The Rise of the Griefer, and the Need to Reform Whistleblowing Rules

Sometimes a new word brings clarity. A colleague recently used a word that struck a chord — “griefer”. Urban Dictionary defines the word griefer as “someone, usually in an online game, who intentionally, and usually repeatedly, attempts to degrade another’s experience or torment them … Griefers are adept at following Forum rules while violating their [the rules’] spirit ... or have managed to ingratiate themselves with Administrators, so that they rarely get punished for their actions.” 

It seems that griefing is becoming more common in the workplace. There may be a few reasons for this. First, griefers have been given more and more powerful weapons. Although Policy and Procedure manuals, Offices of Compliance, and zero-tolerance philosophies are necessary, they have become weapons for griefers. There are more of these levers than ever before. Whistle-blowing to Medicare, the ACGME, and government licensing agencies, and using anonymous online incident reporting systems have become routine rather than reserved for extremes. Pulling one of these levers inevitably results in a lengthy, disruptive, and legally-minded investigation, even when accusations are baseless or frivolous. Anything less could be perceived as a lack of due diligence. They guarantee a response. These are the weapons of griefers.

Second, griefers are increasingly protected. Whistle-blowers are given complete protection and the accused are assumed guilty until proven otherwise. Non-retaliation laws permit griefing. And third, griefers are often rewarded. Because griefers do not have the skills to play the game, they are commonly given positions of power, and this actually places them in a position to be able to more easily give others grief.

In the field of medicine, team unity is increasingly critical to the success of patient care efforts and program building. Griefers distract the team from their mission, consume valuable time and resources, and sabotage progress. 

What can be done about griefing? One strategy may be to just start using the word griefer. Words can be powerful. Another strategy is to take away the griefer’s weapons. Those who are responsible for investigating reports of potential noncompliance need to recognize that there are often ulterior motives, that policies should be considered guidelines rather than gospel, that the system can be abused, and that investigating allegations with no merit can do significant damage. A reasonable reform would be to adopt some of the same strategies that are used to curtail abuse in the medical-legal system. For example, create a panel to review all reports to the Office of Compliance, and require that a panel majority must determine that an allegation has merit before an investigation is launched. This approach has been very successful in states such as Indiana in reducing frivolous malpractice lawsuits. 

Take the analogy of the fire alarm. No one would argue that fire alarms are necessary. But somewhere along the line, someone figured out that there needed to be some type of impediment, such as a glass cover, that must be overcome before a fire alarm can be pulled. Our alarms are becoming the preferred way to notify authorities of minor issues, and are too easy to pull.