Does shouting in the workplace constitute bullying?

New research from the UK has unravelled an interesting perception, showing how employees view the expression of shouting in the workplace and whether it should be considered a bullying act.

A survey by law firm Wright Hassall of 1,026 UK-based employees found that 50 per cent of people have either been bullied at work or been a witness to an act of bullying in the workplace.

Despite these results displaying the high rates of bullying that occurs in the workplace, over half of these employees (57 per cent) believe that shouting at work doesn’t fall into the workplace bullying category. In a similar result, 35 per cent of respondents didn’t believe that jokes about another colleague counted as workplace bullying.

While the findings are not fully indicative of environmental perceptions in Australia, they do offer an insight into how workers may feel Down Under.

Tina Chander, head of employment law at Wright Hassall, said: “Workplaces that tolerate shouting from senior colleagues may write it off as people simply ‘being passionate,’ but this behaviour can cause serious problems, especially if an employee decides to make a formal complaint and take the employer to a tribunal; the costs and reputation damage associated with this can be crippling.”

Other findings revealed, quite alarmingly, that one in 10 respondents (12 per cent) don’t consider intimidation as a bullying tactic, while 21 per cent didn’t believe that spreading a rumour about a colleague was bullying.

The full results of what workers would consider as bullying behaviours is as follows:

• Raised voices: 43 per cent
• Exclusion from group meetings: 68.5 per cent
• Abrupt emails: 37 per cent
• Isolation: 69 per cent
• Spreading rumours: 79 per cent
• Ignoring people’s contributions: 55 per cent
• Gossiping: 58 per cent
• Jokes about a person: 65 per cent
• Intimidation: 88 per cent
• None of the above: 6 per cent

The regularity of either being a victim or witnessing workplace bullying was higher for women than men, with statistics sitting at 47.80 per cent for men and 59 per cent for women.

Perhaps the most damaging revelation listed in the report is the lack of awareness about what an employee should do if they are a victim of bullying. An unsettling 26.22 per cent of respondents stated they were unaware of what to do if they were, in fact, being bullied.

“Given that more women have experienced bullying compared to men, and fewer women know what to do, it’s time for workplaces to focus bullying reporting activity on them and make sure that everybody knows what support is available to them.

“At the very least, a workplace should have a bullying and harassment policy in place, but there’s no point in having a policy if no one is aware of it,” said Chander.

So, where does the responsibility fall when it comes to workplace bullying?

The results showed that 13 per cent of respondents honestly didn’t know, whereas others – young workers especially – put the onus on HR to sort out the bullying problems within an organisation.

Chander, on the other hand, believes it’s a collective responsibility of everyone within the workplace to act together and stamp out these damaging behaviours.

“In today’s world, where there is so much more awareness about what behaviour is acceptable or not, it’s upsetting to see that 50 per cent of people have witnessed someone being bullied,” Chander said.

“It’s everyone’s responsibility to fix the problem of workplace bullying. HR plays a vital role, as do the leaders, but it’s up to colleagues to care for one another and speak up when behaviour is wrong. No one should suffer in silence.”