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Case Summary While people often associate the term bullying with childhood behaviors, considerable research suggests that these behaviors can extend into the workplace. In fact, 28 percent of workers surveyed by CareerBuilder said that they had been bullied at work. The impact of bullying is real-19 percent of these workers left their jobs as a result of the bullying. In addition, workplace bullying has been associated with a number of counterproductive attitudes and behaviors such as disengagement, job dissatisfaction, and symptoms of anxiety, Bullying in the workplace can take many forms, but the most common include being falsely accused of mistakes, constant criticism, gossip, belittling comments, purposeful exclusion from projects or meetings, and even physical intimidation. It is generally a long-term, persistent pattern of behavior intended to cause humiliation, offense, or distress. Bullying appears to disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities, as well as the disabled. It appears that bullying is slightly less common when a worker has a higher level of education or higher pay, although workers at all levels were generally equally likely to have been bullied at some point in their careers. In light of these statistics, there's a very real chance that one might be the victim of a bully in the future. Of those surveyed, nearly half confronted their bully, but this was successful in remedying the situation only about half the time. Unfortunately, contacting the human resources department appears to be even less effective, with no action taken 58 percent of the time. Case Questions 1. What do you think causes bullying in the workplace? 2. As an HR manager, what policies might you implement to reduce or eliminate bullying? 3. Are there ever any circumstances where bullying is appropriate