Impact of employee harassment on medical facilities within the United States - Research Paper Example

Impact of employee harassment on medical facilities within the United s Introduction In the United s, cases of workplace harassment has been on the rise over the past several years despite enactment of laws with stiff penalties against any employers found to be involved in acts of employee harassment. These harassments may take the form of sexual harassment, racial harassment/discrimination, religious discrimination, gender-based discrimination, age, and/or disability harassment. Researchers suggest that workplace or employee harassment has become an irritating issues and a matter of national concern. It is seen as causing more harm than any other thing in the universe. Evidence has revealed that effects of employment harassment are so severe and the hardships are not in any way pretty. According to Yamada David, a Professor at Suffolk University Law school in Boston argues that the victims of employment or workplace harassment suffer from both psychological and physical conditions, which could sometimes lead to deaths or suicides. Employee harassment includes a range of behaviors that undermine the morale, dignity, respect, and safety of groups or persons that are involved in one way or the other in an employment situation. It can be perpetrated by an employee against a fellow employee, or an employer against an employee and vice versa. The B.C Council considers employee harassment to be visual, physical or verbal conduct that has an unreasonably effect of interfering with a group’s or individual’s performance or ability to carry on with their duty. A conduct or behavior created a hostile, offensive, and intimidating work environment. Claims of employee harassment may involve actions such as discrimination charges based on religion or faith, race, gender, or age, sexual harassment based on age or gender, intimidation or personal harassment. Forms of employee harassment are everywhere and include habits such as threats, abuse of power, humiliation, blackmail, backstabbing, ostracizing, rumors, malicious teasing, isolating, intimidation, physical assault, abusive language or offensive gestures and destruction or defacement of property. This study closely examines the impacts of employee harassment on medical facilities in the United States. It mainly examines the various types of employee harassments, their causes, and effects on victims, consequences on the perpetrators, and how it has affected health facilities. The type of employee harassment that this study will mainly focus on is sex and gender based harassment, old age and disability harassment. Discussion When looking at employee harassment especially at the workplace, it worth if the focus is based on a specific harassment type. In this scenario, employee sexual harassment and gender-based harassment has been chosen as ideal for investigating the impact of such diseases and threats on the country’s economy. In America today, sexual harassment in the workplace is a very common thing among women and men as well. According to the ABC News polls, at least one in every four women has at some point in their life experience workplace or employee sexual harassment. In every ten men, at least one man has also experience this traumatic vice of workplace or employee sexual harassment at some point in their lifestyles. A number of men also claim that it is a concern for them that they may sometimes be accused false for sexual harassment. This matter seems to be of concern to very many Americans just because of it health, physical and psychological effects that it has on the victims. A research conducted by Julian Barling and Hershcovis of the Queen’s University in Ontario evaluated about 120 studies that were carried in over 21 years across the U.S. involving consequences and effects of employee or workplace harassment and aggression including sexual harassment. These two focused their research on the workplace harassment including things such as supervisor and co-worker satisfaction, job satisfaction, intent to quit, stress, physical and psychological well-being, anxiety and anger levels, level of work commitment and withdrawal. Employee harassment in form of bullying is as much devastating just as is sexual harassment and is one form of workplace aggression, whichJulian Barling and Hershcovis of the Queen’s University in Ontario categorized into, incivility that refers to discourteous and rudeness non-verbal or verbal behavior; bullying which refers to yelling, persistent criticism of employee work, repeated reminder of mistakes, exclusion or ignoring workers, spreading lies or gossip about employees habits, private life or attitudes; interpersonal conflict, which entails verbal aggression, hostile behaviors, and angry or hostile exchanges. Employees that are being harassed at the workplace either through bullying, sexual harassment etc. are at the end of a boss who is raging and thus wholly having less job satisfaction, lower self-esteem, pure physical and psychological, metal situation. Such employees are always the most likely to quit and stop working. Workplace horsed employees have more wok-related stress, less commitment with their work, have higher anxiety and anger levels and either suffer physically, mentally or psychologically. The after effects or the impacts of in form of workplace harassment such as bullying, discrimination, or sexual harassments on an individual, be it male or female is quite devastating in the physical, mental, psychological or the overall well-being of an individual. Remember, some individuals may opt to quit they jobs due to dissatisfaction or an unbearable working conditions or environment. In the event of such occurrence, psychological and mental trauma comes into play and such an employee is advised to seek medical attention in terms of counseling. In addition to physical or mental well-being of a workplace-harassed employee who opts to quit their job, a