Allow bullying? Gaslighting? You pay the price.
This podcast has been in support of the Workplace Psychological Safety Act since meeting Deb Falzoi on our Mobbing episode. Testimony for the Act was heard today in Massachusetts, in person and via written testimony- of which I also participated.
The testimony is familiar and heart-wrenching. Stories from all walks of life, up to the C-suite, detailing the traumatic pain experienced in toxic workplaces. The gaslighting, alienation, harassment, verbal abuse, bullying...all stories evoked in two-minute sections to the committee in choked voices and tears at times.
There are those who may categorize this as excessive drama.
I urge readers to look into the documented effect of bullying on the human brain, visible on MRIs. I urge the skeptic to understand the impact on our economy due to the reliance on public programs from those who have been driven from their professions due to the relentless attacks from co-workers and superiors. Research the causal effect between bullying in health care professionals with the level of patient care.
There are thousands of stories that are reflected in these representative testimonies. There are copies of these stories in your offices, your hospitals, your restaurants, your government. There are afflicted professionals who battle toxicity during the day only to come home and battle suicidal ideation at night.
There is the man whose name escapes me now, sadly, who testified to the extensive gaslighting and bullying he experienced as a doctor. A DOCTOR. He became a doctor out of a passion for helping people, only to be subjected to such psychological trauma at the hands of his peers and superiors that he left the field to save himself as a last resort. The trauma extended to his immediate family- which is now broken as well. This man lost everything at the hands of some asshats who targeted him to fill some hole in their own psyche- and there is no law to hold them accountable- yet. But trust me- we are working on it.
My favorite holiday movie, It's a Wonderful Life, illustrates the impact one man- even a man from Bedford Falls- has on humanity. Put aside the dated and somewhat insensitive cultural references (it is a 1940s movie after all), and you see the losses we all would share had George Bailey not been born. What do we think we lose, then, when doctors and nurses are no longer there? Whose life could they have saved, much in the same way that Harry Bailey saved a ship full of men because George Bailey saved Harry from a fall in the ice as a boy?
Whose child will miss out on education due to the teachers that leave?
What discoveries will fail to materialize as scientists are driven away?
How many soldiers will die because the person born to lead them decided not to remain in the service due to extensive abuse?
Which businesses (and, by default, jobs) will be lost due to an executive falling prey to these behaviors, taking all the innovation and expertise with him or her?
How many of us will overlook these behaviors, wrongly assured that this is an issue that will never impact us personally?
How many of us have been impacted already in ways too many to count, all because some people just could not stop being assholes- and there was no law to hold them accountable.
The offenders' smirks are almost audible. They don't care. Hopefully, they won't need the services of someone who is no longer there to help them- because of someone who behaved just as they did.
Learn about the Workplace Psychological Safety Act. Participate in your state. We can stop this behavior. We will stop this abuse.
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