Workplace Bullying: 4 Ways to Protect Your Job and Wellbeing

No matter your identity, age, or gender, everyone deserves respect. Unfortunately, reality often differs from this ideal, especially in the workplace, where you may encounter individuals with clashing personalities or a lack of empathy. In recent years, workplace bullying has garnered significant attention, with media reports detailing tragic cases. One such instance involved an employee who was driven to suicide due to years of harassment by a female supervisor. This highlights the prevalence and seriousness of workplace bullying.

For those who need to hold onto their jobs, how should victims or bystanders address workplace bullying? Below, we outline common scenarios and offer practical advice for current or future reference.

Defining Workplace Bullying

Workplace bullying refers to verbal or behavioural actions by colleagues, supervisors, or employers that harm the victim physically or mentally. According to the Harvard Business Review, specific traits can help identify bullying behaviours:

Specific Examples of Workplace Bullying

Beyond general traits, specific behaviours include:

• Mocking one’s family background, gender, sexual orientation, race, culture, education, or financial status
• Sexual harassment, such as unwelcome touching, inappropriate comments, or sexual demands
• Isolating someone or preventing them from interacting with colleagues
• Threatening job loss or withholding promotions unless certain actions are taken
• Undermining someone’s abilities, making them feel undervalued
• Deliberately sabotaging tasks by withholding crucial information, changing schedules unfairly, or assigning impossible or meaningless tasks
• Forcing someone to engage in demeaning or inappropriate acts in order to gain acceptance

How to Respond to Workplace Bullying?

Workplace bullying can involve various perpetrators, from managers to colleagues. Here’s how victims can tackle such situations:

For Victims

• Know Your Rights: While hierarchical bullying (top-down) is common, conflicts between managers and subordinates often stem from inherent power imbalances. It’s crucial to discern whether a conflict constitutes bullying or is simply a result of these differences. Refer to the above traits of workplace bullying or ask yourself:
  • Does this situation persistently make me feel offended or distressed?
  • Is the other person acting with malice or hostility?
  • Are they abusing their position, creating an unequal dynamic?
• Adjust Your Mindset: If your answers to the above questions are all “yes” and the situation has persisted for a considerable time, then it is indeed workplace bullying. Remember, you are not alone—workplace bullying is a common issue around the world. Seek professional help and discuss the pros and cons of potential courses of action to take. It is important to be realistic about these choices (e.g. resigning immediately vs taking time to seek professional help to get better from any resulting mental illness and build resilience to cope until the job market improves). Being reactive rarely helps and here is where professional advice from a mental health clinician can help you objectively assess the future path with more clarity over a period of time.
• Gather Evidence: Once you’ve calmed down, try to collect comprehensive evidence of the bullying (e.g., recordings, message logs, emails). Compile a detailed timeline of events to strengthen your case as one option is to report the issue to HR or management. In cases of severe bullying, particularly those involving financial or legal implications, consider consulting someone knowledgeable in workplace law with the evidence at hand.
• Be in tune with the complexity of the situation: The issue of dealing with work place bullying is extremely complex and depends on individual’s circumstances. The implications on the victim’s mental health can be huge, but this is usually not the only factor involved. Predisposing factors such as childhood trauma, personality traits such as perfectionism; current pressures such as personal financial needs and financial management styles, and even the very sense of one’s identity being tied within that very job are all important reasons that may contribute to the level of fear and insecurity experienced. This can complicate being able to assert one’s needs vs taking time to see the better path forward. 
  
  As an experienced professional psychiatrist who have helped many senior corporate clients since my private practice in 2014, the clients who have taken time to assess rebuild their mental health are the most likely to be discharged. This may or may not include time off, medication, psychotherapy, but almost always patience with assessing the priorities both in the short and longer term to inform a direction. 
  
  

Managing Your Emotions

Regardless of whether you are directly involved in workplace bullying, it’s crucial not to let work-related stress spill into your personal life. If workplace challenges are causing overwhelming emotions, consider the following strategies to stablise your mood:

• Observe Your Feelings: Though it may seem abstract, follow these steps: 
  •  Acknowledge Your Emotions: It’s natural to feel angry or upset when faced with difficulties. Accepting these feelings is an important step.
  • Label Your Feelings: Identifying your emotions can help you regain control. Ask yourself:
    • (1) How am I feeling now? (e.g., disappointed, confused, angry)
    • (2) What triggered this feeling?
    • (3) Could there be another explanation for the situation?
    • (4) How do I want to respond? (e.g., scream, throw something to vent frustration) 
    • (5) Is there a healthier way to process these emotions? (e.g., going for a walk or a run)

• Keep a Journal: Writing down your thoughts (either handwritten or digital) can help identify emotional triggers and develop management strategies. Objectively negative thoughts by writing can help create a distance as well as provide an opportunity to learn to challenge them by replacing them with more positive or at least neutral thoughts (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). 
• Try Meditation: Meditation can enhance emotional awareness without judgement. It trains you to observe emotions without suppressing or altering them. Improved emotional stability can also lead to better sleep quality.
• Create Space for Yourself: Distracting yourself temporarily can provide mental distance from stressful situations. Activities such as:
  
  • Taking a walk outdoors
  • Watching an entertaining video
  • Talking with a partner or friend
  • Spending time with a pet

These activities can help you recharge before tackling the problem head-on.

OT&P Healthcare’s Advice

• Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong 24-Hour Hotline: 2389 2222
• Hong Kong Red Cross "Shall We Talk" Mental Health Support Service: 2514 2280
• Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Radio i-care Free Counselling Service Programme: 3460 6080
• RainLily Sexual Violence Crisis Centre: 2375 5322
  
  

Alternatively, you may schedule a consultation with one of our psychiatrists or counsellors for further assistance.

References

1. Australian Human Rights. Workplace bullying: Violence, Harassment and Bullying Fact sheet. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/employers/workplace-bullying-violence-harassment-and-bullying-fact-sheet. 

2.  Harvard Business Review. How Bullying Manifests at Work — and How to Stop It. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from https://hbr.org/2022/11/how-bullying-manifests-at-work-and-how-to-stop-it. 

3. CoolJobsz.com. 【自我增值】如何應對職場欺凌？法律人教你三步守則！Retrieved February 20, 2023, fromhttps://www.hkgoodjobs.com/insight.php?p=5854&cat_id=14. 

4. Healthline. How to Become the Boss of Your Emotions. Retrieved February 20, 2023, https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-control-your-emotions.