Characteristics of Workplace Bullying
Last week I blogged about sexual harassment in the workplace. Workplace sexual harassment and misconduct affect 52% of employees who have experienced or witnessed harassment in the workplace, according to a study by HRACUITY.
The results of workplace bullying are just as bad. A 2021 survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute reports that 79. 3 million U.S. adult workers have been affected by workplace bullying. This includes both those bullied directly and those affected as a result.
Workplace Bullying refers to repeated, unreasonable actions of individuals (or a group) directed towards an employee (or a group of employees), which are intended to intimidate, degrade, humiliate, or undermine, or create a risk to the health or safety of the employee(s) including physical and emotional stress.
Workplace bullyingoften involves abusive behavior or the misuse of power. Bullying creates feelings of defenselessness and injustice in the target and undermines an individual’s right to dignity at work.
Bullying is different from aggression. Whereas aggression may involve a single act, bullying involves repeated attacks against the target, creating an on-going pattern of behavior. “Tough” or “demanding” bosses are not necessarily bullies as long as they are respectful and fair, and their primary motivation is to obtain the best performance by setting high yet reasonable expectations for working safely.
Bullying is different from harassment, the latter of which is characterized as offensive and unwelcome conduct that might affect one’s terms of employment. Bullying, on the other hand, is directed at someone a bully feels threatened by. The target may not realize they are being bullied because the behavior is covert, through criticisms of the bullied told to others. Bullying can also be overt when it occurs in the open for others may see. Unlike sexual harassment, bullying in the workplace is not illegal, although taken to an extreme it could be if threats are made against the bullied worker or physical harm is done.
Examples of bullying include:
- Unwarranted or invalid criticism
- Blame without factual justification
- Being treated differently than the rest of your work group
- Being sworn at
- Exclusion or social isolation
- Being shouted at or being humiliated
- Excessive monitoring or micro-managing
- Being given work unrealistic deadlines
If you believe you have been bullied in the workplace, keep a journal that includes the name of the bully, the date(s) you have been bullied, the actions they took to bully you, what you did about it, any reaction of your supervisor or the employer if they were informed, whether the matter has gotten worse, better or is about the same. If possible, get copies of harassing/bullying paper trails. Hold on to any copies of documents that contradict the bully’s accusations against you, such as time reports or audit reports.
The Ways in Which Bullying Affects People
Targets of bullying experience significant physical and mental health problems. These can manifest themselves as follows.
- Reduced self-esteem
- Physical problems
- Work withdrawal and sickness absence
- Sleep and digestive disturbances
- Increased depression/self-blame
- Family tension and stress
- High stress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Financial problems due to absence from work
Corporate/Institutional Bullying
According to the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, corporate/institutional bullying occurs when bullying is entrenched in an organization and becomes accepted as part of the workplace culture. It can manifest itself in different ways including:
- Placing unreasonable expectations on employees, where failure to meet those expectations means making life unpleasant (or dismissing) anyone who objects.
- Dismissing employees suffering from stress as “weak” while completely ignoring or denying potential work-related causes of the stress.
- Encouraging employees to fabricate complaints about colleagues with promises of promotion or threats of discipline.
Signs of corporate and institutional bullying include:
- Failure to meet organizational goals
- Increased frequencies of grievances, resignations, and requests for transfers
- Increased absence due to sickness
- Increased disciplinary actions
The Bystander Effect
The expression, “see something, say something” is excellent advice not only for the harassed or bullied individual but others in the workplace who are privy to the actions of the offending party that might create stress or cause illness to or change of behavior of the offended individual. They may, for example, all of a sudden avoid being involved with the offender even if they are the supervisor.
Have you ever been in a situation where something was wrong—you saw it right before your eyes—but you didn’t know how to act? If others see it as well, do you expect they will act? If you sit back and hope others will intervene, you are the victim of the bystander effect.
The bystander effect is a social psychological phenomenon wherein a bystander is unlikely to help someone in need when there’s presence of other people around. The greater the number the bystanders, the less likely you will intervene. Letting someone else do it controls your thoughts and actions.
I always tell readers of my blog who contact me about these activities that they should report the incident. If the company fails to act or retaliates, then they should ask themselves whether this is an organization that they want to work for.
Those who are bystanders should ask themselves what they would do if they were the target of the offender. In other words, The Golden Rule is instructive: Treat others the way you want to be treated.
Posted by Steven Mintz, aka Ethics Sage, on October 1, 2024. You can sign up for his newsletter and learn more about his activities at: https://www.stevenmintzethics.com/.