Bullying in the workplace

What is bullying?

Bullying occurs when a person, or a group of individuals, try to intimidate, harm or coerce someone often perceived as vulnerable. According to ACAS, bullying is a behaviour that's unwanted and makes you feel uneasy, including feeling: panicked, less appreciated, made fun of or disturbed.

The bullying might be a regular occurrence and a single incident, happening face-to-face, on social media, in emails or over the phone. Workplace bullying is not always obvious or noticed by others and could happen during the working day or at work social occasions.

However, there is a fine line between being bullied at work and having a fair but tough boss, including line managers, heads of departments and/ or directors.

Signs to tell if your boss is a bully (or not)

Bullying boss sets unrealistic goals and deadlines, purposely changing priorities to derail your progress and cause extra work. However, high demands, challenging goals and high expectations from you and the team are not necessarily signs of bullying. A tough and demanding boss will, indeed, push you to achieve serious results but will support you in your efforts and provide you with the necessary tools.

A fair but demanding manager is tough on everyone, not just you. Sansone (2015) highlighted that the hallmark of bullying actions is the pattern of unfair behaviour and the targeting of one or two people over and over again. Your boss might expect a lot from you and the team, which at times might sound unreasonable, but if they are consistent towards everyone, this is not immediately considered bullying behaviour.

A tough manager safeguards their team from adversity within the company and supports them when needed. Meanwhile, a bullying manager is unfair and will ‘sell’ their employees out to protect themselves.

A tough boss cultivates teamwork and works toward improving the team’s performance and the business. They are eager to work just as hard to get the job done. A bullying boss is more interested in being in control and having power over other people.

A tough boss holds all their employees to the same high standard but is inclusive in the process. Consequently, no one feels less appreciated, and everyone realises they have to work hard to accomplish set goals. Meanwhile, a bullying boss often singles out one or two workers and humiliates and reprimands them in front of others.

A tough boss tells employees like it is.?On the other hand, Pheko (2018) described a bullying boss as manipulative, who tries to control situations by spreading rumours or gossiping about others.

• Have you ever been shouted at for no reason? Have you been criticised in front of everyone, just because your boss felt that they could?
• Were you ignored, interrupted time after time in one conversation or your work patterns have been changed without a reasonable explanation?

While the above examples, on their own, do not constitute bullying, when repeated or actioned in regular intervals just because someone tried to insert their control over you, might signal bullying behaviour in the workplace.

Upward bullying

Bullying can also happen in a reversed direction, from employees towards the management. ACAS highlighted that examples of upward bullying can include:

• showing continued disrespect
• refusing to complete tasks
• spreading rumours
• doing things to make you seem unskilled or unable to do your job properly.

Upward bullying can be tough for managers, especially when they try to do their best in a tough working environment, where expectations are high on everyone, top to bottom.

Bullying vs. Harassment

Harassment occurs when bullying or unwanted behaviour is about any of the following?'protected characteristics' under The Equality Act 2010:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

However, bullying because of pregnancy or maternity will be automatically treated as direct discrimination rather than harassment.

What shall I do?

In some cases, the person upsetting you might not realise the effect of their actions so you can try talking with them if you feel you can.

If you do not feel comfortable doing this or the bullying carries on, you should talk with someone you feel more comfortable with, including your boss or another manager, HR representative, counsellor, or trade union member (if you have one).

Consequently, if you are feeling emotionally drained, depressed, or anxious, you could contact your GP or related health service.

If you feel that someone else is being bullied, speak to them, suggest that they do the above but most importantly advise them to follow the official procedure of reporting bullying or harassing behaviours.

Conclusion

In busy and demanding environments expectations run high and many people, at times, will be under huge pressure. This, most likely, will not be a sign of bullying, however, if you feel that you are singled out and picked on, try to discuss it with someone. Dealing with a bullying boss?can be exhausting and you should not and do not have to go through it on your own.