Understanding and Addressing Workplace Bullying: A Guide for Employees
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Posted on 01 May 2025

​Bullying in the workplace is a pervasive issue that can significantly impact an individual's well-being and job performance. Understanding what constitutes bullying and knowing the steps to take if you feel victimised are crucial for fostering a healthy work environment.

What Constitutes Workplace Bullying?

While there is no legal definition of bullying in the UK, it is generally characterised by unwanted behaviour from a person or group that is offensive, intimidating, malicious, or insulting. Such behaviour often involves an abuse or misuse of power that undermines, humiliates, or causes physical or emotional harm to someone (ACAS)

Examples of bullying at work include:

  • Spreading malicious rumours

  • Unfair treatment

  • Picking on or regularly undermining someone

  • Denying someone’s training or promotion opportunities

  • Excluding someone from work-related activities (GOV.UK)

Bullying can occur face-to-face, via email, phone, or social media, and may not always be obvious to others.

 

Legal Framework and Employer Responsibilities

Although bullying itself is not against the law, harassment is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010. Harassment is defined as unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic (such as age, sex, disability, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or gender reassignment) that violates a person's dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment. (ACAS)

Employers have a legal duty of care to protect employees from harm, which includes addressing bullying and harassment. They are responsible for preventing such behaviour and must take any complaints seriously, investigating them promptly and thoroughly. (ACAS)

 

Steps to Take if You Feel Bullied

  1. Recognise the Behaviour: Understand whether the actions you're experiencing constitute bullying. Sometimes, what feels like bullying may be a manager providing constructive criticism. However, if the behaviour is offensive or undermining, it may be bullying. Acas

  2. Keep a Record: Document incidents of bullying, noting dates, times, what was said or done, and any witnesses. This record can be crucial if you decide to report the behaviour.Acas

  3. Talk to Someone: Discuss the situation with a trusted colleague, manager, or HR representative. If you feel comfortable, consider addressing the behaviour directly with the person involved.Acas

  4. Raise the Issue Formally: If informal discussions do not resolve the issue, you can raise a formal grievance following your employer's procedures. Employers are obligated to handle such complaints seriously and promptly. Acas

  5. Seek External Support: If the situation does not improve, or if you need additional advice, you can contact external organisations such as Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) for guidance. They offer a helpline and resources to assist employees facing workplace bullying. GOV.UK

 

Prevalence and Impact of Workplace Bullying

Workplace bullying is a significant concern in the UK veterinary practice. Women are more likely to be victims than men, and in nearly three-quarters of cases, the bullying is carried out by a manager.

The effects of bullying are profound, with nearly half of the affected individuals reporting adverse impacts on their work performance and mental health. More than a quarter experienced physical health issues, and around one in five had to take time off work due to bullying.TUC

 

SPVS offers a course titled “Improving Practice Culture? Be more VIKING!: Creating your team’s Covenant!”, which acknowledges that bullying and incivility in veterinary care affect morale, retention, and patient outcomes. The course aims to help teams address such behaviours, especially when individuals involved are clinically competent, by creating a team covenant to foster a positive practice culture.spvs.org.uk

Additionally, SPVS provides a course on “Equity in Action: Understanding Discrimination and ‘Difficult’ Employees in the Veterinary Workplace”, which explores various forms of discrimination and exclusionary behaviour in veterinary workplaces. The course aims to enhance awareness of biases and assumptions that contribute to such behaviours and offers strategies for effectively responding to and addressing discrimination incidents.

 

Conclusion

Bullying in the workplace is a serious issue that can have detrimental effects on employees' well-being and organisational health. Understanding what constitutes bullying, recognising the signs, and knowing the steps to take are essential for addressing and preventing such behaviour. Employers and employees alike share the responsibility to foster a respectful and inclusive work environment.

If you are experiencing bullying at work, remember that support is available, and you have the right to a safe and respectful workplace.

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