Addressing Workplace Bullying: Reality, Expectations, and Solutions

This project examines workplace bullying, focusing on the reality of non-inclusive behaviors such as harassment and discrimination based on race, color, and accent. It explores the impact of bullying on individuals and the importance of awareness regarding employee rights and company policies. The analysis includes relevant Acts and Laws, such as the Workplace Health and Safety Act and the Protection from Harassment Act, to address and resolve issues. The project highlights expectations for co-workers, seniors, and management regarding acceptable behavior, training, and concrete steps to end bullying. The project emphasizes documentation, evidence gathering, reporting, and seeking legal guidance as key rights of employees, and it suggests interventions such as the Employee Assistance Program and Anti-Bullying Squads to foster a more inclusive and respectful workplace. The project includes references to relevant literature on workplace bullying and its impact.

 Bullying in the workplace refers to the
unwelcoming and offensive behavior of
people towards others.
 Bullying can either be verbal, physical
or psychological.
 Every 1 in 10 person is bullied in the
company.
 “I was bullied because of my skin color
and accent.”- 22 years old IT recruit
from India.
 “I couldn’t realize the prejudice when
my coworkers started passing
derogatory remarks.”- 31 years old
African-origin Data Analyst.
 As a job applicant, it is important to be
aware of the rights and policies laid
down by the company against bullying.
 Corporate culture has changed but
mentality of people has not (Hilde and
Mills, 2015)
‘ T h e m a n a g e m e n t n o t
t a k i n g c o n c r e t e s t e p s t o
e n d t h e t r a i l o f b u l l y i n g a t
w o r k p l a c e . ’ .
 Bullying employees for their race, color,
nationality, physical features and accent.
 Co-workers being critical on racial
grounds, passing comments verbally or
bullying physically.
 Threats to personal standing and unjust
criticism, humiliation, continuous denial
of requests, micromanaging, purposely
misleading duties (Bernstein and Trimm,
2016).
 I would exercise my rights as an
employee of the company to hold
people accountable for bullying.
 My right is to document, keep
physical evidence and report the
bullying activities.
 I have the right to seek legal
guidance and reach out to others.
 I expect co-workers and seniors to
learn acceptability.
 I expect the management to provide
training to avoid bullying at work.
The Reality
 Workplace Health and Safety Act
 Protection from Harassment Act
 Employee Assistance Program
 Anti-Cyber Bullying Act
 Anti-Bullying Squad
Laws in the company
Y O U H AV E T H E
R I G H T .
 The Workplace Health and
Safety Act can be utilized to
file complaint against
activities leading to mental
and physical stress.
 The Protection from
Harassment Act will allow
employees to report any
unintentional force
regardless of the gender.
 Bullying will be strictly
prohibited on people with
disabilities.
 Strict actions must be taken
by Anti-bullying squads.
 I hope that management
applies to their framed
policies and will not condone
any kind of bullying at
workplace.
Reference List
Bernstein, C. and Trimm, L., 2016. The impact
of workplace bullying on individual wellbeing:
The moderating role of coping. SA Journal of
Human Resource Management, 14(1), pp.1-
12.
Gillen, P.A., Sinclair, M., Kernohan, W.G.,
Begley, C.M. and Luyben, A.G., 2017.
Interventions for prevention of bullying in the
workplace. Cochrane database of systematic
reviews, (1).
Hilde, R.K. and Mills, A., 2015. Making critical
sense of discriminatory practices in the
Canadian workplace: a case study of Hong
Kong Chinese professional immigrants’
experiences, voice and reflection. critical
perspectives on international business, 11(2),
pp.173-188.