What is workplace bullying?

Workplace bullying happens when someone consistently harms or mistreats other employees, causing physical or emotional pain. Workplace bullies can be Supervisors, Team Members, Contractors, or anyone else in the office, and bullying can be nonverbal or verbal.

What does bullying in the workplace look like? (with examples)

Knowing what bullying looks like can help you prevent it from occurring. Here are some common examples of workplace bullying behaviour:

• Gossiping or spreading rumours about an employee
• Purposely ignoring or excluding an employee
• Using an intimidating attitude
• Undermining an employee’s work
• Keeping essential information from people who need it
• Giving people overwhelming or impossible deadlines
• Assigning too little work
• Making offensive or inappropriate jokes or statements
• Stalking or invading people’s privacy

Gossiping or spreading rumours about an employee

Gossiping about people in person or on social media can harm their reputations with Supervisors and customers.

Example: Last week, Linda told Jane that her mother hasn’t been feeling well and she’s worried about her because she lives in another city. Then, Jane told the Manager that Linda probably isn’t interested in a promotion, and she wants to quit her job soon to move in with her mother. Linda never mentioned moving, but the Manager remembered Jane’s story and decided to wait to consider Linda for a promotion.

Purposely ignoring or excluding an employee

These bullies make people feel left out by refusing to invite them to office parties, outings or meetings. They can also keep them from participating in groups or committees. This behaviour is psychologically damaging, and it can harm the victim’s career.

Example: Martha forgot to bring the office Receptionist a holiday present last year. Ever since, she’s been often unprepared for meetings because the Receptionist only tells her about them a few hours in advance. Sometimes, Martha misses meetings because she doesn’t have a chance to clear her schedule.

Using an intimidating or aggressive attitude

No one likes to be yelled at or insulted, and aggressive bullies can make people feel unnecessarily stressed instead of productive.

Example: The Manager, Jake, believes that leadership requires a stern attitude. He often yells at employees who make minor mistakes. He also calls people stupid and insults their intelligence. Occasionally, he has even threatened to harm people physically. The company offers a competitive wage and benefits, but many staff members leave soon after they start because they can’t take Jake’s aggressive attitude.

Undermining an employee’s work

Some workplace bullies try to make other employees look bad to get ahead and seem more skilled in front of supervisors.

Example: Mark and John work on the same team, and they both applied for a promotion. Mark often takes credit for John’s work, and he blames him whenever there’s an error or a delay. Mark also asks John questions often throughout the day, making it difficult to concentrate on work. Fortunately, the Team Leader noticed Mark’s bullying. She awarded the promotion to John and transferred Mark to a team in another location.

Keeping essential information from people who need it

People can also undermine other employees by keeping important information from them.

Example: A Graphic Designer has trouble pleasing clients, and they always seem to want alterations or edits. After a few months, the employee finds out that the Team Leader hasn’t provided the detailed specifications that the clients submitted.

Giving people overwhelming or impossible deadlines

Some bullies give people extremely difficult tasks to have an excuse to fire them when they fail.

Example: The Manager wants to hire his spouse to work together, but there are no openings available. The company requires concrete causes for all terminations, so the Manager assigns more work to the most junior employee. They work overtime to get most tasks done, but they get reprimanded for being late twice. When the employee gets sick of working overtime, they resign and apply for a job at a business that values them and their contributions more. Then, the Manager’s spouse takes the open position.

Assigning too little work

Supervisors can bully their employees by giving them too little work or assigning projects that seem like busywork. This makes employees feel bored and keeps them from accomplishing anything that would advance their careers.

Example: Alaine recently started a job at a luxury department store. The job description promised opportunities for commissions from sales, but she spends most of her time stocking items and cleaning the store. When customers visit, the Manager sends them to other salespeople.

When Alaine asked for some additional sales training and the chance to assist some customers, the Manager said she would check for openings in company training classes and send some customers Alaine’s way. However, after several months, Alaine still hasn’t made more than a few sales. She also didn’t receive any additional training. She’s applying for other jobs where she’ll have more opportunities to advance her career.

Making offensive or inappropriate jokes or statements

Making racist, sexist or unprofessional jokes or comments can make many people uncomfortable, not just those the comments are about.

Example: Stan makes racist and sexist jokes, and he makes many people uncomfortable. After three employees complained, the Manager held an anti-bullying class for the entire team. Stan stopped making racist and sexist commentsn and everyone in the office can work together more efficiently.

Stalking or invading people’s privacy

Some bullies follow people around, look through their desks, and even try to access computer systems and files. They may try to undermine an employee, scare them, or harass them by pursuing an unprofessional relationship.

Example: Janet often sees her co-worker, Jim, walking around her desk and looking at her computer screen. In a meeting, Jim mentions to a group of co-workers that Janet scheduled a private doctor’s appointment while on her lunch break. Janet feels Jim violated her privacy and does not feel comfortable with how often Jim looks at her computer screen or that he shares private information with her colleagues.

Preventing or stopping workplace bullying

Some bullies target people to offend, degrade, or humiliate. Others don’t realize that their behaviour is harming other employees. If you notice workplace bullying taking place, or an employee mentions being bullied to you, you can keep detailed records of when and what the employee says took place and the circumstances. Advise that the person being bullied keeps copies of any emails or other documents with harassing or aggressive language. You may need to escalate the situation to HR or the bully’s direct manager.

Every province has different laws about workplace bullying and harassment. In Ontario and Quebec, employers must have a harassment prevention policy in place and a procedure for resolving complaints. Even if the province doesn’t mention bullying specifically in local laws, employers have to protect their employees from physical and mental harm, including psychological or sexual harassment.

Businesses should ensure that their policies and rules include a statement that workplace bullying and harassment are not acceptable. It should be easy for workers to recognize and report bullying, and encourage each other to defend co-workers if they witness bullying. Employers should make recognizing and reporting bullying easy and encourage people to speak up and defend co-workers if they witness bullying. It’s beneficial to create rules about how and when to conduct investigations and handle complaints.