What is Workplace Bullying?

Although bullying is considered something that happens between children at school, it can also happen between adults in the workplace. Workplace bullying is when one employee, or a group of employees, targets another person for ridicule, criticism, and threats. Workplace bullying is more common than many people think and can take on different forms. Many times the person who is being bullied will not try to peruse their bully, because they are unsure what to do.

Workplace bullying, like the bullying that takes place between children, is meant to damage another person either physically or emotionally; in the adult world it is usually emotionally. Victims of workplace bullying are constantly criticized for trivial things and their accomplishments are belittled or overlooked. Victims of workplace bullying are also undermined by the bully at every chance they get. Victims are often the target of false accusations and doubts as well. Even though these accusations and doubts are untrue, a workplace bully uses them to control their victim.

Another form of workplace bullying is exclusion from groups or denial of information about what is going on in the workplace. Workplace bullying victims are often left out of the loop by their bullies and denied access to resources and projects. This occurs because a bully is trying to undermine their victim and make their own work seem better than it is. Victims of workplace bullying are also treated differently than everyone else by the bully, and are subject to stricter rules and different standards. This is done to make it easier for them to fail and seem inadequate.

Workplace bullying can also include shouting, humiliating, and teasing the victim. Workplace bullies will do this to try to damage their victims confidence and make their work suffer. Workplace bullies often set higher standards and unrealistic goals and deadlines for their victims to make them look bad. Workplace bullying victims can also be given excessive work or forced to work an excessive amount of hours under threat of dismissal.

Another common form of workplace bullying is having work stolen. A workplace bully will take the work of their victim and then pass it off as their own to their boss or manager. The victim will usually have no proof that the work is actually theirs and will have no recourse. Workplace bullying victims are also commonly denied of requests they make for time off, even if they are entitled to them. Workplace bullying victims are made to think that they are at fault even though it is the bully who is wrong. Workplace bullies will do whatever it takes to eliminate their perceived threats.

It can be hard to identify workplace bullying and even harder to stop it, keeping a record of bullying interactions and remaining calm is the best way to deal with workplace bullying. Sometimes it will be necessary to take your problems to your superiors, even if you skip over a direct supervisor. Do not accept workplace bullying and do your best to try and stop it.

Types of Bullies in the Workplace

Most people think of bullying as occurring between children in school. While this type of bullying is the most common, it is possible, however, for bullying to occur between adults in the work place. Just like in the schoolyard, there are many different reasons why adults bully each other and many different types of bullies.

Sometimes an adult bully will act out because they are under stress. They may not even intend to target others at first, but because of stress in the work place they begin targeting others to take their stress out on. These types of adult bully will usually realize what they are doing and stop after the stress subsides although they may continue targeting others.

Many times, an adult bully will target a person who is in a position of authority. Sometimes employees will target their boss, or in some cases employees will be bullied by the people they are serving, this most commonly occurs in nursing and in schools. Patients and students will relentlessly target the people trying to help them for a variety of reasons, and the professionals will have no idea how to handle it as there are strict rules of conduct they must follow.

A true adult bully will continually bully others, even to the point of having them fired. The bully will appear calm and confident and deny any charges made by the victim to a boss or human resources officer. Many times the victim will not have any proof that they are being bullied and will either resign or get fired if their work performance is affected. Then the adult bully will move on to another target and continue the cycle of bullying. This is the most common way adult bullying occurs and is why it is hard to stop.

Just as with kids, sometimes bullies will only act in conjunction with others. If someone realizes that another employee is bulling others, they may join the bully instead of standing up for the victim because it is easier. People who bully others will often act together as they act as support for each other. Bullies working together can include pairs or even groups.

Often employees who have formed a friendship or are involved together will work together to intimidate other employees for their gain. Often one adult bully will be very subtle and the other will be more obvious making the bullying more effective. Sometimes a larger group of employees will gang up on and single out another employee to undermine his work or force him to quit. These groups of bullies will usually pick a person that is different from them or that they all dislike. They will act together to intimidate and target the employee for ridicule.

Even though many people don't realize that there is such a thing as an adult bully, there are many work places that have them. Dealing with an adult bully can be challenging and co workers that are being bullied may have no choice other than to quit.