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Makes suggestions
Committee member Linas Slušnys presented the solutions proposed by the Seimas Health Affairs Committee on how to resolve manifestations of psychological harassment in health institutions.
The Committee requests the Government to establish an ombudsman, to review the heavy workload of health professionals and to consider increasing funding for the health care system.
“The costs related to the additional pandemic management measures should be financed from the budget and not from the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund,” said L. Slušnys.
It is proposed that the Ministry of Social Security and Labor clarify the concept of psychological harassment and evaluate the possibility of establishing a separate structural unit within the Labor Inspectorate for the prevention of psychological violence in the work environment and the improvement of working conditions .
The Committee of the Ministry of Justice requests an evaluation of the possibility of criminalizing mobbing, taking into account the consequences of its actions.
“Just evaluate the possibilities. So far, we don’t want to be intimidated into introducing such things, if the possibility exists, yes. But they will consider it, “said L. Slušnys.
Members of the Commission of the Ministry of Health request to evaluate the possibility of rotation of unit heads. Also strengthen the role of medical ethics commissions in health institutions.
Committee members agreed to this draft decision by consensus.
It’s not just about health
Health Minister Arūnas Dulkys said he noticed a trend when trying to cover the issues of mobbing and mental health as a result of pandemic fatigue and the coronavirus. “This is not the consequence of short-term phenomena, even if they last a year, but of a systemic historical problem that has its root causes,” the minister emphasized.
According to A. Dulkis, the subject of mental health is often seen “through the fingers” because it seems “soft”, difficult to feel; this issue requires a long and deep effort, and the result is not always visible.
“I would like to draw the attention of such opponents to the fact that the OECD estimates that our state, without solving mental health problems, also loses 2.6 percent each year. The part of GDP that is related to our economy.” emphasized A. Dulkys.
The Minister emphasizes that we have problems with mental health literacy, when we do not recognize many things, we cannot evaluate them. “We need to look at this issue horizontally, and we also need to see education, social issues, legal issues, health and even the economy,” said the head of SAM.
Hidden problem
The Minister of Social Security and Labor, Monika Navickienė, said that the problem of harassment and emotional health is not limited to one: the health sector, and solving the problem requires complex solutions.
M.Navickienė noted that last year 9 thousand. Of those who went to the State Labor Inspectorate (VDI), only 34 cases were due to psychological violence.
“It shows that there is no confidence that the problem is hidden and until now completely invisible. Fear, stereotypes, mistrust or inadequate regulation mask the problem quite strongly, “said the minister.
Ms. Navickienė mentioned that a working group focused on the Ministry is planning to increase the capacity of the Labor Inspectorate by expanding educational activities.
It is planned to prepare reforms to the Labor Code, establishing guarantees of the rights and protection of employees who may or have suffered harassment and complaints. It is foreseen to establish the bases of responsibility of the people guilty of mobbing, to define the concept of mobbing.
Ms Navickienė stated that the working group will present proposals on the possibilities of criminalizing psychological harassment activities. “However, this is still in the deliberation stage,” the minister said.
“We believe that it is important to strengthen accountability, assign proven cases of harassment and psychological violence in the workplace to serious violations of labor obligations, offer personal responsibility to the heads of state and municipal institutions for these violations and establish fines for institutions private. “, said the Minister.
Individually assessed
Jolita Vveinhardt, professor at the Department of Economics and Management at Vytautas Magnus University, an expert in anti-mobbing, emphasizes that not everything is mobbing, what is called mobbing, each case must be evaluated individually.
“Mobbing is a protracted and unresolved conflict. Sometimes people disagree for years, but can any conflict be called harassment? This can only be said on a case-by-case basis. It is necessary to trace the whole story, look at it from a complex way: how it started, what were the reasons, who did what, how did the parties to the conflict, collaborators, leaders behave, what did the victim survive, what were the consequences, “he said.
According to her, the provision is that the attacks must be repeated at least once a week and last more than six months. “But if a person is terrified on a daily basis and is more sensitive, they will not wait six months,” Veinhardt emphasized.
In addition to the duration of time, mobbing is characterized by an asymmetry of power: regardless of the position, the victim is in a weaker position. Generally, more than one person is harassed and the attacker tries to point out other employees of the institution in front of the victim. However, J. Veinhardt points out that both bullies and those who have abandoned the mobbing also participate in the process, since the victim is left without support.
According to the teacher, in the case of mobbing there is always a reason, and the reasons can be several, but the main objective is to expel the employee from the department or organization: “Even if at first it is only tried to silence an uncomfortable employee”.
J.Vveinhardt points out that the bullying process takes place on two levels: the victim is hurt and intimidated, the pressure on her intensely increases. At the same time, a negative reputation of the person and the employee is created in the eyes of clients and colleagues.
Various actions are used: constant criticism of work, restriction of the possibility of maintaining a healthy society. connections, trampling on personal reputations. Activities intended to disrupt are given: offensive tasks are assigned meaningless or no tasks are assigned at all. Sometimes damage to physical health also occurs.
Divergent opinions
Dr. Almina Vilimienė named one of the psychological mechanisms of mobbing: the phenomenon of the scapegoat. According to her, this is based on the Jewish biblical story of how all the guilt was piled up on a goat, and he himself was led into the desert, thus “cleansing” themselves of negative feelings. According to A. Vilimienė, the problem is that the goat always reappears.
“In an organizational sense, everyone should know this: projecting some flaws or feelings onto a person and making them a scapegoat, removing them from the organization or moving them does not end the problem in the organization. It is necessary to work with the problem in a systematic way. “said A. Vilimienė.
According to her, the phenomenon of the scapegoat occurs when the group does not tolerate differences. “If there is a homogeneous group, as long as it is such, no differences are seen, the phenomenon of redemption can be avoided. But in reality, those groups do not exist, there are always differences of opinion, people. If you don’t want to see those differences, there is a possibility that a scapegoat will emerge. That is why openness and working with differences are important in all organizations ”, he said.
According to A. Vilimienė, the scapegoat phenomenon occurs when a person begins to say what is unacceptable to the culture. This can be avoided if more people support an opinion that stands out.
