Bullying in the Workplace

For many of us, the idea of bullying seems like a solely juvenile concept; a relic of the playground that is left behind after we leave school. However, this is not the case. Unfortunately, bullying can affect people no matter what their age and can occur in any environment including the work place. In this blog we’ll be touching upon the phenomena of bullying in the workplace and how it can negatively impact the work environment.

What is bullying in the workplace?

Bullying in the workplace is, put simply, any form of bullying behaviour that takes place in a workplace environment. Just like with school-based bullying, workplace bullying can take a variety of forms and methods but is always characterised by aggressive or antagonising behaviour that involves a perpetrator and a victim. However, the difference in workplace bullying is that it is performed by adults. This key detail presents its own unique set of characteristics and challenges as adults interact with each other in a dramatically different way to children.

Features of workplace bullying

Bullying happens in a different way within adults. Some of the features of bullying in the workplace include:

Verbal Bullying – While verbal bullying is still present, it rarely takes the form of name-calling or overt insults. Instead, verbal bullying tends to manifest as passive-aggression or oblique remarks. This difference largely stems from a child’s inability to understand the concept of subtext as compared to an adult. Plus, it can cause or exacerbate a toxic work environment.

Targeted Antagonisation: Power – Bullying can also develop because of a manager or senior member of the team exerting their power in a deliberately negative way. This type of bullying can begin from a catalyst or inciting incident such as a refusal to allow an employee to work overtime or an employee’s challenge to authority. Bullying can be perpetrated both by an employee towards a boss or manager or by a boss / manager towards an employee. Examples of this include denying holiday requests, overloading with work, or always placing someone on a difficult stressful closing shift. It could be a refusal to do work, sneering at a manager, making snide remarks or showing disrespect, etc.

Targeted Antagonisation: Colleague – Targeted antagonisation can also be perpetrated by members of one’s own team. If a group of colleagues decide to form a clique, they can use this united position to exclude or ostracise members of the team. In addition, this bullying can spread outside of the work environment as the clique could continue to antagonise their victim at events. For example, Christmas parties and corporate days out.

How to deal with workplace bullying

If you feel you are a victim of workplace bullying, don’t despair. Like with all forms of bullying, it can be dealt with and addressed. In some respects, it is easier to resolve bullying in the workplace than bullying in the playground. This is because, in theory, an adult can see reason and can be encouraged to act more maturely than a child. The first step you should always take is to speak to the aggressor directly. This is vital as it can help you be sure that what you are experiencing is deliberate bullying. The situation may be a misunderstanding and you may be able to resolve the problem that you have encountered in an amicable manner. In addition, attempting to tackle the issue in this way sets you up well for any further escalation as you have tried to sort it out before taking it further.

If this fails to help, you should contact your HR representative at your place of work. The human resources department is, as the name suggests, concerned with managing the people in any organisation. Part of this responsibility includes assuming the role of an arbiter in any inter-colleague conflict. Once you set up a meeting with them and explain your concerns, they should be able to help you contact your bully or bullies and resolve the problem.

The next step if you can’t come to a solution with HR is to take it as high as you can. Whether this is the owner or the chairman or the regional manager, you should seek to make your voice known to the most senior member of the company possible. This should only be a last resort and there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to get through to the upper echelons. However, if all else fails it is important to exhaust every avenue of help you can.

Do you need support with workplace bullying?

Nowadays, we are all much more aware the importance of our mental health. Therefore, it is essential to be aware of the effects and warning signs that workplace bullying is taking place. The harm a toxic work environment can have on you cannot be overstated and can even spill into your home life as well.

In the future, we hope that companies and businesses try to act with compassion towards their staff and stamp out bullying in the workplace wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head.

If you need support with workplace bullying, please do get in touch with us. We can facilitate Mediation sessions, as well as simply offer therapy to those in need.


For more information on Workplace Bullying, read articles on the Workplace Bullying Institute.

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