Bullying is a term that has had a lot of airtime over the last ten years but very few people actually know what it is or even believe that it affects them.
The reality is that bullying is rife in the building industry and drywall plastering contractors are as much on the receiving end as everyone else. The result is that bullying costs you a lot of money on a daily basis.
The definitions of bullying are not a lot of use. Bullying can be anything from outright physical assault to subtle wasting of your time and money on site.
The best way to describe bullying is:
| • | the inappropriate use or misuse of power; |
| • | showing complete contempt for the value of the resources and skills you and your workers are providing; or |
| • | They think that they can engage in any behaviour they like and expect everyone else to be nice to them and abide by the rules. |
Is this your reality?
Examples of that are:
| • | Not returning a signed contract to you; |
| • | Providing a contract that is impossible or very difficult to understand; |
| • | Providing a contract that is impossible to read because of the small type used (especially if they then fax it to you); |
| • | Avoiding giving you any written documentation at any opportunity; |
| • | Expecting you to have staff ready on coat hangers in the wardrobe for use on site at short notice; |
| • | Wanting a lot of people on site at all times to pounce on any little scrap of work as it becomes available; |
| • | Not assigning a qualified site foreman; |
| • | Not having any site foreman; |
| • | Not co-ordinating the works on site; |
| • | Not ensuring materials are available for you to continue with the work; |
| • | Using you as an interest free bank; |
| • | Not paying on time; |
| • | Pretending that variations have not been agreed to when you have done the work as requested at the price agreed verbally; |
| • | Attempting to avoid agreement on price before the work or a variation is done; |
| • | Telling you that if you enforce your contract or make a claim under the Building and Construction Industry Payments Act 2004 you will never work for them again; |
| • | Carrying on like a pork chop and screaming that they will sue you when you do what you have to do. |
What to do
The most important point to remember is that you do not have to work for a bully. They do nothing but take money out of your pocket and put it in theirs when they do not have any right to it.
Being in business is all about profit and quality of life. If you do not have those you may as well just be a wage slave.
The best way to spot a bullying situation is to compare the amount of profit you are making against the amount of labour and materials you have supplied and the amount of effort it took to make that happen.
If there is no alternative but to work for a particular contractor, site foreman or you find yourself in this situation the best way to deal with it is:
| 1) | Ensure that you have a written contract that sets out your rights and obligations clearly; |
| 2) | Read and fully understand your contractual rights and obligations; |
| 3) | Show up on time to perform the work; |
| 4) | Perform the work to the standard required by the contract within the time limits specified in the contract; |
| 5) | Drive the contract hard and ensure that you are serving the contractor with every piece of paper you have to (if they are not complaining you are not sending them enough paper); |
| 6) | Ensure that you are up to date with your claims; |
| 7) | Remember that: |
| a) | you are not alone in the universe; |
| b) | There are people with expertise in these issues that can help you. |