About Workplace Bullying

Workplace Bullying is a Form of Targeted, Interpersonal Abuse

Workplace bullying is the intentional, typically repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one employee by one or more employees, by verbal and non-verbal means. Individual bullying behaviors come in overt and covert varieties, such as

• false accusations of mistakes and errors;

• yelling, shouting, and screaming;

• exclusion, ostracism and the “silent treatment”;

• withholding resources and information necessary to the job;

• behind-the-back sabotage and defamation;

• use of put-downs, insults, and excessively harsh criticism;

• hostile glares and other intimidating non-verbal behaviors;

• unreasonably heavy work demands designed to ensure failure.

Workplace bullying is not:

• everyday disagreements and “dust ups” in the office;

• someone having a bad day and losing his/her temper;

• reasonable instructions, directives, and employee reviews.

In the United States, workplace bullying is common, often top-down, and typically does not end well for those targeted. The 2021 Workplace Bullying Institute national scientific U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey of all adult Americans found that:

• 13% of respondents are currently experiencing workplace bullying, and another 17% of respondents previously have experienced workplace bullying, while and additional 19% have witnessed it, using a definition that tracks the language of the Healthy Workplace Bill.

• 65% of bullying is committed by supervisors; 21% by co-workers; 14% by subordinates.

• The most common “resolution” is that the target leaves the job: Quit or forced out (40%); terminated (12%); transferred (12%).