Bullying in the workplace is a terrible experience many Australians endure every day, even in local government, but there is hope that this unfortunate practice can be brought to an end.
The Bully Zero Australia Foundation was launched by Prime Minister Julia Gillard on March 16, 2013 by a group of passionate individuals who felt there was a huge gap in responding to bullying issues nationally.
In the short amount of time the Foundation has gained respect from various organisations and developed strategies to combating bullying, and local government is no exception.
“Bullying in Local Government is on the rise and continues to be a challenging issue,” said Oscar Yildiz, Chief Executive Officer of Bully Zero Australia.
“We offer Councils the opportunity to engage with the Foundation to facilitate training and customize a Bullying Policy specific to them.”
One of the opportunities is the 48 hour Digital Detox, a workshop available for schools or workplaces encouraging and teaching better social network practices.
The heart of the program is the Detox itself, a pledge to drastically reduce or even completely disconnect from your social networks like Twitter or Facebook for 48 hours, with funds raised from sponsorships going into a trust to help the pledgee’s organisation fund cyber safety workshops.
This fundraiser launches on March 21, the national day of action against bullying and violence.
Also approaching is the No2Bullying conference being held at the QT Hotel, Surfers Paradise from April 6 –8, hosted by Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association Inc.
In a public statement on the website, Conference Chair Sharlene Chadwick states, “Workplace bullying can have a serious negative impact on individuals and on companies, but is unfortunately common.
“There are now serious legal consequences for organisations and individuals who fail to take steps to protect employees from bullying behavior.
“The Productivity Commission estimated the total cost of workplace bullying in Australia at between $6 billion and $36 billion annually.”
One in five Australians have been cyber-bullied, which is a statistic that Zero Bully Australia hopes to change with the 48 Hour Digital Detox.
