What You Need To Know About Workplace Bullying 

Although it should be a place where you’re made to feel safe and supported, workplaces can sometimes be very difficult places to spend your time in, and one of the main reasons is the people you work alongside with. Bullying in the workplace is not uncommon, and it can lead to serious mental health issues if unchecked. Although recognition of bullying in the workplace has increased, instances of bullying have increased alongside it – Safe Work Australia gathered data that demonstrated that workplace injuries related to bullying and harassment have nearly doubled in Australia over the past decade. If you’ve experienced bullying in the workplace, there are absolutely things you can do to remedy the situation, though – in this article we go through a few. 

Workplace bullying basics

Before we get started, although you might think you’re alone when it comes to bullying in the workplace, lawyers in Canberra are well-versed in helping people out in settling workers compensation and help is often just a phone call away. What is workplace bullying, though? Safe Work Australia defines workplace bullying as “repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety.” It is through this issue slowly coming to light that businesses have found that cases often involve people who are uninformed, young, inexperienced and usually vulnerable in some capacity. There’s also no real consistency related to the industry where bullying occurs – bullying in the workplace can happen anywhere, regardless of industry or size of the business itself. Bullying in the workplace manifests in a variety of ways – including verbal, psychological, physical, social and indirect forms of abuse or behaviour – making it often difficult to pinpoint, establish and comprehend specific behaviour types as being bullying. It also doesn’t necessarily stem from a specific person – behaviour that can be classed as bullying can even be perpetrated vendors that supply an organisation or by other contractors or third parties.

Examples of bullying behaviour

Not all bullying in the workplace is obvious (although it can be). Some common examples of bullying include things like abusive or offensive language or comments, aggressive and intimidating behaviour, consistent and unjustified criticism, complaints or comments, belittling, degrading or humiliating comments, actions or insinuation and practical jokes (particularly if they’re dangerous) and initiations and dares. Not all examples of actions that cause workers to feel upset, emotional, stressed or undervalued can be considered workplace bullying, though. If someone disagrees with you at work or if a manager poses information to you that you don’t like, such as through a feedback-related task, you may get upset, but it isn’t workplace bullying as there is no malice at play. If there is, of course, then it would be another matter entirely. 

What to do if you’re being bullied at work

If you are being bullied at work and are finding it increasingly difficult to function in your workplace, there are a few things you can do. If you’re experiencing poor mental illness, you should seek assistance from a health practitioner to help manage your symptoms. In terms of addressing the actual behaviour in your work environment, make sure to take the time to get up to speed with bullying and complaint making policies that your workplace has in place, keep records of any of the abuse that occurs to ensure you have evidence later, and then seek to escalate the issue at work to ensure something is done.