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Bullying in the Workplace

What Is It?

According to a Northwestern National Life Insurance Company 1993 survey, harassment is the leading form of on the job violence with 16 million workers being harassed each year. Harassment can consist of offensive, abusive, belittling or threatening behavior directed at an individual or a group of workers. The behavior is unwelcome, unwanted, usually unreturned and usually (but not always) repeated. It makes the workplace or association with work unpleasant, humiliating or intimidating for the individual or group targeted by the behavior(s). It can make it difficult for effective work to be done. Although this article is about workplace bullying, it can happen in other places such as at home by a partner or parents or siblings or children (bullying, assault, domestic violence, abuse), at school (bullying, harassment, assault), in the care of others, (in a hospital, convalescent home, care home, residential home), by neighbors and landlords (bullying, harassment), by strangers (harassment, stalking, assault, sexual assault).

Bullying differs from harassment and discrimination in that the focus is rarely based on gender, race, or disability. The focus is often on competence, or rather the alleged lack of competence of the bullied person. In reality, the victim of bullying is often competent and popular, and the bully is aggressively projecting their own social, interpersonal and professional inadequacy onto their victim. The purpose of projection is to avoid facing up to that inadequacy and doing something about it, and to distract and divert attention away from the bully's inadequacies.

Examples of harassment or bullying include:

offensive physical contact or coercive behavior which is intended to be derogatory or intimidating
constant attempts to undermine an individual and their position, status, worth, value and potential
insulting or threatening gestures
interference with a person's workspace, work materials, equipment or property, apart from that which is necessary for the ongoing work of the agency
crowds personal space, moves close to threaten or to make the victim anxious
continual unjustified and unnecessary comments about a person's work or capacity for work; constant nit-picking, fault-finding and criticism of a trivial nature
being belittled, demeaned, humiliated, shouted at and/or threatened, often in front of others
intimidates through gestures: finger pointing, slams things down, throws objects, door slamming, etc.
constantly interrupts the target of the harassment during meetings and conversations
pictures, posters, graffiti or written materials which are offensive or obscene
phone calls, letters or messages on electronic mail or computer networks which are threatening, abusive or offensive
over-use of memos, letters, e-mails, and/or messages to bury the victim(s) in correspondence
persistent following or stalking within the workplace, or to and from work
dismissive treatment or material expressing prejudice or stereotypical assumptions about the group to which a person may belong
threats of job loss or change
continual exclusion of a person or group from normal conversation, work assignments, work related social activities and networks in the workplace
making unreasonable demands for work with impossible deadlines or setting unrealistic goals which change as you approach them

Sometimes instances of harassment may also have sexual or sexist overtones. This could occur, for example, when a joke or remark attributes certain sexual or sexist conduct to members of a particular group because of such things as their ethnic or racial origin or sexual preference.

Oftentimes, harassing behavior is of a minor nature. Individual incidents may seen too trivial to warrant attention, or the person subjected to harassment may seem unaffected. However, when the behavior is continued, the normal conduct within a work area can be undermined which may erode the well being of the individual or group targeted, and lower overall staff performance. The person or group subjected to harassing behavior does not always complain. This is not necessarily because the harassment is trivial, but because the person or group may lack the confidence to speak up on their own behalf or feel too intimidated or embarrassed to complain.

What Can You Do?

Bullying and harassment are often hard to prove, as the behavior takes place behind closed doors with no witnesses and no evidence (in the traditional sense at least). When called into account the perpetrator of the harassing behavior uses charm and oftentimes compulsive deceitfulness to lie convincingly. Even so, there are things you can do if you are or become a victim of a bully:

Step 1: Regain Control

Recognize what is happening to you as bullying or harassment. It is the bully who has the problem, which he or she is projecting on to you. When you realize that the criticisms and allegations are a projection, every criticism or allegation can then be seen as an admission by the bully of their weaknesses and failings, something they have said or done.

You are not alone (remember the survey said 16 million people are being harassed each year - and that is only instances of harassment in the workplace!).

You may be encouraged to feel shame, embarrassment, guilt and fear - this is a normal reaction, but misplaced and inappropriate. This is how all abusers, including child sex abusers, control and silence their victims.

You cannot handle bullying by yourself - bullies use amoral behavior and abuse of power. Get help. There is no shame or failure in this - the bully or harasser is devious and cheats.

Step 2: Take Action

If you feel you are being bullied or harassed contact your supervisor, human resources or KeySolutions Employee Assistance Program.

Keep a log of everything - it's not always each individual incident that counts, but the number, regularity and pattern of the incidents.

Keep copies of all letters, memos, e-mails, etc. Get and keep as much in writing as possible.

Record everything in writing; when allegations are made, write and ask the bully to substantiate their criticisms and allegations in writing by providing substantive and irrefutable evidence.

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