Bill Shorten, Australia’s Workplace Relations minister has taken a strong stance against the workplace bullying which so severely impinges on corporate wellness, claiming that the country should take a zero tolerance approach to the issue.
Speaking out about recommendations that the government should create a national definition of what bullying actually entails, and a national code for how to deal with such incidences, the minister has confirmed that the Government would take into consideration 23 recommendations that have been 
made by a lower house committee on the subject.
The minister spoke out to journalists in Australia’s capital, Canberra, confirming that he felt that workplace bullying was a very serious issue, greatly affecting the wellbeing of a large proportion of the corporate workforce.
Mr Shorten also claimed that the issue of bullying in the workplace costs the economy vast sums of money each year, as those who are subjected to it often either lose working time through sickness or stress-related absence, or cost companies large sums of money in legal fees as they try to negotiate the minefield of taking legal action about such occurrences. He believes that the best ways to go about tackling the issue are to improve the education of the entire corporate workforce about the difficult issue of bullying, and to change people’s attitudes towards it, saying:
“Current methods of addressing workplace bullying can be largely reactive, occurring after workplace relationships are beyond repair. Workplace bullying needs to be resolved proactively before it escalates and requires intervention and prosecution.“
The national code is expected to provide employers with a clear guide as to what is and is not acceptable behaviour in the workplace, which will provide a starting point for them to move towards educating their employees.
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