Workplace bullying is a serious issue for Australian companies.

Not only does it harm co-worker dynamics, damage morale and interfere with productivity, it can also take a heavy toll on workers’ health and safety.

Even if you’ve never heard of a case of bullying happening within your organisation or social circle, statistics have shown the problem may be more pervasive than we think.

According to a 2013 report from Davidson Trahaire Corpsych*, as much as 40 per cent of Australian employees could be facing bullying or have undergone such harassment in the past.

Nonetheless, few cases are actually reported.

Consequently, all organisations should take steps to combat and prevent workplace bullying – even if they don’t believe they have a problem among their staff.

To do so requires a multi-faceted approach, including the following components.

1. Recruitment: Weeding out the bullies 

The overall character of your workforce is shaped by each member you bring on board, which is why it’s often helpful to think about culture and personality during recruitment and hiring processes.

While you can’t always tell how people will act on the job, there are some tell-tales signs of negative tendencies.

In addition to watching for indications your candidates might be emotionally immature, manipulative, aggressive and so on, review each candidate’s history to screen for problematic behaviour and habitual issues.

You can also ask for examples about times they played jokes on co-workers or how they dealt with colleagues they didn’t like to get a sense of whether they are likely to cross the line.