financial problem arises since the employee or individual can no longer be able to self-sustain him or herself for long enough when in such conditions. This may additionally lead to health issues such as mental, physical, or psychological. How does these workplace vices such as sexual harassment, discrimination, assault impact on the medical or health facilities within the united states? This study aimed at closely addressing this question. Are these effects if any , direct or indirect? In what form are the effects and what measures need to be put in place to curb these effects? In most cases, employee harassment victims, more so those who have been physically assaulted may need to seek either mental medical attention or physical medical attention. This thus implies constrain on the already meager medical capability of the facilities in the United States. Mental institutions are thronged with patients who are victims of employee harassments. Women who have been sexually harassed, either verbally or physically also may seek both mental and physical medical assistance. Behaviors of sexual harassment may include actions such as requesting for sexual favors, either physical or verbal conduct that are sexual in nature, sexual advances that are very unwelcomed. It is considered mostly when such favors are made either implicitly or explicitly as a requirement for employment. An individual who accepts such employment opportunity on such bases are not protected under the law. This creates a hostile, intimidating, or offensive environment to work in. In most cases, they may have encountered physical sexual harassment such as forced sex also referred to as rape. In such cases, the victim is mentally traumatized and that means he or she will have to seek counseling and psychiatric attention. Apart from trauma, such victims are always exposed to various health risks, which may include contracting various dangerous diseases. These may include, sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS, and many others. Some of these infections are very dangerous and an even lead to death. In such scenarios, the victims are forced to seek medical attention thus implying increased numbers of patients visiting particular medical facilities. In this scenario, there is a lot of constraint the hospital personnel, medical equipment, hospital space, and medical supplies such as drugs. Apart from victims of workplace harassment seeking medical attention only, most of them may have to quit their jobs and as earlier mentioned may be having financial troubles therefore implying that they will be unable to cater for their medical bills. In most cases, they will not be having medical insurance or any money at all to pay for their medical bills. In such scenarios, the responsibility then lies with the government. Such victims or patients will therefore depend on free treatment, access to medical facilities at no charge, free physician or doctor consultation, etc. thereby leading to a constraint on the health facilities resources. In addition, employee harassment may also take place in the hospitals, health centers, or medical centers. This can take any from, from physical assault to sexual harassment, which will eventually affect the performance or even the job status of certain employees who might opt to quit their jobs. The harassment maybe between employees themselves, employer and employees or even perpetrated by patients on employees. In the event that a medical employee such as a nurse, a doctor, or a social worker who is a victim of workplace harassment opts to quit, there is an issues of personnel constraint is raised. This therefore implies a negative impact on the medical facilities. Better comprehension of certain type of employee or workplace harassment such as disability and age discrimination is essential in assisting employers and rehabilitation specialists in addressing expected challenges especially in the medical industry. Focusing on several discrimination filings related to age and disability, a study by Bjelland analyses the rehabilitation implications associated with employment harassment in the sense of age and disability discrimination. More often than not, old aged workers and workers with disabilities are considered a problem rather than personnel with capability that can be utilized. In this context, businesses in the U.S and government agencies should do everything in their power to comprehend the needs and strengths of these groups to enforce actions aimed at eliminating this vice of discrimination at the workplace. Older persons are normally discriminated upon during job application process. Discrimination based on age is also prevalent when the older people are already in the job and greatly impacts on the job deployment, security, promotion, and retention of older workers. Either as such, older persons are denied the opportunity of joining the work force during the process of job application, or sometimes those who are already working are laid off on the basis of their age. Most people and employers usually hold inaccurate and negative beliefs towards the ability and capability of the aged to perform their duties adequately. These discriminatory actions by business in the U.S against always considered as acts of workplace harassment usually are accompanied by implications. These implications normally range from health to financial and are normally interrelated. The interrelations are in the sense that when one is either denied employment opportunity or laid off due to their age, they always suffer financial setback and thus directly affect their ability to cater for their medical bill in the event that they need to. On the other hand, when an employee is harassed based on old age and loses his or her job, there are health implications associated with it. At times, even if they had savings or money with them, they may end up spending all of it in paying for medical bills. Health risks that face old persons who are victims of workplace