Few employers understand just how much bullying in the workplace impairs: 

	Productivity
	Performance
	Profitability

Not only does bullying in the workplace impact tremendously on an organisation directly, but on the individual suffering the bullying, to the extent where in extreme cases, people have committed suicide as a result of bullying at work.

According to a survey carried out by the Institute of Personnel and Development, 1 in 8 UK employees (around 3 million) have been bullied at work. Over half of those who have experienced the bullying say it is commonplace in their organisation.

Research by Professor Gary Cooper and colleagues at UMIST published in 2000 revealed that out of 5,300 employees in 70 organisations, 47% reported witnessing bullying in the last 5 years, 1 in 10 said they had been bullied in the last six months and 1 in 4 said they had been bullied in the last five years. 

Bullying, even single episodes, can result in psychological trauma injury and when it is repeated over a period of time, whether it be years or months, it can cause the sufferer to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (go to the What is Trauma and Symptoms of Trauma pages). 

The prolonged negative stress resulting from bullying threatens health, job, career, livelihood and even marriage and family life. 

Typically, the victims of bullying suffer from: 

	Sleeplessness
	Nightmares
	Panic Attacks
	Palpitations
	Fear
	Chronic anxiety

Work, becomes difficult, almost impossible to undertake as they become obsessed with the bullying experience, eclipsing and excluding almost every other interest.

In the UMIST research, those who had been bullied in the previous six months consistently reported the poorest health, poorest workplace motivation and the highest absenteeism figures as well as the lowest productivity compared to those who were not bullied.

Previously, little or no attention has been paid to the psychological harm caused by workplace bullying and harassment, but the growing evidence of the impact it has on both sufferer and organisation has raised the issue higher up the business agenda.

The UK Workplace Bullying Advice Line, which logged over 6,000 calls in five years, has noted that the majority of callers are white-collar workers who have become the prey of a serial bully.

The Red Poppy Company can help an organisation deal with the negative effects of bullying in two ways:

1) By providing a range of trauma management services to the sufferer allowing them to move on from the incident and return to work as an effective and efficient member of staff

2) By supporting the organisation in implementing policies and management frameworks enabling it to deal with bullying, significantly reducing the potential for it to further impact on the company.

It is also highly likely that the ‘bully’ at the heart of the incident is also in need of trauma treatment, as one of the reasons individuals become bullies is because they themselves have been bullied and humiliated, probably in their childhood