I am bullied at work

What can I do?

Take your feelings ('I am being bullied at work') seriously. Bullying is harmful and not just to you; it is a group event. Bullying also affects the working atmosphere of others, damaging the flexibility of the whole department and thus damaging the organisation. You feel victimised, but you are not alone in this. Read here How we look at a bullying group.

Normally, bullying behaviour is noticed and corrected by group members, managers and other bystanders. After all, respectful teamwork is an important prerequisite for business success. But under pressure, team members may start to behave in a 'strugglingist' or 'avoidant' manner. No one behaves more relaxed and free, teasing becomes bullying. Everyone's job satisfaction disappears.

In a bullying environment, humour is perceived as mean. Reacting spontaneously to a joke then no longer works. You don't want to pay with even money either, which makes responding complex.

Getting help is important. Important for you, but also important for the team and the organisation. While it may be hard for you to see, you are helping the organisation by getting moving.

By including a positive alternative alongside your complaint ('I'm being fitted at work') in your call for help ('I want to help improve the atmosphere at work'), you make it easier for bystanders to catch on. Just one person in your group willing to support you can make a difference. This website gives you a overview of opportunities should it be possible to enlist the help of external team coaching.

These are some of the options. The most effective one is at the top:

1. Contribute yourself to move from the 'opposite' back to 'together'. By understanding group dynamics as we explained above, it may be possible to ask colleagues who behave in a bullying manner and/or are instigators of negative behaviour for help themselves.

   Formulate what you expect from the other person and what constitutes respectful action for you. If you have an (influential) colleague who is willing to help you with this, you will be in a stronger position. Read together these web pages where different possibilities are listed.

2. Bullies become isolated. Removing this isolation is one of the most important openings to regained job satisfaction. You can ask for support from colleagues (from another department), your immediate supervisor, or from HRM, a social worker or the company doctor.

   We advise you not only to focus on the negative behaviour, but also to think about what will benefit the whole team: a better working atmosphere. You then also formulate a goal instead of just the problem. This makes it easier for people to get involved. If you have an (influential) colleague who wants to help you do this, you will be in a stronger position. 

3. Doing nothing is not an option in our eyes. It will then go from bad to worse. Advice from korrelation may already make sense, they will know how to move forward if the above options are closed to you.

I want to support someone being bullied at work

What can I do?

We distinguish between bullying and teasing. It is recommended to our view About a group that is being bullied read first.

Bullying is a group activity, harmful to everything and everyone and requires correction.
In our approach, we approach not so much the actors but the group as a whole. Below is a list of possibilities. See where you can hook in. Point 1 delivers the most, the last point the least.

1. Find supporters in the team who want to work towards a better working atmosphere. If possible, include the bullied in your plans. Including perpetrators in your plan can also help. No one need feel threatened then.

   You strike a positive note, share with your team where you want to go and indirectly bring up the undesirable behaviour. In conversation and with a positive goal in mind, this is easier. This website can help you do that on your own. You can also consider working with team training or team coaching accelerate the process of improvement.

2. Sometimes there is too much avoiding and anxious behaviour to take action. Then find supporters in and outside the team. If possible, let the bullied know that you want to stop the bullying behaviour. Informing the perpetrators (that you are looking to improve the team atmosphere) can also help. Acting in pairs or threes is better than acting alone. Consider a manager, HRM officer, confidential advisor, company doctor, a social worker and the Works Council.

   Set a positive goal you want to move towards together. This will make it easier to transform serious behaviour into a new shared cooperative culture. In contact with people outside the team, it is important that you behaviour brings up. It is not as effective to 'play at the man'. That increases pressure, while you want to reduce it.

3. You may not be part of the team in question or have any contact with team members. Or no one wants to know about your initiative. Then you might consider reporting the bullying behaviour to the body that deals with it in the organisation in which the bullying takes place. Do so in contact with the victim in such a way that the victim experiences support from it.

   Again, formulating what is positively needed is a better approach than focusing on the problem. Give the body some time to take action and possibly refer to this website for support options. Persevere and possibly move up a step in the organisation if there is no improvement.

Bullying behaviour has many causes. It can be persistent, carried by managers or even actively supported. Bullying at work is absolutely undesirable and harmful. Taking action is therefore the only option.