Welcome to BANZ,Bullying Association New Zealand. My name is Yanahina Rodriguez- Llewell, you can call me Shana( for short), I am a Vocational and Organisational Psychologist with a Master in Applied Psychology from ‘the University of Waikato”, My professional research interests have been around Employee Motivation and Engagement, however a few months ago I experienced Bullying at work first hand. Since then I researched the state of workplace bullying in New Zealand and found that many employees where suffering the effects of bullying with no much support if any. This is the reason why this site and Bullying Association New Zealand have been created. Please, feel free to share you personal experience and ask questions or suggest topics to be addressed. We need your input to make bullying a thing of the past, Join BANZ today and make History!
BANZ Blog is a space for Education, Resources, Sharing experiences with bullying , what happen, how you feel, what did you find useful, how can we help?
Welcome to BANZ, Bullying Association New Zealand is the First of its kind in NZ. Our purpose is two fold. Firstly, we aim to provide people with FREE Education, Resources, Medical and Legal assistance to help them to prevent/stop bullying in their lives. In NZ over 85% of employees suffer from bullying at work at some stage; as a consequence of workplace bullying people lose not only their careers but their family and health. Secondly, to advocate for the creation of New Zealand Employment Laws that address workplace bullying in a efficient manner once and for all. Bullying is the most costly expense for businesses, yet it happens everyday and New Zealand is not well equipped to prevent this epidemic.
Although there are a few successes Court stories, workplace bullying in New Zealand is not clearly defined is not directly addressed and it is very difficult to prove, thus the majority of people have no other choice but to “forget about it & move on”. But it doesn’t go away that easy, try to find another job when you previous employee (the bully) will not provide sincere references about your job performance and the real reason for you loosing your job. Try to find another job when your dignity and mental health are broken.
If you are a Lawyer or a Health professional you are dealing with victims of bullying everyday and you have probably felt powerless and frustrated due the limited help you could provide. Whether you or someone you know has been a victim of bullying, it is up to every single of us to speak out and to promote the creation of Employment Laws that will prevent and hopefully stop the tyranny of bullies. Did you know that usually those employees that are the most competent and have high performance standards are the bully’s “Targets”? Bullying is one of the most if not ‘The most’ costly expense for businesses and yet it seems that up to date bullies count with the workplace management support whilst the organisations’ real assets are bullied away until they become unemployed.
Join us at BANZ and make history,
Best wishes,
Yanahina Rodriguez- Llewell, BSc, Psyc, MAP-Organisational Psychology
Vocational and Organisational Psychologist