“The pain train is coming,” shouts Terrible Terry Tate, famous Super Bowl commercial character and designated Office Linebacker who gives out the pain to employees who do not follow office policies.  He works in an office where written employee reprimands have been traded in for midair, bone-crushing football tackles. In one famous scene Tate shouts, “You kill the joe, you make some mo” after he jump tackles the office jerk who just took the last cup of coffee without brewing more for his coworkers.  He finishes off many of his downright physical disciplinary sessions with a loud train sound, “woo woo!”

“When it’s game time, it’s pain time,” says Tate to his coworkers who sometimes try to frantically and hopelessly run from the overpowering athlete suited up in a football uniform and assigned an office cubicle too small for his ego.

These scenes make for hilariously funny television commercials but it’s not funny when the pain train arrives each day in the form of emotional terrorism by brutal managers and coworkers.

Workplace abuse, emotional pain, trauma and psychological terrorism is a big problem in the United States.  According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, 37% of American workers – 54 million people – have been bullied at work.  It is estimated that workplace abuse affects 49% of American workers – 79 million people – when witnesses are included.

Typically the pain arrives in the form of psychological mistreatment, not mid-air tackles at full speed.  In America we have moved beyond physical brutality at work, except for tragic office killings typically perpetrated by victims of bullying behavior who reached the end of their rope and resorted to unjustified murder and violence.

Whether unintentional or cleverly sadistic, the office is full of mistreatment in the form of bullies, jerks or fear-inducing managers who have resorted to psychological violence as a means of control.

That is why the following questions posed in the article, “What’s a Psychologically Healthy Workplace?” can reveal the true psychological health at your workplace.  These questions are very appropriate when considering the safety of your work environment.  The article was published by The New Workplace Institute Blog hosted by David Yamada, NWI founder and professor of law at Suffolk University Law School.

Eight Questions Reveal Psychological Healthy or Unhealthy Workplace

• Is there a sense of zest, “buzz,” and opportunity in the workplace?
• Do employees feel they are valued and treated with respect and dignity?
• Is the organizational culture friendly, inclusive, and supportive?
• Is organizational decision making fair, transparent, and evenhanded?
• Are diversities of all types accepted or merely tolerated?
• Does the organization face or dodge tough questions concerning employee relations?
• Are allegations of mistreatment of employees handled fairly and honestly, even when the alleged wrongdoers are in positions of power?
• Are compensation and reward systems fair and transparent?

According to Yamada, “These inquiries implicate organizational culture and power, which may threaten bad and/or insecure employers.  But if we want to get to the heart of whether a given workplace is psychologically healthy, we must ask these more difficult questions,” states professor Yamada.

How did your company score after truthfully answering these questions?

Do you know why patients sue their doctors? Poor bedside manner.  The manner in which doctors behave alongside their patients is the biggest predictor of future malpractice lawsuits.  A physician who treats a patient with respect and courtesy, along with open two-way communication, is unlikely to be sued, even if the doctor makes a mistake in a diagnosis or surgery.  A doctor with a toxic bedside manner who makes a similar mistake, however, should call his attorney and begin working on his defense.

In an effort to find quick, proven ways to predict the probability of malpractice lawsuits, an insurance company discovered a proven method in managing risk; quickly observe how doctors treat their patients. “Patients file lawsuits because they’ve been harmed by shoddy medical care and something else happens to them,” points out Malcolm Gladwell, author of “Blink,” a book on how we make instantaneous decisions without thinking.  These quick and perceptive judgments are quite accurate according Gladwell. The concept, called thin-slicing, is the ability of the unconscious mind to make precise judgments based upon thin slices of experience.

“What comes up again and again in malpractice cases is that patients say they were rushed or ignored or treated poorly,” says Gladwell. “People just don’t sue doctors they like,” states Alice Burkin, a leading medical malpractice lawyer.

This same concept is likely true for employers.  Companies who treat their employees with respect, dignity and fairness, earn the trust of their employees.  Employees typically will not file a lawsuit against an employer who has treated them well.  A company whose leaders have a poor cubicle-side manner, on the other hand, should make sure their liability insurance premium is paid and that they have a good labor attorney.

Toxic work environments create an atmosphere of fear, hatred, mistrust, contempt and brutal office politics. It is only a matter of time when these toxic company cultures begin springing up a crop of wrongful termination claims, sexual harassment charges, constructive discharge lawsuits, race discrimination allegations, unethical executive conduct investigations, insider trading reports by the press, and much, much more.

Pay attention to the signals, good and bad, displayed by your employer’s leadership.  Their cubicle-side manner could be foretelling the future.