Last updated on April 13th, 2015 at 02:33 pm
Throughout my working career I have worked in many offices (one of the “perks” of being free-lance for nearly 25 years) and during this period I have come across several instances of bullying at work.
The definition of bullying at work is not that much different from bullying anywhere else but it is when someone tries to intimidate another worker, often (but not always) in front of colleagues. Typically it is done to someone in a less senior position than the bully – it’s odd but not many people seem to bully their bosses in my experience.
For example in one company I worked for, the bully constantly undermined the staff working for her (taking it in turns to “attack” each member of staff), invented targets that were not possible to reach and would not listen to reasons why, attempted to divide the staff so that they would each think that they were alone and had no friends and resorted to yelling at people if they dared answer back – I saw several of the staff in tears as a result of the bullying and witnessed more than one person leaving the company as they felt that this was the only solution.
You cannot make a legal claim directly about bullying unless it involves physical violence, but complaints can be made under existing UK laws covering either discrimination and harassment. If you are forced to resign from your job due to bullying you may even be able to make a constructive dismissal claim as long as you have followed the right procedure.
Bullying can include abuse, physical or verbal violence, humiliation but it often just involves undermining someone’s confidence. You are probably being bullied if, for example you are:
Bullying does not have to be face-to-face it can be in writing, over the phone, by text or even by email, although the typical bully will try to do it in such a way that any complaint would end up as your word against theirs.
If you think you are being bullied, it is best to talk it over with someone that you feel comfortable talking to. It is possible that what seems like bullying might not be.
For example, you might have more work to do because of a change in the way your organisation is run or that the organisation has grown and has not yet recruited more staff. In this situation if you are finding it difficult to cope, talk to your manager or supervisor, who may well be as concerned as you are.
Employers have a ‘duty of care’ to all of their employees and this includes dealing with bullying at work. There are measures you can take if you are being bullied.
Speak to someone about how you might deal with the problem informally. This might be:
If the bullying is affecting your health, visit your GP.
The bullying may not be deliberate, for example if you are being blamed for the failure of others the bully may not realise that it is not your fault.
If you can, talk to the person in question, who may not realise how their behaviour has been affecting you or that they are bullying you. Before you talk to them work out what you are going to say, describe what has been happening and why you object to it. It is important that you stay calm and be polite. If you don’t want to talk to them yourself you can ask someone else to do so for you.
Write down details of every incident and keep copies of any relevant documents. Also see if fellow workers will back you up in making notes of incidents as well, if you are being bullied then having witnesses can help if you go to the next step of making a formal complaint.
If the bullying continues or you can not talk to the bully for any reason then the next step is to make a formal complaint. To do this it is very important to remember that you must follow your employer’s grievance procedure as outlined in your staff handbook or contract of employment.
It is not always easy to deal with bullying and listed below are some examples of awkward situations you might face at work and our suggestions on how they could be handled.
Either make the complaint in writing to your line manager and ask that it is passed on to another manager to look into or if that is not possible, make the complaint to your boss’s manager (ie, the next level up) or to the human resources department if your firm is large enough to have one..
Follow the grievance procedure as set out in your staff handbook or contract of employment. It may not stop the bullying but it may help you later if you have to take legal action against your employer.
Sometimes the problem continues even after you have followed your employer’s grievance procedure. If nothing is done to put things right, you might want to think about legal action This may mean going to an Employment Tribunal and you should get professional advice before taking this step.
Remember that it is not possible to go to an Employment Tribunal directly over bullying but that complaints can be made under laws covering discrimination and harassment.
If you have left your job because of bullying, you might be able to claim unfair ‘constructive’ dismissal. This can be difficult to prove, hence the suggestion that you keep detailed records of the instances of bullying, so it is important to get advice from a specialist lawyer or other professional.
Remember that bullies do not like to be stood up to, the example that I gave at the start of this article started to be solved once the rest of the staff approached the bully’s manager as a group and put their concerns to him.
Also remember that just because someone bully’s you this does not make you any less of a person, just because some one needs to get their “power trip” by bullying you does not make them right and you wrong. If nothing else solves the problem of bullying at work then you have the alternative of finding another job (and at your exit interview if your company has such a thing) you can always give the real reason you are leaving – if you are not interviewed by the bully – it may not help you but it may help the next “victim”.