Bullying is a major concern for organisations. It is very costly. Workplace bullying reduces productivity in a myriad of ways. It affects the psychological health of all employees. This is because bullying affects everyone’s sense of safety. Safety is the core ingredient to well-functioning work teams. It is in everyone’s interest to ensure a bully free workplace.

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Fortunately, workplace bullying is easy to control and mitigate. 

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Bullying must have the 3 P's to be considered bullying: 

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Power: imbalance of power. This balance can be formal or informal

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Purpose: person intends to hurt you. This may be physical or psychological

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Pattern or Persistence: person continues action over and over again.

 

Examples of bullying

• Verbal or physical aggression directed at the target

• Withholding information. This prevents the target from doing their task efficiently

• Social exclusion and spreading malicious gossip about the target

• Constant criticism often disguised as feedback

• Denying reasonable requests for leave

• Setting unrealistic time lines and workloads

• Withholding necessary professional development

• The list goes on…

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