Its Anti-Bullying Week

It’s anti bullying week. Although the campaign is aimed primary at young people who are being bullied at school, we shouldn’t forget that bullying is a major workplace issue too.

Although there are laws against harassment when the grounds are clearly discriminatory, for example age, sexuality or ethnic origin, there are no laws against bullying. And even if there was, the very nature of bullying is such that many victims would find it difficult to seek legal redress.

The onus therefore falls on employers to ensure that bullying does not take place, and on colleagues of the bullied victim to support them. Your employer has a legal duty to prevent bullying- not much use of course if your employer is the bully, but otherwise a complaint to them is certainly in order. But find a friend as well, you need to feel cared for, not just that you are going through a formal complaints procedure.

First and foremost, do not suffer in silence. Find someone to talk to about it. Most bullying is an interpersonal process in which a boss or colleague chooses to pick on a victim. Bullies can be vulnerable to the censure of others. It is important therefore not to remain silent if you are being bullied but to find trusted colleagues to whom you can talk. Creating a groundswell of sympathy for your position can often shame the bully into submission.

 The old school adage of standing up to a bully is not so effective in the workplace, where hierarchies may mean that confronting your victimiser might actually worsen your position. But this doesn’t mean that you should not speak to the bully about their behaviour; most bullies have been victims of abuse themselves and may not even know that they are behaving in an unacceptable way.

ACAS have published a valuable guidance leaflet for employees on how to deal with bullying and the CIPD also have a fact sheet, aimed at employers. Both these publications are well worth studying if you are a victim of bullying. But perhaps even more worthwhile is to seek support, wherever possible, from your colleagues. Support is also available from trade unions, counsellors and the Citizens Advice Bureau. The internet is full of excellent resources on how to deal with bullying at work.