Can you tell the difference between a coworker bullying another coworker and playful teasing between two colleagues? Sometimes, it is not easy to identify between genuine workplace bullying and regular colleague bantering. This article will explain the signs of workplace bullying.
What does workplace bullying look like?
Here are a few subtle signs of bullying at work:
Deceit. Repeatedly lying, not telling the truth, concealing the truth, deceiving others to get one's way, and creating false hopes with no plans to fulfil them.
Intimidation. Open or veiled threats; fear-inducing communication and behaviour
Ignoring. Purposefully ignoring, avoiding, or not paying attention to someone; purposely excluding someone out from a meeting; selectively greeting or interacting with others except the victim.
Isolation/exclusion. Intentionally making someone feel socially or physically isolated from a group; purposely excluding someone from decisions, conversations, and work-related events
Rationalisation. Regularly justifying, defending behaviour or making excuses for acting in a specific manner
Minimisation. Minimising, discounting, or failing to address someone's legitimate concerns or opinions
Diversion. Dodging problems, playing dumb, changing the subject to distract away from the issue, cancelling meetings, and avoiding colleagues
Shame and guilt. Making an employee continuously feel that they are the problem, shaming them for no real wrongdoing, or making them feel incompetent
Undermining work. Purposely delaying and blocking an employee's work, progress on a project, or success; promising them projects and then giving them to others;
Pitting employees against each other. Unnecessarily and intentionally pitting employees against one another to stimulate competition, create conflict, or establish winners and losers.
Removal of responsibility. Removing an employee's duties, changing their role, or replacing aspects of their job without just cause
Impossible or changing expectations. Setting nearly impossible expectations and work guidelines; changing those expectations to set up workers to fail.
Constant change and inconsistency. Constantly changing expectations, guidelines, and scope of responsibilities; constant inconsistency of word and action.
Criticism. Constantly criticising someone's work or behaviour, usually for groundless reasons.
Withholding information. Intentionally keeping information from someone or giving them the wrong word.
Projection of blame. Placing blame to others and using them as a scapegoat; not taking responsibility for problems or issues.
Taking credit. Taking credit for other employee's ideas and contributions without acknowledging them
Creating a feeling of uselessness. Making an employee feel underused; intentionally rarely delegating the employee their work; always giving employees unfavourable tasks and responsibilities.
We cannot let workplace bullying to fester in our office.
Apparent signs of workplace bullying
Workplace bullying can also be more obvious.
Aggression. Shouting at an employee; showing anger verbally or non-verbally
Intrusion. Tampering with an employee's personal belongings; intruding on an employee by unnecessarily sneaking around their desk; stalking, spying, or bothering an employee.
Coercion. Aggressively forcing an employee to do things against their will.
Punishment. Undeservedly punishing an employee with physical discipline, psychologically through passive aggression, or emotionally through isolation.
Belittling. Regularly insulting an employee's ideas or work, in an unworthy manner.
Embarrassment. Degrading or humiliating an employee publicly.
Offensive communication. Communicating offensively by using profanity, demeaning jokes, untrue rumours, or harassment
Campaigning. Launching an underhanded campaign to dismiss a person out of the organisation
Blocking advancement or growth. Impeding an employee's progression, development, and/or promotion in the organisation unfairly.
If left unchecked, workplace bullying will bring everyone, including the organisation down. The best thing we can do as employees is to identify the signs and let the responsible parties know about it, such as the supervisor or Human Resources manager.
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