September 28, 2010
Boston (September 28, 2010) — Dennis Moschella i-fact@nalysis, Inc.’s Managing Director of the company’s Los Angeles office was the guest speaker at The Exchange Club of Irvine, California. Mr. Moschella presentation on “Workplace Bullying” was attended by diversified gathering of business leaders, educators and city government officials. Workplace Bullying is three times more prevalent than sexual harassment; however, only the sensational cases make the headlines. Threats and harassment in the workplace are a serious concern for employers. Each day, thousands of American workers are harassed, intimidated, threatened and verbally or physically attacked.
The financial costs to businesses each year as the result of bullying and workplace violence threats and incidents are estimated to range from $36 billion to $120 billion. The numbers reflect absenteeism, decreased productivity, higher turnover, theft and sabotage at work, medical care and increased accidents on the job and litigation.
Mr. Moschella’s presentation focused on educating employers on “What is Workplace Bullying” by providing the following definitions.
Exposing a person to Abusive Actions Repeatedly over time, and is a form of “Violence”. (CA Dept. of Education)
Abuse of Power
Workplace Bullying = Workplace Violence (National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health “NIOSH”)
The attendees were provided with the following statistics from a 2007 WBI-Zogby survey.
36.8% of Workplace has been bullied
72% of bullies are bosses
57% of targets are women
40% of targets don’t tell anyone
45% of targets report stress and related health problems
A 2010 Workplace Bullying Institute “WBI” Research Study conducted by Zogby International reported the following statistics.
34.5% of Workplace has been bullied
58% of targets are women
79.8% of women bullies target other women
42% of targets are men
Mr. Moschella’s presentation focused on identification, response and prevention, i.e., creating a zero tolerance policy, address bullying incidents ASAP, develop awareness and training programs, establish an open door policy, mediation, group intervention, team building and other recommendations, which was followed by a Q&A session.
i-fact@nalysis is a global professional services firm providing investigative, compliance, due diligence and other specialized consulting and forensic services to Fortune 500 Companies. The company is headquartered in Boston with offices in Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Berlin, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Moscow, Riyadh and Shanghai.