Bullying in the workplace is a problem that is worldwide and extremely complicated.
It can cause a significant health and safety issue and one of the most common causes of workplace related stress, psychological injury, or even suicide.
Definitions include
- “Workplace Bullying and Harassment,” by Hadyn Olsen
- “Bullying is a form of aggressive behaviour manifested by the use of force or coercion to affect others, particularly when the behaviour is habitual and involves an imbalance of power”
- Employment Equality Acts 1998-2008 define harassment as “unwanted conduct” in relation to any of the nine grounds below.
In Ireland, there is an obligation on all employers to prevent harassment in the workplace on the following nine grounds:
- Gender
- Marital status
- Family status, for example, as a parent of a child
- Sexual orientation
- Age
- Disability
- Race
- Religious belief
- Membership of the Traveller community
Bullying can be in the form of spoken words, gestures or the production and display of written words, pictures and other material. This includes offensive gestures or facial expressions, unwelcome and offensive calendars, screen-savers, e-mails and any other offensive material.
The person being bullied can be a fellow worker, a boss or someone in a superior position, a client, a customer, a supplier or any other business contact.
Modern communications makes it even more complicated with the use of social media like facebook, myspace, twitter,