The True Cost of Bullying

 Most people don’t associate bullying with any financial cost. They look at bullying as an event between two children and not important and not effecting the bottom line. As with all myths about bullying, nothing could be further from the truth.

 Bullying causes severe negative stress in the victim which translates into health problem as well as social problems. Most of these translate into financial problems. When a child is extensively bullied, their health suffers and visits to the doctor take place. The medical system becomes over taxed as more and more children show up suffering from stress related illnesses. But there is the cost to employers as the parents of these children frequently need time off work to look after their children. Extra costs in time and money can create stress in the parents who now also suffer the effects of severe negative stress and become ill, when properly examined it becomes easy to see that bullying at school, community and workplace can generate an enormous cost to our health system which translates into taxpayer cost.

 But it doesn’t end there.  There is the direct financial cost as studies have confirmed that 60% of bullies have at least one criminal conviction by the age of 24. This means that bullies that commit crimes are now generating additional expense to society by clogging up the justice system. The crimes these bullies commit can have an infinite range and can include property damage such as vandalism, theft and assaults, all of which will need to work through the court system and cost the taxpayer. Bullies end up costing the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

 But it doesn’t end there either. The bully’s victim also can get into trouble while trying to escape the brutal attacks from the bully and the accompanying depression and sadness. The victim may resort to drinking, doing drugs, hurting themselves, and may also strike back with vandalism and assaults. All this translates into enormous costs.  Treatment of a bully victim has been pegged by some studies at an extra $100,000 to get them through their school years.

 Some facts

The annual cost of work time lost to stress in Canada is $12 billion. (Statistics Canada)

Up to 40% of workplace turnover in Canada is due to stress. (Canadian Mental Health Association)

60-80% of industrial accidents are due to stress giving rise to disability premiums

One in three of the 563 people questioned said the bullying was so bad they had to take time off work

Stress/violence accounts for approximately 0.5 – 3.5% of GDP per year, Canada’s GDP  - $934.1 billion (2002 est.) The US's GDP is 10 trillion dollar plus

Canada is in the top five nations for workplace violence and assaults. (International Labor Organization)

Statistics released by the United Nations’ International Labor Organization shows Canada ranked as the fourth worst country in workplace violence, behind Argentina, Romania and France. (The Vancouver Sun, Feb. 2, 2002, ”Workplace Rage on the Rise, but treatable”)

 Statistics from the American Institute on Stress

Job stress is estimated to cost U.S. industry $300 billion annually in days lost due to diminished productivity, employee turnover and direct medical, legal and insurance fees.

 Stress is responsible for over 50% of the 550 million workdays lost annually due to absenteeism.

 Bullying high cost: $180M in lost time, productivity, Liz Urbanski Farrell writes in the Orlando Business Journal

 “These trends represent a wake-up call for government and  business,” the International Labor Organization says. “For employers, the costs are felt in terms of low productivity, reduced profits, high rates of staff turnover, and increased costs of recruiting and training replacement staff.”