The workplace bullying we don’t talk about enough

"There's a toughness in our work culture that has seen its day." Photo: Stocksy

by Rex Huppke

When it comes to workplace bullying, we often focus on the hammers and not the needles.

Hammers are the obvious acts of oafish or even physically violent behaviour, the situations where there's little nuance and a person is clearly being victimised.

Needles are the small, repetitive acts that often go unnoticed, and unreported, the needling that can drive someone to dread going to work.

The hammers, of course, must be addressed, but letting the needles go unchecked can swiftly turn a workplace toxic.

"People are targeted for a variety of reasons, and before they even know that they're targeted, they've already been impacted," said Andrew Faas, author of The Bully's Trap: Bullying in the Workplace and head of the nonprofit Faas Foundation, which is supporting the MHA's work. "School bullying is far more overt, whereas workplace bullying is far more subtle and complex.

"It's often rationalised by the bully saying, 'That's just my style. I didn't mean to exclude you from a meeting, or I didn't mean to give you that information that made you look bad.' The longer it goes on, the more the target deteriorates to the point where they become what the bully wants them to become - a poor performer. It's a trap."