harassment includes mental disorder, trauma, heart problem etc., which are chronic in some sense. Older employees’ harassment therefore, impacts negatively on the health and medical facilities in the United States. This is normally in form of the care that needs to be given to victims of employ harassment in terms of counseling, constant medical attention etc. This stretches the medical facilities capabilities in terms of time resource, bed space, personnel resource and financially. Financially in the sense that, some of these victims sometimes do not have insurance or money to cater for medical fees, or failure of insurance companies to pay for their bills. This is also the case with employees or persons with disabilities. The concerns raised by employers as far as people with disabilities are concerned include lack or less skills, high costs of health care, need of excessive or more supervision, and their presumed low emotional adjustment levels. Just as with old age, there are inaccurate and negative attitudes as far as employee harassment based on disability is concerned. Given that people with disability cannot fend for themselves especially out of employment, it becomes very difficult when they are discriminated upon at the employment process or during work promotions, retentions, or deployments. They also suffer from health and financial problems because of such discrimination. Given that their costs of health are far much higher the abled persons, impacts of them being discriminated upon is dire in all aspects including on medical facilities. Persons with disabilities who are victims of workplace or employee harassment or discrimination suffer severe health problems such as trauma, stress, and other mental disorders. They may also suffer from physical injuries in the event that harassment takes the form of violence or physical assault. Medical facilities are negatively impacted upon mostly because people with disabilities always require specialized health care, which can only be provided by a limited number of hospitals in the U.S. personnel in medical centers mostly nurses will be forced to offer per patient care, which will mean that other patients requiring their services cannot get it in time. Just as with victims of employee harassment who are discriminated upon based on their age, are physically assaulted, or are sexually harassed and assaulted, disabled persons who experience workplace harassment and seek medical attention will interfere with the number of bed spaces in hospitals. Being laid off or denied employment opportunities implies that such persons will experience financial instability and as such will depend on help from the government and cannot cater for their own medical bills. Lack of finances on the other hand might also lead to such persons having health conditions such as stress disorders, mental problems that may require them to seek medical attention. All in all, workplace or employee harassment of disabled persons impacts negatively on the medical facilities in the united states in terms of stretching the health institutions’ time resource, medical equipment and personnel resource, as well as financial resources. Conclusion As we have seen in this study, employee or workplace harassment is a bad vice that is so much on the rise in the United States today. The study has also shown that employee harassment can be perpetrated by an employee against a fellow employee, or an employer against an employee and vice versa. We have also seen that employee or workplace harassment can be considered to be visual, physical or verbal conduct that has an unreasonably effect of interfering with a group’s or individual’s performance or ability to carry on with their duty. A conduct or behavior created a hostile, offensive, and intimidating work environment. Claims of employee harassment may involve actions such as discrimination charges based on o religion or faith, race, gender, or age, sexual harassment based on age or gender, intimidation or personal harassment. Forms of employee harassment are far and wide and include habits such as threats, abuse of power, humiliation, blackmail, backstabbing, ostracizing, rumors, malicious teasing, isolating, intimidation, physical assault, abusive language or offensive gestures and destruction or defacement of property. The study have also seen that the effect or impact of employee harassment on medical facilities in the United States is devastating and has thus led to the conclusion that, the agencies enforcing laws against workplace harassment should ensure that perpetrators are punished for their actions in a way that will bar any other person planning to perpetrate the vice. Victims of workplace harassment should also be taken care of and compensated well to help them through their physical and/or mental disorder that may have been workplace due to harassment. Such effort will aim at easing the burden on medical and health facilities that is caused by health cases that have been brought about as a result of employee or workplace harassment. To handle these effects and impacts of workplace harassment on medical and health facilities better, it is imperative that the federal government considers creating new health divisions in hospitals and medical institutions that would cater for such medical cases. However, this study has not been as explosive or conclusive as such in exploring, evaluating, and analyzing the impacts of employee harassment on the medical facilities in the United States. There it is a recommendation that further studies should be carried out on how to curb the occurrences of employee harassment to help reduce the adverse impact of such vices on the health facilities. Works cited Bryner, Jeanna. Live Science.TechMediaNetwork.com, 7 March 2008.Web. 13 Feb. 2012 The Advocates for Human Rights. 9 May 2007. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. Badget, Lee MV.Workplace Fairness. 7 Feb. 2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. Read More