More than half of Canadians say they, a co-worker, or both have been bullied on the job — but while the majority reported it to their employer, only one-third of workplaces took action, according to a new nationwide survey.A random sampling of more than 1,800 Canadians found that overall, 55 per cent were bullied or had co-workers who were bullied on the job. For some demographics, the figures were even more stark: 61 per cent of older workers between 55 and 64 reported being impacted by bullying, as did 67 per cent of employees who identified as disabled.“We hear a lot about bullying in schools but almost nothing about what goes on in the workplace, so that was one of the reasons for doing the polls,” said Lorne Bozinoff, president of Toronto-based polling firm Forum Research, which conducted the survey.“A lot of workplace bullying is being reported. But then we asked, did the employer take action, and the majority said no,” he added. “Which is kind of surprising because you’d think employers in this day and age would be more careful about this.”The most common form of bullying amongst all workers was verbal, according to the Forum survey, with 58 per cent reporting this type of behaviour. Almost a quarter reported experiencing physical bullying.Overall, while one in two reported the bullying to their employer, only a third of workplaces acted to end the bullying — and more than 70 per cent of workers who identified as LGBTQ or disabled reported that their employer took no action.Read more: Opinion | Harassment and violence should never be part of the jobOntario government lawyers being terrorized by ‘bully’ bosses, secret report revealsHead of spy agency CSIS admits ‘retribution, favouritism, bullying’ in workplace“Maybe employers aren’t recognizing it as a workplace issue so much because we are hearing about it as a school issue not a workplace issue,” said Bozinof ...
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