"Status-blind harassment"—more commonly known as workplacebullying—is a growing concern to employers and their employmentpractices liability insurers. But while the costs of having bulliesin the workplace are clear, appropriate steps to recognize and reinin the problem aren't always obvious.

Experts use the term "status-blind" or "equal-opportunityharassment" to distinguish workplace bullying from harassmenttargeted at classes of workers protected under federal and statestatutes, such as Title VII, which prohibits discrimination basedon race, religion, sex or national origin.

"It's the boss who abuses his orher power not because someone is a woman over the age of 40 orHispanic, but rather because the boss wants to bully and is abully—and anyone who gets in the way is going to be a victim ofthat bullying, says Gerald Maatman Jr., a partner of Seyfarth Shawin Chicago.

Seymour Adler, senior vice president with Aon Hewitt in theTalent & Rewards Practice in New York, notes that in many waysbullying is worse than class-based harassment in terms of itslong-term impact on the victims. "At least the message [inharassment] is that you're part of this whole class ofpeople…Bullying is singling you out as an individual."

While there are currently no statutes outlawing bullying,lawyers and EPLI experts note that at least 10 states are considering legislativeproposals to do just that. Even in the absence of anti-bullyingstatutes, however, the experts say there are other consequences toconsider, such as employee turnover and sick days.

"From a HR standpoint, you don't want to advise your employer tojust stay within the bounds of the law. Employers also care aboutmorale," says Irving Geslewitz, a principal with the firm of MuchShelist in Chicago.

Highlighting serious ramifications, Adeola Adele, EPLI productleader for Marsh's FINPRO group in New York, says, "Workplaceviolence starts with bullying." She cites a case where anindividual shot his co-workers. "The back-story was that he wasbullied at work and no one listened."

Aon Hewitt's Adler says training managers "to be good atmitigating the risk of bullying does not just involve focusing onthe bully's behavior, but really [means] carefully gauging theemotional state of all their employees to get a sense of whetherthey are victims."

More generally, he explains that risk mitigation in this areareally involves two components: pre-hire assessment and performancemanagement.

"There are things that can be done to assess perspectiveemployees for the tendency to express anger, to be aggressive, toshow excitability—all factors that can lead to bullying," he says,noting that quick tempers and deep-seated aggressions can berevealed through well-validated personality inventories.

These personality tests can either beadministered during the interview process or through onlinesurveys, he says, noting that employers should ask how a potentialhire would handle certain situations. For example, prospects mightbe directed to imagine a situation where they are in power (or torecall past positions of authority) and asked how they would treatsomebody who doesn't have power or has a weakness orshortcoming.

Kathleen Long, CEO and Co-Founder of Mountain View, Calif.-basedMontage Analytics, also recommends behavioral interviewing andnotes that there are two root causes to workplace bullying.

"One is that person who is hired is a bully already." The otheris an environment that makes someone who might not normally bullyfall prey to that kind of behavior. "Certain kinds of stresses putthem in a situation where that comes up," she says, noting thateconomic stresses, highly competitive environments, ororganizations that evidence unfair treatment or favoritism maynurture bullies and victims.

What if bullying tendencies are revealed on such personalitysurveys and interviews?  

"It would be perfectly legitimate in my view not to hiresomebody who poses a reasonable risk," Adler says, noting that hespeaks from the perspective of an organizational psychologist, nota lawyer. "Bullying can result in lawsuits, loss of talent,creating a hostile environment for employees that would cause themto leave," he says. "Bullying behavior becomes relevant to jobperformance, so there would be a business necessity to excludepeople who are likely to bully."

What do you do if somebody is a reasonable risk and they'realready on board, or because of their talents you want to hirethem?

"Then it's a matter of moving to the multilayered performancemanagement part of the equation," Adler says, identifying two keycomponents:

• First, companies need to have clear policystatements, conveying clear expectations that such behavior is nottolerated and there will be consequences.

• Second, managers need to be trained to recognizesigns of bullying and to be responsive in taking action so they'renot contributing inadvertently to creating a hostile workenvironment.

Recognizing behaviors related to bullying has two sides toit—recognizing the behavior of the bully, and paying attention tothe emotional states and behaviors of potential or actual victims,Adler says. He cites findings of a Canadian research studypublished last year in a leading psychology journal showing thatbullying is more likely to impact a victim's work performance thansexual harassment.

"The research shows that it's even more likely to affectperformance when you're the target of insulting remarks or rumorsbeing spread maliciously," he says, citing some markers ofnon-violent bullying. He admits it is not alwayseasy to distinguish bullying behavior from a strict managerialstyle. How do you tell the difference? "If I'm being yelled at tothe point where it's affecting me emotionally or someone is sayinghurtful things to me in particular that are demotivating," hesays.

Another indicator might be a label that a manager puts on aworker that stigmatizes him or her within the work group. "I'm theone my boss keeps calling the stupid one, or I'm the one who myco-worker keeps pointing out in front of others as the stubbornone. To me that's bullying," he says.

Should the next step be firing? Counseling?

"In the extreme, of course violations [of a workplace bullyingpolicy] could lead to firing, but unless it is something extremethat probably would not be the first thing that you did," Adlersays.

The bottom line, he says, is that the same type of"consciousness-raising" that has occurred over the past 20 years toidentify sexual harassment needs to happen with bullying.

David Carlson, Midwest Zone Leader of Marsh Risk Consulting'sWorkforce Strategies Practice, agrees there needs to be anawareness and education around workplace bullying—"in particular,at the supervisory level." Right now, he says, only "theprogressive companies are going to go out and have bullyingpolicies and training."

"For the less progressive ones, where it may be more pervasive,it's a command-and-control issue. They're going to wait untilthey're told by state and local authorities and regulators thatthey have to do this," he says.

Carlson says that suspected occurrences of bullying need to befully and carefully investigated, and like Adler, believes thatonce it is identified, "progressive disciplinary is typical formost organizations." But depending on the severity of the activity,"it could be grounds for immediate termination," he adds.

"That has to come down to the policies and culture of theworkplace. Companies need to have a zero-tolerance policy foranything like workplace violence, workplace bullying or sexualharassment," he says. "There needs to be swift and immediateaction."

For companies looking for quick reference guides on handling theproblem, Carlson says there are particularly good websites emergingfrom places like the European Union, Australia and Canada, wheresocial accountability and responsibility in the workplace havealready been addressed.