Flourish Health & Wellbeing eMag - Latest Edition - Flipbook - Page 15
What is Workplace Bullying?
Workplace bullying is characterised
as verbal, physical, psychological, or
social abuse directed at another
person. According to the Fair Work
Commission, workplace bullying also
happens more than once and is
considered a health and safety risk.
Generally, anyone could use bully
behaviour: a colleague, manager, or
subordinate. The most common type
of bullying – reported in the
Employee Census – was unreasonable
use of workplace policies, verbal
abuse and harassment, and task
interference.
Whether you work in a café,
restaurant, bank, or shop, you could
experience workplace bullying.
However, what some may not know is
that workplace bullying is illegal.
Under the OHS Act, the bully could
be guilty of an offence if prosecuted.
Their employer may also be charged
for their lack of preventative
measures or failure to step in.
Examples of Workplace
Bullying
Jokes at a person’s expense
Teasing, name-calling, and
mocking
Humiliation
Initiation rituals
Excluding others from workplace
events
Providing too little or too much
work
Withholding information that a
person needs to do their job
What isn’t Workplace
Bullying?
The Fair Work Commission says a
reasonable workplace action asked
by a manager, and when a manager
delivers, assigns, or takes actions that
is reasonable is not considered
bullying. While some actions may
seem harsh or callous, such as
feedback, actionables, and decisions
that you may find unreasonable, they
may not bullying. In reality, those
actions or criticisms were for the
betterment of you, the team, and the
organisation.
How to Handle Workplace
Bullying
Keep a record: Note down every
time you have been bullied,
including the date, time, name of
the bully, what happened, where it
happened, whether anyone else
was involved, and whether there
were any witnesses.
Talk to HR or your manager:
Don’t wait; if you experience
bullying, talk to your HR team or
manager and give them details of
the event – use the record you’ve
collated.
Speak with the bully directly: If
you feel comfortable doing so,
raise the incident with the person
directly and ask them to stop.
If all else fails, raise the bullying
with an outside body: Submit a
formal complaint to Fair Work
Australia and request an
investigation; they will take it from
there, but make sure you include
every detail.
