Bullying in the workplace

Recognising workplace bullying and its impact on the workplace

Bullying is defined as repeated unreasonable behaviour towards another person or group which creates a risk to health and safety. 

It can include verbal or physical abuse. It can also include social or psychological abuse.

It can be done by an individual or a group, including the employer or a manager. 

It can happen to permanent and casual workers, apprentices, interns, work experience students and volunteers. 

And it can happen in any type of workplace: offices, worksites, shops, cafes, restaurants, workshops, community organisations and government organisations. 

Bullying can happen in any workplace. It can happen to anyone, although some groups are more vulnerable. It affects the person being bullied, other workers and the organisation more generally. 

What bullying in the workplace looks like

Some examples of bullying in the workplace include repeatedly:

• making hurtful remarks or attacks, or making fun of a person’s work or them as a person (including their family, sex, sexuality, gender identity, race or culture, education, economic background or their mental health)  
• engaging in sexual harassment, such as unwelcome touching and sexually explicit comments and requests that make a person feel uncomfortable  
• excluding a person or stopping them from working with people or taking part in activities that relate to their work
• playing mind games, ganging up on a person, or other types of psychological harassment 
• intimidating a person or making them feel less important and undervalued
• giving a person pointless tasks that have nothing to do with their job  
• giving a person impossible jobs that cannot be done in the given time or with the resources provided  
• deliberately changing a person’s work hours or schedule to make it difficult for them 
• deliberately holding back information a person needs to do their work properly
• being physically aggressive, such as pushing, shoving, tripping or grabbing a person in the workplace
• attacking or threatening a person with equipment, knives, guns, clubs or any other type of object that can be turned into a weapon  
• subjecting a person to initiation or hazing—where a person is made to do humiliating or inappropriate things to be accepted as part of the team.  

How bullying can affect your workers

Bullying in the workplace affects the person being bullied. They might:

• feel scared, stressed, anxious or depressed 
• be physically hurt or at risk of harm
• have their life outside of work affected, e.g. impacts on study and relationships 
• want to stay away from work 
• feel like they cannot trust their employer or the people they work with
• lack confidence and joy in their work 
• become withdrawn and isolated 
• feel less confident in their abilities
• have physical signs of stress like experiences of headaches, backaches, sleep problems
• have thoughts of suicide.

How bullying can affect your workplace

Bullying can also negatively affect workplace productivity and performance by:

• creating a hostile working environment that reduces worker morale, loyalty and commitment
• increasing costs (associated with absenteeism, presenteeism, sick leave, high staff turnover, workers compensation claims, legal costs etc.)
• undermining your organisation’s public image or leading to complaints or legal claims.  

Reasonable management action is not bullying

Reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner is not bullying. An employer is allowed to transfer, demote, discipline, counsel, retrench or dismiss a worker as long as they are acting reasonably. Some examples of reasonable management actions include:

• setting realistic performance goals, standards and deadlines 
• rostering and allocating working hours, where the requirements are reasonable 
• transferring a worker for genuine operational reasons
• informing a worker about inappropriate behaviour in an objective and confidential way 
• not promoting a worker following a transparent, fair and documented process 
• making organisational changes or restructuring, with consultation 
• providing constructive comments which are objective and indicate observable deficiencies in performance  
• dismissing a worker when it is justified. 

Employers can address performance issues, so long as they act reasonably. 

This content has been adapted from content created by the Australian Human Rights Commission with permission. For more information visit the Australian Human Rights Commission’s resources for employers.