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Bullying in the Workplace - Case Studies

These stories come from real people in real pain. You may be shocked at what goes in in some workplaces, perhaps even in your own. Or if you have been a victim yourself you will acknowledge and identify with these stories.

You may consider purchasing Bullying in the Workplace: an Occupational Hazard by Helene Richards and  Sheila Freeman.

This is a helping and healing book with advice for victims as well as business management in how to deal with bulling in the workplace.

Workplace Bullying Case Studies

"When I started there, I was told that someone had been acting in the position and had expected to get the job. This person continually undermined me and turned other staff against me. I endured twelve months of hell, and felt as if I was sinking in quicksand." (Mavis)

"I went on stress leave but the thought of returning filled me with such dread that I never went back." (Ian)

"You always find reasons, excuses for it. It’s the old clichéd question of why anyone puts up with violence: you always think you can change him, you always feel it’s your fault, if you don’t provoke him, everything’s fine…" (Sandra)

"The misery took over my whole life. I turned nasty and bitter, and treated my wife and kids like whipping posts. After many visits to a psychologist, I was able to think of all the positive things in my life, you know, the family, my age and experience in relation to future job prospects … lots of things that put the situation into perspective. Now I look back and think, well, I wouldn’t want to go through that experience again, but in the end it was just a job I lost." (Michael)

"I had lost my identity and self-esteem, and there was a lot of unresolved anger that I had to let go of before I could channel my energies into the future." (John)

"I practically turned myself inside out to gain his approval but went nowhere in the company. He ignored my input at meetings, sneered and talked through my presentations. Friends in the business passed on quite vicious rumours about me. I know he started them, but have no proof. At my annual appraisal, all he said was, ‘I suggest that you look for another job.’" (Simone)

"He was out to get her. He started a campaign of whispers and innuendo. At meetings he always made her seem inefficient or unreasonable, hinted that hormones made her behave irrationally, that she was hysterical, menopausal. Little things, all done so carefully that it wasn’t easy to say he was behind it. But he was." (Robyn)

"I felt as if I was in a long, dark tunnel." (Sue)

"I wanted to go to sleep and not wake up." (Marita)

"I had a physical and mental breakdown – a persistent skin rash, absolutely no energy. Everything was grey. There was no colour or joy in my life. I could barely raise a smile. I lost hope for the future. My wife left me." (Henry)

"I was most hurt by the malice and vindictiveness shown by my colleagues." (Margaret)

"I am experiencing emotional abuse from my male manager. He is a control freak, must have everything his way and he is a very domineering personality. He likes to be in control of everything and I am nervous around him." (Paula)

"When I reported her behaviour to our supervisor, I was told I was being over-sensitive. He also suggested I should just "stay in my office". I began to believe it was my fault. I started having panic attacks and thought I was going crazy. Eventually I had to leave, and haven’t worked since. I will never be the same happy, confident person I was before she bullied me." (Carla)

Bullying in the Workplace: an Occupational Hazard shows you how you can address these problems whether you are a manager or a worker affected by bullying.

Download the Table of Contents here. (Acrobat pdf)
Find out more about the book

Tracy's Story

"I am a 43-year-old primary school teacher in Australia and my life was turned upside down when I transferred to a remote country school some seven years ago. I have been teaching for over twelve years, worked for many private companies, and have always received glowing references. While at University, I received many letters from the Dean congratulating me on my performance and eventually topped my final year. I had never been bullied in the workplace so I had no idea what was going on until I became so ill that I could no longer face going to work.

Some of my experiences were:

• Told by a colleague/superior that it wouldn't matter if I was dead (done in private, of course)
• Physically pushed three times (the pusher apologised, but can three times in ten minutes be an accident?)
• Isolated – staff involved would never sit with me during morning tea, lunches, meetings, courses, etc. My name was omitted from birthday acknowledgements. All other staff names on whiteboard in staff room and on work trays were in black, only mine was in red. When we were asked to bring a plate for morning teas or special lunches, no one ate any of mine. I volunteered to help on many projects only to find later that the projects had been completed without my help.
• Humiliated often: dunce hat put on my head during school performance; coerced to skip in front of whole school; yelled at during meetings; singled out for arriving late to a meeting (others arrived late but no comment made); at a staff night out and after dinner we went to a bar and the Principal said, ‘Come on, Trace, let's find you a man.’ (Needless to say I am single); ridiculed or ignored about complaints/concerns about students; at school performances or meet-the-parent nights, one member of staff introduces staff with a bright, bubbly tone but the tone always changed significantly when I was introduced; office staff sending children with offensive messages; lunch thrown in the bin.
• Psychological games to make me feel as though something was wrong with me: told by Principal, ‘We're going to toughen you up, Trace - now we're going to up the anti’ (things heated up for me after this); while I was questioned individually about child sex abuse, the remainder of staff were asked to do the same during a staff meeting; I was repeatedly talked over as though what I had to say was irrelevant; teachers constantly interrupted my dealing with playground matters and would take over the matters; told that nobody would want to work with me during a lunch time disco; jobs were taken from me without notification or justification.
• Denied appropriate resources to do my job effectively: told 30 pieces of art paper was my quota for the year; denied key to store personal belongings; automatic financial assistance for an emotionally disturbed boy in my class withheld, etc.
• I am a vegetarian and my love of animals was well known. During a lunch, twp bullies sat beside me (unusual, I thought, then I got it) and vividly described a frog dissection. During a dinner, one bully described the removal of a road-kill kangaroo's testicles. My bullies knew of my pet house rabbit, a much-loved little friend – in one day, one bully described vividly three times how she had cut her finger whilst chopping up a rabbit, while another bully laughed hysterically.

This is only a sample of the behaviour I had to put up with on a daily basis for six years. A few years ago, a doctor asked me if I was depressed. I dismissed this though, looking back, if I had addressed the problem then, perhaps my symptoms would not be so bad today.

I have major depressive illness now, with anxiety attacks so bad that I lay and groan on the floor or bed. I have night-time enuresis that worsens when highly stressed. I have tried to commit suicide, have become a recluse, and am a shadow of my former confident self. I am still fighting for worker's compensation – my confusion and bewilderment has now turned to fury and anger upon being enlightened about bullying."

 (Tracey, NSW)

Bullying in the Workplace: an Occupational Hazard shows you how you can address these problems whether you are a manager or a worker affected by bullying.

Download the Table of Contents here. (Acrobat pdf)
Find out more about the book

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