Employees have little trust in Human Resources departments to deal fairly and effectively with workplace bullying, according to a new study published in the Journal of Business Ethics.

Researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and Bishop Grosseteste University carried out an analysis of people's online reporting of their experiences of workplace bullying. Among the responses, not a single person had anything positive to write about how their organization's Human Resources department had dealt with their bullying problem.

Bullied employees reported being ignored, victimized even further, and said HR routinely sided with "management bullies."

The paper is the first to apply a netnographic analysis, where the researcher watches and analyzes a string on on-line discussions and commentary as it emerges, to the problem of workplace bullying. It reveals HR departments fail to deal with workplace bullying to the satisfaction of workers, and suggests systemic failures due to several factors.

These include legal ramifications and reputational damage for an organization that admits a case of bullying; concern about losing perpetrators who are deemed to be "star performers" in terms of ability; and time lost to investigation and decision-making.

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