Violence, Aggression, Bullying, and Harassment in the Workplace

The work environment is where people gather to execute tasks and exchange ideas to achieve goals that benefit the organisation where they are.

Although human resources departments want to provide a safe workplace, problems arise, which hinder the workflow to different extents. Violence, aggression, bullying, and harassment are behaviours that can happen in many organisations, whether within public or private entities. It engenders organisational and personal issues.

A hostile workplace is where employees are subject to insults and offensive comments that can happen daily or weekly. An example of hostility is rumouring, teasing, or saying sexist or racist remarks out loud to belittle the person in front of everyone, ignoring the person when talking, and exclusion from work responsibilities or their work harshly and unfairly criticised. The worst cases include physical mistreatment and threats of death or harming the person. The insults and face-to-face violent interactions are direct forms of mobbing, while isolation and ignorance are indirect forms.

Harassment touches mostly women as they are “easier” targets for sexual misconduct from men. Other forms of harassment exist in name-calling, blaming, intimidating, and work pressure. The goal of the bullies and harassers is thus to frustrate and cause misery to the person targeted.

Another word that describes bullying, harassment, and violence at work can be mobbing. It is persistent, aggressive, and violent behaviour over a long period. It is also psychological terror and trauma-inducing.

Victims usually are unable to defend themselves and stand up to their bullies. The bullied person feels weaker compared to the bully. It leads to psychological issues and damaging stress that impacts the person’s performance.

What makes the victim stay in that victim state can be several factors. Hierarchy is one. If the boss is violent and hostile towards the employee, the latter can find it hard to clap back as they are afraid of getting fired or making the boss even angrier and more aggressive. The mobbing victim also has an economic dependency on the boss, as he is their source of income, and wouldn’t want to end up with no financial resources. Another reason for the victim not talking back is the fear that the other is stronger physically. Another factor is lower self-esteem and intimidation by a charismatic boss or co-worker. In most cases, the bullies target people who seem weaker than them. They can also feel jealousy towards the bullied.

Mental health issues have a strong correlation with workplace mobbing. The problems that result from such conduct are depression, anxiety, and burnout. The employees experience poor performance, higher absenteeism, and sick leaves, and can even quit their job. The company’s reputation is also at stake since it gives the stature of an organisation that doesn’t respect its workforce and allows behaviour that will push away any potentially qualified candidates. In worst cases, suicides can also happen when the toxicity is highly unbearable with no help available. Other psychological impacts can be insomnia, lower focus, and social anxiety.

It is also important to note that the victim’s personality impacts how they take the bullying. In most cases, the bullied are badly affected. Some are passive when being attacked. They don’t give much attention to the bully. They employ an ignorance technique that can be beneficial to their mental well-being. The social support they can have at work also helps them to challenge bullies, as they have a support system that protects them. Bullies target quiet employees that seem insecure. The personality of bullying is usually someone with low social norms, aggressive in nature, unfriendly, and impolite.

The bullied are also victims of unfortunate circumstances, such as authoritative people who want only their word to reign. With bullies, there is no open space for understanding and exchanging ideas. Unresolved disputes, poor supervision, and highly stressed employees are also roots of mobbing.

Employees who don’t stand up to the bully, participate in bullying, or are indifferent also increase the chances of such aggressive discords.

The organisation must have a no-tolerance policy against harassment and hostile behaviour. It inspects potential bullies. When the proof validates the involvement of the accused, they are suspended or fired in case of repeated behaviour. Legal actions happen according to the laws of each country.