Corporate or workplace bullying
Femi Awosedo
Accredited Mgmt. System Consultant | ISO Committee Member | ESG & Sustainability | Certified Project Manager| QHSE & ISO Certified Lead Auditor and Implementer | PECB, QFS, MQA and Treccert Certified Trainer and Partner
Healthy workplace environments can help employees feel like part of a community, find increased opportunities for collaboration and improve their mood at work. Sometimes a company's environment doesn't support productive attitudes or respectful actions. Learning to recognise when a team member or colleague's behaviour becomes inappropriate can help you identify instances of bullying.
In this article, we explore workplace bullying with 12 common examples of workplace bullying you might see in your own working environment.
What is a workplace bully?
A workplace bully is someone who repeatedly harms or mistreats employees by causing them pain or engaging in other forms of physical or verbal harassment. This can come in many forms at varying levels of severity, ranging from rude comments to public humiliation or even physical abuse. These bullies can manifest at all levels in the office from casual harassment amongst regular employees to higher management who abuse their positions.
Being aware of the signs of bullying at any level can help you protect yourself and others. It can also make it easier to report these incidents to human resources (HR) or managers.
12 common examples of workplace bullying to recognise.
1. Starting gossip and rumours about a co-worker
Gossip and rumour can occur both in person and online. Bullies might spread false information about someone, either for their own gain or simply to hurt that person. Regardless of how severe the comments are, this sort of behaviour is a form of bullying and can be hurtful.
2. Excluding or ignoring others in the workplace on purpose
Bullies may conspicuously exclude or ignore someone at social events or in the office. They may cover for these exclusions by suggesting they simply forgot to invite them. Regular instances of exclusion can be a sign of manipulation. It's important to address this behaviour early because it can prevent people from forming successful workplace relationships.
3. Acting aggressive towards others
Some bullies may be very direct and act aggressively to intimidate others with their physical presence or by abusing their position. This sort of intimidation often takes place publicly, with the abuser intending to humiliate the person they're targeting. This is one of the most serious and harmful examples of bullying that HR departments regularly deal with and work to diffuse.
4. Undermining others work in front of management
Employees trying to compete with others may intentionally undermine others to make them look bad in front of supervisors. These employees may do this to compete for promotions, bonuses or extra credit. This not only harms others and causes a misallocation of credit, but can also interfere with important work processes. Consider documenting your work and efforts so you can make managers aware of the actions of a bully.
5. Getting physical or threatening physical abuse
Physical abuse or threats of physicality are arguably the most traditional forms of bullying. These physical threats may result from anger or jealousy, or from the bully manipulating others to give them something they want. This sort of bullying can lead to serious injury, so if you see employees getting physical, report it right away.
6. Giving unfair or unattainable tasks and deadlines
A common abuse of power that counts as bullying is for a supervisor to assign tasks that are too challenging or outright impossible to complete within a time frame. For example, if you under-deliver on a request, this gives the bully an excuse to punish you. This sort of bullying can easily escape notice since it relies on the business' mechanism for producing work.
7. Withholding information
Manipulative bullies who want to scheme against or sabotage others may withhold important information. This information could include important details about tasks or critical details about meetings or deadlines. By making others cause mistakes, the business itself punishes the victim without the bully having to do anything themselves.
8. Withholding tasks
Some employees bully others by refusing to assign them necessary work or by giving them unimportant and dull projects for which they would receive no credit. This can belittle others and make them feel insignificant. It can also deprive them of opportunities to gain credit and excel in their job.
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9. Telling offensive or inappropriate jokes
A common form of casual bullying is to tell inappropriate jokes in the workplace that can offend others. This type of bullying is hard to define and some may not consider it bullying at all, so the degree to which it is punishable varies depending on industry or workplace. If these jokes get too much for you or you can see them hurting others, consider consulting HR.
10. Invading others' privacy
Spying, stalking or invading the privacy of other employees is a serious form of bullying. Bullies may look through personal items or read details not intended for them. In particularly severe cases, they may use this information to extort or threaten others.
11. Criticising others incessantly
There's a difference between regular constructive criticism and consistent insults and criticism that do not help others. Giving employees criticism that does not help them improve can be a form of bullying. This can decrease an employee's confidence and make it difficult for them to complete tasks and progress in their career.
12. Devaluing others' opinions
Another common form of bullying that managers or competitive colleagues may use often is to belittle and devalue the opinions of others in a collaborative or discussion setting. This actively hinders teamwork and can isolate employees and damage their confidence. This is no less serious than other forms of bullying and can be hard to notice when meetings are fast-paced and focused.
Common types of workplace bullying
Even though bullying is a broad term that can encompass many behavioural patterns, it can happen in several ways. These may include:
Direct insults
This type of bullying usually involves somebody in a managerial position using derogatory or negative language towards their employees or team members. Rather than motivate their employees using healthy and productive management strategies, they might insult, yell or scream at others. High-pressure work environments can sometimes normalise this sort of behaviour, so it's important to recognise if an environment is harming your mental or emotional health.
This sort of bullying can also manifest in other work dynamics, such as between a client and a contractor or between team members. If you notice someone repeatedly insulting you or being cruel to someone you work with, consider addressing the issue with someone you trust in a managerial position or in human resources.
Passive-aggressive comments
Passive-aggressive comments differ from direct insults because they're usually veiled insults or discreet attacks that others may not notice. They often rely on the victim's doubt and the subjectivity of the offence to continue this sort of bullying without punishment. An example could be, 'You did a great job on this task, surprisingly'. Some passive-aggressive people adopt this behaviour without even being aware of it, since these sorts of comments may be normal to them.
Unintentional bullying
Some workplace bullies may be unaware of how people feel about their statements or behaviour. They may make unfiltered comments without thinking about what they are saying or assessing how unfair or harsh these phrases might come across. Here, they may not intend for their statements to harm others, but their words can still have negative effects. Regardless of the intentions behind the statements, addressing this sort of behaviour is still important both for the victims and for the bullies themselves.
Manipulative behaviour
Bullies who manipulate people are often subtle in their actions. Manipulators can be very nice to people face-to-face but discreetly undermine them and scheme against them in the presence of others or independently. These schemes may be gossip and rumours or, if they are in a position of power, they could abuse their power for personal gain. This could mean treating employees differently to others when they don't cater to their demands. They might give bad shifts, exclude them from meetings or ask them to do large projects with very little guidance.
Tips for dealing with bullying at work
Bullying, when not addressed, can lead to toxic work environments that harm your mental health. Here are some tips for handling bullying if you're seeing examples in your workplace: