Bullying at work

Bullying in the workplace has been described  in various ways.  The Health and Safety Authority’s definition is that it is:

"repeated inappropriate behaviour, direct or indirect, whether verbal, physical or otherwise, conducted by one or more persons against another or others, at the place of work and/or in the course of employment, which could reasonably be regarded as undermining the individual‘s right to dignity at work."

An isolated incident of the behaviour described in this definition may be an affront to dignity at work but as a once off incident is not considered to be bullying.

(Code of Practice on the Prevention and Management of Workplace Bullying, 2007 )

Destructive behaviour

Bullying is a form of destructive behaviour, aimed at a person or group, usually by one person, whose aim is to undermine and abuse the target, to make him or her look and feel inferior to others.

It is done for various reasons, not all known or readily observable to us.  It’s usually done subtly, as the perpetrator realises that if others see him or her behaving in a bullying way, it will have the reverse effect of making him or her (perpetrator) look bad.

The intention is to focus negative attention on the target individual.  It is a type of passive aggression, in that is seldom involves physical acts of violence, but instead relies on indirect acts which will ultimately hurt the target, psychologically and emotionally.

Examples

Examples of behaviour that may constitute bullying are as follows:

• Purposely undermining someone;
• Targeting someone for special negative treatment;
• Manipulation of an individual‘s reputation;
• Social exclusion or isolation;
• Intimidation;
• Aggressive or obscene language;
• Jokes that are obviously offensive to one individual by spoken word or email;
• Intrusion by pestering, spying and stalking;
• Unreasonable assignments to duties which are obviously unfavourable to one individual;
• Repeated requests with impossible deadline or impossible tasks

A health and safety issue

Bullying is a workplace issue and a human relations issue. Therefore it comes under the authority of various agencies and is on the agenda of many interested parties.  It is a health and safety issue in so far as bullying has been identified as hazardous or dangerous as it can lead to both safety problems and health problems. 

Employers have a Duty of Care to all employees, to ensure they are both mentally and physically safe at work and that their health is not adversely affected by work. 

HSA's role

The role of the Health and Safety Authority is to promote and encourage the prevention of accidents and injury to health, encourage activities which promote safety, health and welfare, provide information and advice on these matters, undertake and publish research relevant to safety and health at work and make provision for enforcement of relevant statutory provisions.

Therefore they have to make sure that the system of work is not one where bullying is facilitated or tolerated.  Employers should have a proper system to deal with bullying complaints, when they are made. 

A template for doing this and an outline of proper procedures both informal and formal can be found in our Code of Practice on the Prevention and Management of Workplace Bullying (see link above).

Rights and responsibilities

At the same time, employees have rights and responsibilities. Employees have a duty to their colleagues not to bully them, and have rights if they are accused of bullying, which must also be defended. This is where bullying departs from other hazards at work, as people who are accused have employment rights which mean that they cannot simply be removed if they are harming others, but the issue must be progressed fairly and transparently so that everybody’s rights are simultaneously met.

Where a bullying culture has been identified, (through a number of complaints being received)  employers must take reasonable measures to prevent incidents of bullying occurring (through awareness raising and training as well as reacting speedily to resolve issues early) and also when and if they do occur, prevent the risk of injury to the health of employees worsening by providing and implementing support and assistance throughout the process, and reviewing and monitoring the environment afterwards.

Managers and supervisors have a particular responsibility to promote dignity in the workplace for all. They should be alert to the possibility of bullying behaviour and be familiar with the policies and procedures for dealing with allegations of bullying, as bullying has been identified as a workplace hazard.