Workplace Bullying
Bullying is unacceptable at both school or college and work. Your child may ask you about what behaviour consitutes bullying in the workplace.
Your child may sense a pattern of inappropriate behaviour either directed towards themselves or someone else in the workplace.
Being bullied or bullying someone else at work is not acceptable. Bullying can be direct and/or indirect, verbal and/or physical. Young people can be more susceptible to workplace bullying because of their age and inexperience. They can also unknowingly bully someone else. If you suspect there is bullying going on in your child's workplace, discuss the issue with them in detail to determine the true situation.
A one-off comment would not normally be considered to be bullying. In any workplace there are likely to be the occasional differences of opinion, conflicts and problems which are a normal part of working life. It is when the behaviour in question becomes part of an established pattern that the issue of workplace bullying arises.
A pattern might be a person repeatedly directing inappropriate behaviour at an individual, or it might be someone directing the same type of inappropriate behaviour at a number of other people at the workplace.
Examples of bullying might include:
- shouting or abusive language
- people being afraid to speak up about conditions, behaviours, or health and safety for fear of what might happen.
- unreasonable demands or impossible targets
- restrictive and petty rules
- being required to perform tasks without adequate training
- being forced to stay back to finish work or additional tasks
- compulsory overtime, unfair rostering or allocation of work
- constant, intrusive surveillance or monitoring
- no say in how your job is done
- interference with personal belongings or sabotage of work
- open or implied threat of the sack, or demotion.
- belittling opinions or constant criticism
- inappropriate comments about your appearance, personal life or lifestyle
- deliberately withholding work-related information or resources
- being required to perform trivial, meaningless tasks
- unreasonable administrative sanctions, such as delaying leave applications
- displaying written or pictorial material which degrades or offends you
- isolating workers from other workers.
How can bullying affect workers?
Bullying can cause stress, anxiety, difficulty with sleeping, headaches, high blood pressure, panic attacks, impaired judgement, lack of confidence, poor morale. Left unchecked, it can lead to serious problems, particularly for young people. It can also have an adverse impact on family and friends.
Is it bullying?
Just because a person says another is a bully does not make it so. Evidence of the nature of the behaviour and the pattern will be needed if an allegation of workplace bullying is to be dealt with satisfactorily using the laws in NSW.