Bullying is against the law

We need to have safe workplaces. Workplace bullying can have a serious impact on the culture and on individuals. How sad that anyone can feel so upset by being bullied at work that they would prefer to take their own life. It’s good to know employers can be prosecuted, but I worry that still many people are too afraid to speak up.

What is workplace bullying?

Everyone needs to know and understand bullying is against the law.

Bullying is repeated behaviour that upsets and hurts another person. It creates a risk to both health and safety. It’s not a single angry outburst against someone at work. But if it is repeated, it’s bullying. If there is a pattern it is bullying, even if the actions may vary.

It might be physical – eg. pushing, pouring a substance over someone, continually bumping them – but just as damaging is psychological bullying where a person is made to feel upset, humiliated, embarrassed, vistimised, teased, intimidation, taunted, threatened or continually undermined. It might be by continuously making critical comments in public about one person, showing constant aggression towards one person, setting impossible tasks or deadlines, playing practical jokes, misleading or setting the person up to fail, sabotaging their work, even continual sniggering and other subtle yet bullying body language. It may be continuously giving a person demeaning work tasks.

I have heard of examples of spreading a rumour about someone, or being continuously threatened with dismissal. One woman felt she was constantly being watched by a male colleague standing behind her chair, but when accused he would laugh and say she was imagining it. It might even be inappropriate jokes that are culturally distasteful and offensive.

Sometimes people who are given critical feedback think the manager is bullying them. But if the feedback relates to performance standards not being met, or problems in the work performance, then it is reasonable for a manager to give that feedback. The person in this case needs to learn to ask for examples of the behaviour and not be defensive. In fact, I often suggest to people they should be glad to get some constructive criticism so they can improve. They should appreciate being given the feedback as some managers just don’t give the feedback, or worse still – share it with someone else so the person gets talked about behind their backs. If however the feedback and criticism becomes excessive and/or unfair this may be bullying.

The bully may be a boss, a regular supplier or contractor that works with your business, it may be a manager form another area of the business, it could be a team colleague or even one of your staff. They may be male of female, young or old. Similarly we cannot predict who the victims might be. It varies so much.

Speak up

Don’t let bullying keep on going at your workplace. Don’t ignore it. Is it happening to anyone else? Is someone else seeing it happen and knows you are being bullied? If you feel you are being bullied, you could first try to stop it yourself by telling the person doing the bullying to stop. Explain that it upsets you and it is illegal. Make it clear it has to stop or you will report it. Discuss it with others in your team, let them know what you are going through and find out if anyone else is experiencing the same, or whether they have observed what you are describing.

Remain calm and be professional. Don’t succumb to fighting back and taking revenge.

Make notes on events that happen and if it continues, report it to your manager or your HR manager, or your manager’s manager. Be prepared to identify the person or persons who are doing the bullying. Remember it is against the law and your manager must do something about it once reported. Put the complaint in writing.

If you see another person being bullied and they are too afraid to speak up – then you speak up.

Everyone has the right to a safe working environment. Bullying is against the law and as we have seen recently, you can be subject to fines and penalties if you break that law.

And if your friend is a bully – don’t get sucked in, tell them you don’t like seeing that behaviour and if it continues, report it.

Work should be a fun place that we enjoy – given the number of hours and how much of our lives are spent working.

If your workplace is not making their bullying policy public – then suggest some immediate training. There are some great Australian DVDs that can help clarify the rules in Australia.

See Clip: Bullying Prevention: Employee Awareness and Response.

Eve Ash has produced a wide range of resources for dealing with difficult people and situations including bullying and harassment. Given the need to have workplaces safe, Eve also distributes the DUTY OF CARE SERIES, which includes programs on bullying, harassment and workplace liability.