Workplace bullying 101

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Workplace Bullying 101
What it is and who it impacts.

 The experience of repeated and unwelcomed
negative acts
 That are intended to cause fear, distress or harm to
the target
 From one or more individuals in any source of
power with the target
 Where the target has difficulties defending him or
herself.
Workplace bullying is…
Source: Bartlett, J. & Bartlett, M. (2011).
Workplace bullying: An integrated
literature review.

Repeated.
It is not a one-off unpleasant experience
with a co-worker. It is consistent negative
behavior that occurs on a consistent and
regular basis.

Unwelcomed negative acts.
Many targets report that the negative acts
seem trivial at first. By the time they
escalate to more serious acts, it may be
difficult to solve the problem.

Intended to cause fear,
distress, or harm.
Negative feedback from your boss that is
intended to improve performance is not
bullying. Repeated humiliation by your
boss in front of others may be.

From one or more individuals in
any source of power.
Bullies are not always bosses. They can
be peers and subordinates.
Employees who are not part of a
workplace clique are highly susceptible to
being targeted.

The target has difficulty
defending themselves.
This is not a disagreement that can be
solved with a conversation. It will likely
not stop until (a) leadership steps in or (b)
the target leaves the situation.

{
Just The Facts
15 workplace bullying data points

37%
37% of American workers have
been the target of workplace
bullying. That‟s 54 million people.
Source: Poll of 7,740 adult Americans
conducted by Zogby International and
the Workplace Bullying Institute

x4
Workplace bullying is four times
more prevalent than illegal,
discriminatory harassment.

31%
In 31% of all workplace bullying
cases, the bullies actually enjoy
legal protection for their actions.

54%
54% of all bullying occurs in front of
a witness, though witnesses rarely
speak up in support of the target.

60%
60% of workplace bullies are men.

57%
57% of the targets of workplace
bullying are women.

71%
In 71% of the cases where a female
is the bully, their target is another
woman.

50/50
Male bullies show only a slight
preference for targeting other men.

72%
In 72% of all cases, the bully is the
target‟s boss.

55%
In 55% of cases, the target of
bullying does not supervise others.
In 35% of cases, they are a
manager. In 5% of cases, they are
an executive.

40%
40% of the time, targets do not tell
anyone that they are being bullied.

46% / 37%
Male targets (46%) are more likely
than female targets (37%) to not
report the bullying.

44%
When reported, employers ignore
the bullying in 44% of cases. In
18%, they take the side of the bully
and worsen the situation.

73%
73% of targets endure bullying for
more than six months. 44% endure
for more than one year.

41%
41% of targets quit their jobs. 24%
are fired. Total turnover is estimated
to be 28 million workers.

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In Their Own Words
Real stories from former targets

“
It‟s very disappointing when it [bullying]
comes from people in a similar
profession with qualifications to suggest
that they have compassion, all the
things that one would hope from
somebody in that position, so again it
shook a few myths.
Source: Lewis, S. (2006). Recognition of
workplace bullying: A qualitative study of
women targets in the public sector.

“
I could never have believed that
management would aid and abet a bully
and liar because they knew that she were
lying and in order to protect her they lied
themselves … It would have been much
kinder if they‟d blindfolded me and shot me
at dawn, because they took away
everything that I ever morally believed in.
Everything that I‟d given.

“
We thought there was something
physically wrong because I was so ill, I
was physically ill, and when I went
through all the tests the doctor said:
there‟s nothing wrong with you, you
either retire or change jobs.

“
I just didn‟t think it [workplace bullying]
was something that occurred and when
you‟re a grown mature woman you
know it comes as a bit of a shock really.
There was a lot of disbelief, which
probably contributed to me not actually
doing a great deal to kind of stop it.

“
One of the first things they said in the
Industrial Tribunal: When you say that this
started, why didn‟t you keep a diary about it?
And that was their immediate thing. But when
you first are in that situation, you don‟t think
it‟s bullying, you think there‟s been a
disagreement or a misunderstanding. And you
wouldn‟t dream of immediately getting out a
diary and writing a blow by blow account and
dating it and signing it.

“
I just kind of ignored it, you know,
whatever, water on a duck‟s back. . . . I
never really thought of it as bullying . . .
I thought, well, that person just has a
difficult personality.
Source: Macintosh, J., Wuest, J. & Gray, M.
(2010). Effects of workplace bullying on how
women work.

“
I think primarily because it was very difficult for me to
understand why this was happening. You know, I
never had really experienced anything like that. I was
45 years old at the time. And, it was like, what the
heck did I do? And the fact that I was performing very,
very well—better than all of my predecessors—made
me think, “Okay, is this really happening?” or, “Am I
being ultrasensitive?” And then you realize that it is
really happening. Then I went into a lot of the self-
evaluation as to why—what I may have done to
instigate this—which I never found anything.
Source: Hintz Klein, A. M. (2012). Does workplace
bullying matter? A descriptive study of the lived
experience of the female professional target

“
One woman was asked to write about the
bullying and her bullies were also asked
for written versions. In a meeting about
it, “the [boss] in the end took the three
versions and tore them up, and threw them
in the garbage can, and said „Now, I want
you to just go on with your work.‟” This
woman felt further abused by this
response.
Source: Macintosh, J., Wuest, J. & Gray, M.
(2010). Effects of workplace bullying on how
women work.

“
The bottom line was, it progressively
got to the point where I was under so
many different accusations that
threatened to not only ruin my
reputation but take me down
psychologically that I finally said, “I can‟t
do this anymore.”

“
I work in an agency that works with victims of
domestic and sexual violence. And I finally—when it
finally dawned on me that I was in a domestic abuse
environment, I mean, it took me that long to figure it
out—it took me a long time to figure it out. And I went
on the Internet and I said, “Hey, I think I am in a
domestic violence situation.” And, I looked it up and
said, “Hey, look at all of these other websites that are
showing—yes, look how close it is.” It said the very
same thing except in a different venue.

{
Have a bullying problem?
We can help.
Contact help@zenworkplace.com

Workplace bullying 101

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