According to the 2021 WBI U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey, 30% of Americans report having been subject to abusive conduct at work. About 41% of adults have experienced some type of online harassment.
Put those two statistics together and this brings us to the focus of this blog, which is workplace cyberbullying. You might think of cyberbullying as a teenage issue, but this is something that can happen to anyone.
Cyberbullying in the workplace can be a tactic for the perpetrator to gain control of a professional environment. This is different from aggressive harassment in a few ways. It usually includes the ongoing pattern of behavior against the victim instead of an isolated incident.
Before you start gathering your legal team, I want to point out that this doesn't necessarily mean your “demanding” boss is a bully. So long as they’re respectful, fair and their motivation is to better employee performance and the company by setting high (but reasonable) expectations.
So, make sure you hit those deadlines!
Many employees report seeing or experiencing cyberbullying through online meetings. According to the 2021 U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey, about 70% of mistreatment happens publicly or in front of others.
It’s important to keep in mind that just because it happens over a computer and not in a conference room doesn’t mean that it isn’t bullying. Meanwhile, mistreatment by emails happens on a much smaller scale including 6% for group emails and 3% for private emails.
Let’s go over the who, what, why and how of cyberbullying in the workplace.
Table of Contents
What is Workplace Cyberbullying?
Workplace bullying is the repetitive non-violent abuse of a person by another or others in the workplace. This includes behavior that intimidates, offends, degrades, or humiliates workers.
Bullying can happen in private or in front of other coworkers, clients, or customers. The bullies can be supervisors, subordinates, or coworkers. They often operate within the rules and policies of the organization to avoid persecution.
Workplace cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital mediums such as cell phones, computers, tablets and other devices.
Cyberbullying can be through texting, social media, online gaming and forums, and more.
This can happen between people of any age, race, gender, or sexual orientation although the most frequent perpetrators are bosses. The 2021 U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey reports that bosses make up 47% of workplace bullies and 65% of perpetrators have a higher rank than the target.
When it comes to workplace cyberbullying as we saw above, the main two arenas are online meetings and emails. This can include emails or chat messages that contain inappropriate jokes about a specific race, gender, nationality, or sexual preference.
Let’s go over more examples of workplace cyberbullying to look out for.
Examples of Workplace Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying can be difficult to detect, especially since it often happens in private and the victim doesn’t disclose it.
Technology facilitates a work culture that blurs lines between personal and professional lives. Because of this, bullies now have access to their victims even outside of office hours.
Although it’s more likely to be in front of others to inflict shame or humiliation. Some signs of bullying include becoming more shy and withdrawn, more stressed out, and acting more aggressively. Missing work more often, and experiencing a dip in performance are other things to look out for.
Bullying can look like excessive monitoring of productivity, unfair criticism, teasing, or insulting another person to the point of humiliation. All these things can have an effect on productivity for the victim and create a toxic work environment for everyone.
Whether the bullying is in the office or online, the repercussions stay the same.
Cyberbullying could look like teasing in an online meeting to receiving a rude email that insults someone's intelligence or know-how.
There are other forms of bullying I will quickly touch on…
Refusing to give an employee credit for their work and setting them up for failure.
Constantly reminding an employee of old mistakes, which brings down a sense of morale not only within that employee but the team as a whole as well.
Hostile glances caught on camera during an online meeting.
Yelling and cursing at an employee.
How to Handle Workplace Cyberbullying
Of course, now that we’ve gone through some of the examples of workplace cyberbullying that exist, the next stage is handling it properly. After all, identifying cyberbullying is one thing, but dealing with it requires a greater sense of caution.
Either way, when you identify workplace cyberbullying, you should consider the following steps regardless of your position.
Do Not Respond Immediately
I know we have all had a daydream where we finally say enough is enough and stand up to our bully whether that was at school, on the playground, or at work.
You just want to let them have it and say everything that has been on your mind for as long as you have had to put up with their harassment. Tensions might be high, but the last thing you want to do is escalate the situation or put yourself in a position where you’re in the wrong, too.
This would, of course, mean disciplinary action taken against you as well. If a coworker or supervisor says something in an online meeting that’s inflammatory or attacks you through an email, take a moment to take a deep breath and gather your thoughts.
No matter how inappropriate the words may have been, it’s always best to respond in a reasonable manner or not respond at all.
Keep Calm
Once you’ve taken that deep breath, think about what your next steps should look like.
Although sometimes it’s easy to ignore a cyberbully, work situations occasionally arise that require you to respond to a nasty email or a snide comment made towards you in a meeting.
You can respond in person through a video chat or phone call instead of through writing. If you’re in the middle of a meeting, you can choose to respond in a separate meeting with just you and the aggressor so the conversation doesn’t need to be in front of your peers.
Communicating in person saves the other person from reading your words in the wrong tone of voice. However, make sure you don’t end up in a shouting match.
Try to focus on explaining what you found to be offensive and why it hurt your feelings. If the conversation gets too heated, remove yourself and seek help from a mediator.
Report to Employer
Take note of the inappropriate media or commentary and report the aggressor to human resources or another supervisor.
The media could include emails, blog posts, social media posts, text messages and so on.
Include these copies of any evidence for their files and try to report each incident as it occurs. If your supervisor or human resources representative is unwilling to take action, continue up the chain of command. If the bullying escalates to physical threats or if you feel unsafe, contact the police.
Conclusion
Dealing with a bully can be exhausting and take you away from being able to fully focus on your job. Not only does this have an effect on your professional life, but your personal life as well.
Luckily, speaking up against bullying and workplace harassment has become much less taboo. And, most companies do have a plan put in place if an issue ever were to arise.
Know that there are options for you to handle the situation and don’t be afraid to turn to a trusted manager or supervisor for help.
