Bullying: The Impact on Intention to Leave of Generational Members in the Acute Healthcare Setting

Abstract

Background:

Bullying is a well-documented issue for healthcare workers, and can have a significant impact on an institution in regards to employee retention. Retention of healthcare workers is an important concern, as turnover is costly to the healthcare system. The retention problem has become even more complex as managers have had to adopt individualized strategies to account for the multigenerational workforce. Intent to leave has been described in the literature to be an accurate predictor of actual turnover. This study explores the relationship between bullying experienced in the workplace and an individual’s intention to leave, stratified by generational cohorts.

Methods:

This study was approved by the IRB. A multi-institution electronic survey was conducted of registered nurses and respiratory therapists working in hospitals throughout central Ohio using the 22-item Negative Acts Questionnaire Revised (NAQ-R) and the Turnover Intention Scale (TIS-6).

Results:

Over 23% of respondents indicated they experienced bullying in the workplace. Respondents indicated they were exposed to unmanageable workloads, had their views and opinions ignored, and felt excluded in the workplace. Baby Boomers had the highest mean score on both the NAQ-R and TIS-6, indicating they experienced the most negative acts in the workplace and had the highest intention to leave of the three cohorts. Millennials had the lowest mean score on the NAQ-R, and the second highest score on the TIS-6. A Pearson Product moment correlation was used to examine relationships in sum scores between the TIS-6 and NAQ-R. Results indicate a somewhat low-moderate positive relationship between the two measures (r = 0.30; P < .001).

Conclusions:

Bullying is still a problem facing healthcare professionals. Baby Boomers are likely to leave their positions to retire, which may account for their high intent to leave scores. Millennials had the second highest scores on the TIS-6. Millennials, who have previously been described in the literature as having the highest rates of turnover, are starting to show more loyalty to their current employers, compared to previous years. Higher scores on the TIS-6 did correlate with high scores on NAQ-R, but the correlations were low-moderate, suggesting that a relationship exists between workplace bullying and intention to leave. Future studies in various settings will need conducted to confirm these preliminary findings, and to account for the next cohort, Generation Z.