30 September 2004
Surveys of banks reveal workplace bullying
Union surveys of two major banks have revealed significant levels of workplace bullying.
"In recent surveys of Westpac and the National Bank we have found that workers at all levels, including managers and
team leaders, are at risk of being bullied," said Matthew Fitzsimons of Finsec, the union for bank workers.
"The culprit is the management system, which imposes low staffing levels, then puts extreme pressure on staff to
perform.
"These two problems, low staffing and pressure to perform, were the main stressors named by our members who participated
in an earlier work life balance survey.
"As a result of high levels of workplace bullying Finsec will run membership courses that will tackle the underlying
causes of aggression and bullying in the workplace," he said.
Finsec has sent invitations to the Banking and Insurance industry representatives to attend a seminar 2 November on work
life balance which will include a session on workplace bullying.
"Bullying is bad for finance workers and bad for business. However, trying to cure it by focusing only on the individual
bully is a bit like trying to prevent accidents by wearing a seat belt," Mr Fitzsimons concluded.
ENDS