2005 Survey of HR Professionals

Indirect Experience of Bullying

Over 37% of respondents said that they have witnessed colleagues in their own department being bullied, and nearly 70% said that they are aware that bullying occurs elsewhere in their organisation. Their feedback indicates that immediate managers are most commonly responsible, and that the bullying takes a variety of forms. Humiliation and/or ridicule, unfair criticism and intimidating behaviour are the most commonly cited examples, along with verbal abuse. Nearly 5% said that it involved physical abuse.

Many reasons for bullying were given. Of the response options available on the questionnaire, the most commonly chosen was personality clash followed by gender and age, and to a lesser degree, race and part-time status.