Bullying in the Workplace

By Seamus O'Reilly

When most people think of bullying, the have an image of the school bully intimidating other pupils. But bullying also happens in the workplace and is the number one cause of sickness absence from work. According to a report by Unison, ‘Bullying in the Public Sector’. is responsible for ruining an individual’s lives and careers; with victims suffering many of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as sleep problems, irritability, anxiety, depression and having suicidal thoughts.

Jane Stewart was forced out of her job because of the way her employer bullied her. Jane worked for a councelling charity and she regarded herself as being successful in what she did. Having gained a lot of respect from her peers and professional groups through her work with the clients, Jane felt she was in a position to take the scheme into new areas. However, the charity was restructured leading to the scheme employing a new director to oversee the new changes.

According to Jane, this is where the problems started and staff moral plummeted as the new boss began to be divisive and intimidating. Jane claims that the new boss started to make arbitrary and random decisions without consulting staff and was unable to distinguish the trivial from the important. The boss wanted to know everything about how the scheme was managed from the small details to the larger ones. Gradually, staff began to feel undermined and demoralised with the constant supervision and lack of control they had over their own autonomy.

When Jane began to challenge how the scheme was being managed, the new boss reprimanded her and insisted on taking away Jane’s managerial responsibilities over to him. Instead, Jane was increasingly given menial and petty jobs until she was reduced to only dealing with telephone enquiries. When Jane refused to continue carrying out responsibilities that were not in her job description, the boss’s response was to bring a disciplinary action against her. When Jane took her case to the governing board, she found that the boss had already persuaded the other panel members on the board that she was not fit for the job. The boss presented a portfolio of Jane’s misdeamours, most of which were lies and fabrications. After the meeting, Jane took her case to her union who recommended taking her employer to an Industrial Tribunal. Jane later won her case on the grounds of constructive dismissal.

Jane’s case is not an isolated example of being victimised and forced out because of bullying. Research by the University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), in 2000 claims that one in four workers in the UK have experience bullying in the workplace.

According to the Website, Bully OnLine, there are common features to bullying behaviour. A bully will usually target people who are conscientious and well-liked by colleagues. A bully may use constant and destructive criticism, combined with a refusal to value their victim’s potential and achievements. They will criticise everything from professional conduct to personal appearance. They will also try to isolate the victim from their friends and colleagues. The effects of this can have devastating and sometimes lifelong emotional damage on the victim. Jane says that when her managerial duties were delegated to less senior staff she began to lose her self-confidence and found it increasingly difficult to work in isolation away from her colleagues. Jane says she felt she was being quarantine for the protection of her colleagues. Feeling marked out and having no support, Jane’s emotional health suffered and her Doctor placed her on medication.

The report by Unison states that in a bullying workplace, colleagues are often afraid to stand up for the victim in case they become targets themselves. Often those who speak out for friends being bullied have been shown to be future targets. Umist’s research claims that where bullying is prevalent, there would be a high level of sickness absence and a quick turnover of staff. Jane confirmed that after she left so did seven other staff because they felt demoralised.

If a bully at work is targeting you, Jane recommends that you speak to other colleagues and maybe work together by taking your complaints to a Union or direct to the governors. Another way of defending yourself is keeping a diary, logging details of incidents and noting any witnesses. Even seemingly trivial events may be important if they form part of a larger pattern. If you can't resolve the situation, you're left with a stark choice: fight back or find a new job. Leaving may seem like a victory for the bully – though if you move to a happier workplace, it's you who is the real winner.

NB The name has been changed to protect Jane