Bullying at Work

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Bullying at work is a much greater problem than people once realised. It’s bad for the individuals and for the organisations they work for, but it is a problem that can be difficult to identify and tackle

What is workplace bullying?

Bullying behaviour is not about being bossy. It’s not about the occasional, angry outburst on the subject of meeting work targets or reaching and maintaining standards. It’s about persistent criticism and condemnation.

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I used to be known as a confident high-flyer, but since he took over I know my confidence has been undermined and I feel under stress at work. He just picks on me constantly; it seems nothing I ever do is right. I am just always depressed, both at work and at home now. It really can’t go on, but what can I do? I need this job.

If you tell someone often enough that they are stupid, hopeless and not up to the job, they are likely to start believing it, and to imagine that it’s entirely their own fault.

Workplace bullying occurs when someone persistently acts in a discriminatory way towards an employee which hurts, criticises or condemns them. It means the bully is abusing his or her power or position to:

• undermine an individual’s ability, causing them to lose their self-confidence and self-esteem • intimidate someone in a way that makes him or her feel very vulnerable, alone, angry and powerless.

These attacks on someone’s performance are unpredictable, unreasonable and often unseen, creeping up on the person long before they are aware of what’s happening. It wears the employee down, making them feel belittled and inadequate, and gradually makes them lose faith in themselves. It causes constant stress and anxiety, which can cause ill health and mental distress.

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How do I know if I’m being bullied?

This is a major problem, because bullying is rarely confined to obviously unkind remarks or open aggression, but is often underhand. Because it’s so difficult to identify in the workplace, it requires much more investigation.

Going to work suddenly seems like entering a war zone without a weapon. I think I am being bullied, but surely bullying stops at the school gates, doesn’t it?

Most bullying at work is not physical, but psychological. It’s a hidden, yet repetitive progression of small events and persistent harassment. It can take on a perfectly innocent appearance; for example, it may be an apparently harmless joke, at your expense, but if you object, the bully may accuse you of having no sense of humour, or of taking things too seriously. Over time, being on the receiving end of these kinds of tactics can feel like torture, causing real mental distress and potentially ruining careers.

A bully will usually combine various types of behaviour. Following are some of the typical types of behaviour that occur when someone is bullying you:

Obvious bullying might consist of:

using physical violence towards you

shouting or swearing at you, in public or private

instant rages over trivial matters

humiliating you in front of colleagues

deliberately ignoring or isolating you in public

taking disciplinary action against you without any warning

never listening to your point of view

labelling you or calling you names

making personal insults or ridiculing you

being sarcastic towards you

damaging your reputation.

Underhand (or covert) bullying might include:

constantly undervaluing your efforts

persistently criticising you

setting deadlines or objectives that are impossible to achieve

constantly changing your objectives or targets

withholding information and blaming you for being ignorant

spreading malicious, unfounded rumours about you

ignoring, excluding and isolating you

threatening you

removing areas of responsibility for no real reason

giving you menial or trivial tasks

stealing your ideas and taking credit for your achievements

giving you too little or too much work

blocking your potential promotion

refusing reasonable requests for holidays or for training

constantly overruling your authority

monitoring everything you do

blaming you whenever things go wrong.

Bullying can sometimes be quite unconscious. The bully may be unaware of his or her own motives and of the full effects of their behaviour, and you may not be able to pinpoint why your morale is so low. On the other hand, a bully may be aware of causing you offence, but he or she may see it as strong management or positive hands-on supervision. However, if they are constantly and vindictively picking on you, and disguising this from other people, the bullying is deliberate. Whether or not they are consciously intending to be hurtful or not is irrelevant. What counts is whether their behaviour is acceptable by normal standards, and whether it disadvantages you.

How does it differ from strong management?

Someone who is bossy or domineering is certainly being aggressive; however, if he or she takes responsibility for their actions and their consequences, in such a way that other people can comfortably deal with their effect, and so that it does not interfere with anybody else’s rights and wellbeing, it’s legitimate. But it is a rather ineffective and short-lived use of power.

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Although bullying is not the same as strong management, it often spreads downwards from a senior manager taking what they feel is a ‘strong line’ with employees. All managers have the right to manage, and are given the authority to do so. But they need to ask themselves the following questions:

Is the criticism constructive or destructive?

Is the criticism about the mistake, or about the person?

Is it designed to make the person aware of their error and to get it right in future, or just to humiliate them?

The line is crossed between strong management and bullying when there is a purposeful, malicious intent. It happens when hurting an employee or colleague by intimidating, upsetting, embarrassing, humiliating, offending or ultimately destroying them is more important than getting the task done.

Bullying can easily become part of the culture in companies that pride themselves on their strong, robust management. Employees may assume that management allows and even condones such behaviour unless it takes action against it. Certain organisations are more likely to nurture bullying behaviour. These include places that are fiercely competitive, where there’s fear of redundancy, where people lack proper training, where there are poor working relationships, where management is authoritarian and where there’s little consultation and no accepted codes of conduct.

Also see: Harassment at work and Discrimination at work

How do I make a Discrimination or Harassment Claim?

If you are being discriminated or harassed in any way the call and speak to one of our network of solicitors and will handle you claim. They will process your claim and update you every step of the way until they have claimed the maximum amount of compensation to ease any suffering that you have had.

You can call our harassment claim line on 0845 519 7798 to speak to one of our harassment claim specialists or complete our online contact form and we will call you back within the hour.