Workplace bullying involves the persistent ill treatment of an individual at work by one or more other persons. To be recognised as bullying the ill-treatment must be continuous and directed against a particular person. It need not involve physical ill-treatment, such as punching, kicking and other ways of inflicting physical pain. Most cases of bullying involve such treatment as verbal abuse, 'nit-picking', threats, sarcasm, ostracism, sabotage of a person's work and so on. (SA Office of the Employee Ombudsman).

What are the Signs of Workplace Bullying?

Workplace bullying is a serious health and safety hazard. It is usually characterised by:

	Unreasonable demands and impossible targets
	Restrictive and petty work rules
	Gossip or rumours being spread about the person
	Being required to perform tasks without adequate training
	Being forced to stay back to finish work or additional tasks
	Compulsory overtime, unfair rostering or allocation of work or training
	Constant, intrusive surveillance or monitoring
	No say in how your job is done
	Interference with personal belongings or sabotage of work
	Shouting, or using abusive language
	Open or implied threat of the sack, or demotion
	Oppressive, unhappy work environment
	People afraid to speak up about conditions, behaviours or health and safety
	Cruel or humiliating 'initiation' rituals
	Excluding the person from social events or workplace activities

Who's doing the bullying?

Bullying can happen between any co-workers, or by clients, customers, contractors or others from outside the workplace. More often though, bullying is done by employers and managers in positions in authority who are over- worked and over- stressed.

Effects on the Victim of Bullying 

	Stress-related illnesses
	Anxiety and depression
	Suicidal thoughts and actions
	Loss of confidence in the person's own abilities
	Withdrawal from other people, both inside and outside of work
	Reduced performance at work and more frequent absences
	Anger and resentment, amongst others

Effects on the Organization of Bullying 

	Reduced productivity
	Increased workplace absences
	Increased low-grade interpersonal conflicts - high volumes
	Increased litigation
	Ocuaptional stress claims increase - greater risk of "The Lemming Effect"
	Increases in staff turnover
	Workplace based violence, amongst others