Cary Cooper: Maintaining confidentiality is paramount when victims have nowhere else to turn

I RESIGNED as a patron of the National Bullying Helpline because of the breach of confidentiality in the statements made by its chief executive on Sunday evening.

I am not aware that she was politically motivated, as some have suggested, but that, as she herself said, she simply "saw red" because of the denials made by No10.

However, I was horrified by her statements because they undermined confidentiality. I immediately called her to tell her I would be resigning as a patron.

I was involved with this charity from near the beginning, because there are so few helplines like this and there is a widespread problem in the workplace.

The important point here is that the service is supposed to be confidential to protect the person who is being bullied at work. By identifying the employer, you also potentially identify the complainant by narrowing down the people who could have made a complaint. This is very serious, because this can expose them to further problems.

It is particularly important at this time during a downturn in the economy that people who feel harassed or bullied at work can feel that they can turn to a helpline like this safely and in confidence. People turn to lines like this because they do not want to go to the company human resources department or their boss because they do not want to be identified as a whinger or troublemaker.

In a downturn, people are even more worried about losing their jobs than at other times, but they are also more likely to experience bullying or harassment at work.

Line managers are often under more pressure than during the good times and are more likely to display aggressive behaviour to those working under them.

Having said that, I was one of the people responsible for the only major national study of bullying at work. By bullying, I mean people who are subject to persistent problems of being demeaned at work.

That study, carried out with a colleague from Manchester University some years ago, which involved 80 organisations and 500 people and was carried out with the co-operation of a range of organisations, including the TUC, CBI and many others, revealed that one in ten people suffered from bullying at work.

That was during the good times, and I would estimate that, in the current climate, it is now worse, although another study needs to be done.