Working Well Together Insights
Are you the ethical employer that bullying injury ends with?
Workplace bullying injury is hard to see. Mental health injury doesn't show itself through x-rays or ultrasounds. When employees are injured from bullying, it is often hidden and relegated to appear after working hours because of the target's perceived shame and...
Are you risking your business by providing passive support to your bullied employees?
You have an employee who has alleged bullying towards them or you believe might be bullied. If you have one, you have advised them they could contact your Employee Assistance Program (EAP), should they need to. You have met your obligations and managed your risk; but...
It’s not bullying if there isn’t repeated unreasonable behaviours
For a situation to be bullying in the workplace, there must be three key characteristics present. These are unreasonable behaviour, that is repeated and creates a risk to health and safety. Recently, Safe Work SA has claimed their first successful bullying...
Is it important when a safe work authority doesn’t get bullying right?
In South Australia, a victory of sorts is being claimed for the “first successful bullying prosecution”. The outstanding gaff is that the prosecution isn’t based on bullying and the behaviour referred to is not bullying. So what does this mean in a world where...
A case study in workplace bullying legislation abuse
Let’s be honest, the term bullying, and the relevant anti-bullying legislation, can be used and abused. A key question is how often, which is up for debate and will vary depending on the perceptions each individual brings to the table. The Fair Work Commission...
Your laissez-faire leadership style – is it increasing job insecurity and workplace bullying risk?
Workplace bullying can lead to job insecurity. This fact probably doesn’t come as a surprise to many of you. However, what happens when you add to the mix a passive and inactive (or laissez-faire) leadership approach. Does this increase both job insecurity and...
Improving our Responses to Workplace Bullying. What we can learn from Victoria Police.
In April 2019, Victoria Police hit the headlines of The Age newspaper for all the wrong reasons. According to the report, Detective Senior Sargent Mark Delahunty was facing a committal hearing before the Melbourne Magistrates Court for bullying. He was accused of...
Are we abandoning our bullied employees?
I was recently reading a research article from Canada that explored men’s experience of workplace bullying as the target of those behaviours. In this research they found two key themes; abandonment and survival. The theme of abandonment was the first key theme...
Should our stand be “Zero Tolerance” for workplace bullying?
Have you read your workplace bullying policy? Does it say your company has a “Zero Tolerance” for bullying in your workplace? I was recently reading an article by bullying consultant, Hadyn Olsen, that questioned the “Zero Tolerance” approach to workplace bullying. On...
Are your managers your workplace bullying problem?
Some years ago, I had a manager who said to me "You know, some of the employees around here are afraid of me"; and then she laughed. She had a management style that could be intimidating and aggressive. She had her own rules and those of the organisation didn't apply...
About Michael
Michael Plowright is the founder of Working Well Together. Led by a profound belief that people should live happy, productive lives both in and out of the workplace, he supports companies and organisations that are resolute about preventing and managing workplace bullying.
Michael started Working Well Together because he saw that despite workplace bullying undoubtedly being a serious issue, many workplaces are ill-equipped to prevent or manage it. Managers and HR and OH&S staff often don’t have the time or skills, or find that the systems they have in place are too broad and generic to deal with what is a very particular issue.
Michael has over 15 years’ experience in leadership and management in the not-for-profit sector, successfully leading teams at both strategic and operational levels. He has experienced first-hand the challenges of managing staff with difficult behaviours like bullying, and knows what it’s like to be in the centre of a human storm. His extensive experience managing office behaviours, providing support to targets of workplace bullying, and rebuilding teams affected by it, forms the foundation of Working Well Together. This, together with his specialist, up-to-date knowledge of workplace bullying and legislation, allows him to help companies and organisations so they can focus on their core purpose and keeping their clients happy, and so that employees can go home safe and well at the end of each day.
Are you interested in learning more about Michael? Click here to get in touch, or connect on LinkedIn.
