Bullying and harassment is behaviour that makes someone feel intimidated or offended – follow this advice if you are experiencing workplace bullying
Bullying makes work intolerable for many and is unacceptable behaviour in whatever form it takes. It is also extremely costly – the costs to the worker include misery, low self-esteem, mental and physical ill-health, and loss of job and career prospects. For the employer, the costs are direct (through sickness absence), indirect (through recruitment and retention problems) and hidden (through the effect on morale and productivity).
Examples of workplace bullying
Workplace bullying presents itself in a wide variety of forms, such as:
- managers shouting at staff, sometimes in private but often in front of others, such as subordinates or other managers
- managers constantly criticising people they feel threatened by – for example, those who are particularly competent or well-liked
- removing responsibility and setting workers trivial or menial tasks instead
- setting impossible deadlines and criticising when they aren't met
- directing personal insults at individuals
- ignoring or excluding individuals
- being openly aggressive or threatening
- ridiculing or criticising an individual or their work in front of others
- shifting blame on to one individual when something goes wrong
- refusing reasonable requests for time-off, training and so on
Resources
If you are experiencing bullying at work, then the resources below may help you.
- An easy to use bullying reporting form for bullying at work, which can help if you decide to pursue a grievance – read the CSP grievance advice sheet before considering formal action.
- NHS advice on bullying and building positive workplace cultures.
- NHS key statistics on tackling bullying.
- Guidance for students on what to do if you are bullied on a clinical placement.
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