent to which workplace bullying is affecting laboratory medicine and to recommend ways to minimize its negative impacts to ensure quality patient care.
The target population for this article is the laboratory workforce, which includes pathologists, doctoral-level clinical scientists, technologists, scientists, technicians, and support staff. Collectively, the work and laboratory results generated by this cohort, the laboratory professionals (LPs), are responsible for up to 70% of all health care decisions affecting patient diagnosis or treatment involving a pathology investigation.[8] The educational and credential requirements for the nonphysician workforce are diverse, ranging from on-the-job training to professional medical degrees and everything in between. The professionals each have their own areas of expertise such as cytology, histology, cytogenetics, specimen processing, or grossing. Others may have focus in more clinical aspects such as microbiology, chemistry, toxicology, blood banking, hematology, coagulation, or immunology.[10] The target population also includes physicians who specialize in the areas of pathology and its subspecialties in accordance with the American Medical Association's Graduate Medical Education Physician Masterfile.
Bullying is clearly an important topic to address within organizations. This study focuses on the prevalence of bullying in laboratory medicine, with the goal to provide support and solutions to both organizations and individuals to mitigate bullying in the workplace. This study had four primary areas of research questions: (1) to examine workplace bullying in laboratory medicine, (2) to explore the types of bullying, (3) to understand the impact of bullying on individual wellness and productivity, and (4) to study specific organizational solutions to mitigate bullying.
There were three main aims guiding this research. The first, exploratory in nature, was to understand the prevalence of workplace bullying in laboratory medicine. The second was to understand the impact of exposure to bullying on the overall wellness and feelings of satisfaction and productivity in individuals working in clinical laboratories. Finally, the study investigated the role of laboratories in workplace bullying. The overall purpose of this research was to bring attention to this important topic and to provide the foundation for organizations to create their own specific antibullying educational content to mitigate negative acts in the laboratory workplace.
Am J Clin Pathol. 2023;159(4):358-366. © 2023 American Society for Clinical Pathology
