FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Erika Dauber

(888) 256-5437

Erie, PA, Feb 14, 2004 – The Ophelia Project, a national non-profit founded in Erie in 1997, announces the launch of Workforce Dynamics: Targeting Covert Aggression, a new program to address the insidious behavior that wrecks havoc on the work environment, and more importantly, the bottom line.

The Workforce Dynamics team has conducted recent interviews with local CEOs and human resource professionals in the Erie area, confirming that covert aggression in the workforce is a problem in Erie County, resulting in increased sick leave, higher turnover, decreased productivity and creativity and ultimately, financial losses.  Those interviews reflect the national data as well:

• Covert aggression (CA) is 4 times more frequent than sexual harassment (University of Illinois, 1999)
• Stress related illness costs billions of dollars annually in health care costs alone, and even more in absenteeism and turnover (Namie, 2003)
  

Examples of covert aggression in the workplace include rumor-spreading, verbal insult, social and material exclusion.  What does it look like?

• A coworker intentionally withholds information that you need with the intent to humiliate you, get you in trouble, get you fired, etc.
• A false rumor is spread to turn employees against an individual with the intent to make him/her feel not wanted.
• Your work is belittled and your ideas are dismissed, sending a message that your work isn’t valued.
  

“Covert aggression in the workplace effects both men and women,” says Holly Dhaliwal, the project leader for the Workforce Dynamics team.  “They are equally likely to use an indirect method of aggression in the professional environment, and there is no industry that is immune to the adverse effects of covert aggression.  In the US, we are just beginning to address this issue, but we have a long way to go in raising awareness and developing policy.”

Workforce Dynamics: Targeting Covert Aggression is responding to this issue by beginning a series of awareness-building seminars, the first on March 18, 2005 from 8:30am -3:30pm at the Ambassador Banquet & Conference Center.  “Positive Workforce Dynamics – Building Business Effectiveness” will explore the elements of human behavior and interaction at work, the financial implications of CA, local case studies and strategies for improvement.

Registration for “Positive Workforce Dynamics – Building Business Effectiveness” is available online at www.opheliaproject.org/main/featured_items. 

Research is being conducted by Penn State Erie – The Behrend College’s CORE (Center for Organizational Research and Evaluation) in collaboration with the University of Indiana at Bloomington to develop an assessment tool for gauging CA in the professional environment.  Other areas of focus for the Workforce Dynamics: Targeting Covert Aggression program include policy development and training.

Background:

On May 19, 2004, The Ophelia Project hosted a luncheon to introduce the issue of CA in the workplace to the Erie Community.  Over 200 people came to hear Dr. Charisse Nixon of Penn State Erie - The Behrend College mediate a panel of five business people of the Erie community discussing relationships in the workplace and their effects on success and well being.  The luncheon generated interest in many attendees, and The Ophelia Project created a task force of professional volunteers to address covert aggression (CA).  Workforce Dynamics: Targeting Covert Aggression initiative began in December 2004, less than a year later, and is made possible by Erie Insurance Group & The Ophelia Project.

Visit the new, interactive web site at www.opheliaproject.org.

The Ophelia Project

A single voice.  A single act.  A world of difference.

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