It Pays To Banish Bullies From Business

We've all seen bullies in the workplace. But this might be a surprise. The biggest victim of the obnoxious behavior is the corporate bottom line. How so? A study by Christine Pearson, management professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, found that 22% of the victims of bully behavior intentionally decreased the quality of their work. Another 28% of bully victims said that they intentionally took time off from work to avoid the person who was bullying them. And over half admitted that they were less productive because they spent time worrying about confrontations. Two other findings of Pearson's study: 70% of the bullies are men, and the bully is usually a supervisor.