How much do bullies cost business? Plenty.

Gary Namie, work doctor and director of the Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute, says cases of employee leave brought on by prolonged stress cost North American companies between $150,000 and $200,000 per case, and that 60 percent of all disability claims are stress-related.

"All it takes is one bully to drive two or three people out, and they drive them into long-term disability," he says. "These clowns can cost a company half a million hard dollars just in stress disability claims. That doesn't even factor in turnover or any intangibles -- morale, productivity, risk of sabotage, loss of prestige and reputation."

David L. Weiner, chairman and CEO of Marketing Support Inc., a Chicago brand agency, wrote "Power Freaks" after working with his share of bullying clients. He found out firsthand the damage a bully boss can do to an organization.

"I had one working here," he recalls. "What a wonderful smile, what a wonderful person, but jeez, she went through here like a scythe! I finally had to let her go. This woman was really charming and the clients loved her, but before long, there was blood all over the place.

"She would pick somebody out and pick on them and quietly cut them right down to where nobody wanted to work with her. I didn't recognize it until about three or four months," says Weiner. "We had lunch and she told me that everybody in this place is unhappy, she went on and on. I walked out of that lunch depressed and went around and talked to people. I hired a company to do an employee survey and found out she was totally wrong. This was one of her Machiavellian techniques to try to gain status."

Weiner had his hands full rebuilding trust and morale among his 100-plus workforce.

"Oh, it brings down an organization," he says, "especially for a company like us, a brand marketing agency. You can't have people down in the mouth."

Jay MacDonald is a contributing editor based in Mississippi.
Illustrations by Brandy Kesl