This is according to Managing conflict at work, a new report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the professional body for all those involved in people management and development.
Employers are also training human resource professionals to tackle the problems, but are leaving line managers, who are more likely to spot the problems before they escalate to a damaging level, ill-equipped and unprepared. While 75% of employers surveyed train their HR managers in tackling bullying and harassment at work, only 55% train their line managers.
The report was launched today to coincide with national anti-bullying at work day.
Imogen Haslam, CIPD Professional adviser, said:
"It is great that employers are supporting victims, and employers with anti-bullying policies have taken a step in the right direction. But there is no hope that the problem will be reduced and the alleged perpetrators of bullying will not change if employers simply isolate them.
"If employers are serious about tackling the problem they should be training line managers to recognise the signs and take action to encourage people to recognise and change their behaviour before situations escalate."
Over 80% of policies contain a definition of intimidating behaviour but only 38% define positive behaviour. Bullies are often oblivious to their actions and therefore the problem will not stop unless they realise that they are behaving inappropriately, says CIPD.
Haslam encourages employers to clearly define and communicate the behaviour they expect from all staff. This will help identify unacceptable behaviour making it easier to deal with a problem when it arises.
"There is a very fine line between firm autocratic management styles and bullying. Employers should raise awareness of alternative, more effective, styles concentrating on motivating staff through engaging their commitment and trust. Investing time and money to help change mindsets makes it easier to move away from the traditional boss versus employee scenario. This will ultimately deliver benefits to the business by improving performance, improving the working environment, helping to retain staff and reducing absence rates, especially that caused by stress-related illness. It also means less time and money will be spent on dealing with bullying and harassment cases inside the office or in the courtroom," says Haslam.
Conflict at work costs employers nearly 450 days of management time every year, according to CIPD's research – equivalent to the time of two managers full time – and almost 4% of grievance and disciplinary cases are related to bullying or harassment incidents
The figure of 450 days of management time does not take into account the significant associated costs of mismanaged conflict at work, including lost productivity, sickness absence and higher than expected turnover of employees.
Emma Grossmith, an employment law specialist with Masons, the firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, said:
"The CIPD's research confirms what employment lawyers have long known to be the case: bullying takes all sorts of different guises and does not need to be deliberate or obvious to result in legal action. Employers who ignore the problem and who don't make serious efforts to train their staff on what is and is not acceptable conduct in the workplace should expect to spend time and money defending themselves in tribunal."