The Bullying of Helen Green - Just Another Day At the Office?
8 08 2006Last week Helen Green was awarded over 800,00 UK pounds ( a little under $US 1.5 Million) by the High Court in the United Kingdom for the bullying campaign she had sustained over four years while working for Deustche Bank a well known German Investment bank in London. The chief perpetrators were four women and a man. On August 6th The Sunday Times of London did an interview with Ms Green. Called Sex, The City and the 800K Woman, the interview is revealing, not least for the fact that though her case was the most high profile it is by no means an isolated one .
But what I found most frightening was the statement by a woman that said that Green’s award was an “insult to everything women have fought for”. And that she should have shrugged off the bullying. The High court judge obviously did not think so. And I think we should be applauding this woman for having the courage to fight back. Because of this, at 36, she has lost the career she loved and fought hard for and now has little or no chance of a career, now certainly not in investment banking.
In a time when we so easily talk about women supporting one another, where was the support for Helen Green? From women there was none, despite her ordeal. There was,instead, scorn and derision and the most vicious of attacks.
If this is what women have fought for this is a sad day indeed.
Why would Helen Green need support? She had an affair with her boss and received subsequent promotions which would reasonably have been perceived as preferential treatment. In such circumstances it is hardly surprising that she attracted the resentment and derision of her colleagues! What did she expect? Deutsche Bank should appeal - I for one hope they win! We should stand up for women who remain strong through adversity not stick up for cheerleaders who start crying when their use of their looks and relationship with the boss instead of hard work and qualifications for the job has rightly rankled the rest of the workforce. If she was so good at her job she could have got another one. Chances are she couldn’t guarantee getting one where the boss wanted to sleep with her and so progress her career further.
She expected not to be harrassed and bullied. As far as I am aware the fact that Helen Green had an affair with her boss is irrelevant. Even if it were, how does that equate to being harrassed bullied, called names to the extent that she was? People may be resentful of someone getting favours they are not. No one is saying that this would not rankle.
There are other ways for them to deal with their grievances (such as they were) but they chose to treat another human being in a way you would not treat a dog. If you see what happened to Helen Green as something that should be expected then, like the women who bullied Helen Green you have probably helped turn the clock back for women one hundred years at least.
Hi,
I run a Norwegian anti-bully web and I love what Helen Green has done. Her story is a text-book story of workplace bullying. This is how it is done to thousands of employees every day. Many end up taking their own lives. The trauma is as severe as people who experience war and torture. Maybe envy is the cause of the bullying in this case, but I beleive she was “next in line” like she said. Workplaces that allow this bullying to happend often have many victims. Its time to put a stop to this. Thanks for this web Britgirl.
Best regards,
Irma.
@ Irma - you’re welcome, thanks for commenting. In fact, there were two other women who were bullied and who came forward as witnesses in Helen’s case. One was on anti-depressants and had gone to Australia. The bullying is bad enough, but that the ringleaders are women who (along with other women) think that bullied women should just “suck it up” and shrug it off is pretty sickening.
Irma & britgirl— you are so right about the most upsetting thing being that these bullies were female. When you encounter jocks and other abusers in the workplace, you expect to get support from other women if you stand up to them, don’t you. But in fact, far too many women support this kind of behaviour in men, and excel at it themselves too. Helen was lucky; she obviously had a very good lawyer or lawyers, and a judge who’s relatively clued in about social psychology. I’ve seen references to this case on several websites; and the abusiveness is shocking.