Workplace Bullying

10 Bullying Personality Archetypes in the Workplace and How To Stop Them

Wraps up in 13 Minutes

Author: Gavin Altus

Published On August 12, 2019

Quick Answer

The ten types of workplace bullies covered here are the Angry Bird, the Two-Faced Snake, the Prankster, the Gatekeeper, the Gossipmonger, the Criticising Cricket, the Forever Thirsty, the Wannabe, the Self-proclaimed Guru and the Sociopath. Some bully openly through yelling and humiliation. Others use covert bullying, such as exclusion, rumours and withheld information, which is harder to spot. Whatever the type, the response is similar: keep a record, report it through a safe channel, and back it with clear policy and training. This is general information, not legal advice.

In this guide

The 10 types of workplace bullies
Types of workplace bullies at a glance
Overt vs covert bullying
Bully or difficult personality?
How to tackle bullying
FAQs

Bullying doesn’t stop in school. In fact, one might say that some of the most challenging individuals in the workplace have learned bullying from a young age. Remember that kid who used to tease you, push you around or even encourage others not to play with you in the schoolyard? Well, 30 years on, they have been refining those bullying personality traits and applying them on a daily basis in the workplace. They have become a massive threat to the mental and physical health and safety of everyone in their surroundings.

Yes, workplace bullying does exist in the workplace. In Safe Work Australia’s national Australian Workplace Barometer research, 9.4% of Australian workers said they had been bullied at work in the previous six months*. Sometimes in very obvious ways, but often in less obvious ways. In this blog, we take you on a journey of ten of the bullying personality archetypes in the workplace and how to stop them. Yes, workplace bullying can have serious impacts, from the health and well-being of the individual to fines and criminal charges for the offenders and the organisation. Below are the 10 archetypes of workplace bullies that are trashing your anti-harassment workplace policies and procedures if you have them in the first place.

The Angry Bird

This is easily the most recognisable type of workplace bully. This type of bully actively finds ways to provoke people in the workplace. They are often loud and do everything in their power to intimidate others and disrupt their thought process. This bully resorts to insults and name-calling. They’ll humiliate you in front of others, and unfortunately, they are often in a position of authority and have built an army of followers who sit by and watch it all play out on the next unsuspecting victim.

The data backs this up. In the same Safe Work Australia research, being sworn at or yelled at was the most common form of harassment Australian workers reported (37%), followed by being humiliated in front of others (24%).

The Two-Faced Snake

The two-faced bully acts like a trusted friend or colleague. They appear friendly and trustworthy. However, this person will destroy your reputation, stab you in the back, spread rumours and even steal credit for your work. You may not even realise you are being bullied until you start to piece together months of calculated, inappropriate and repeated acts of bullying against you and others that you work closely with.

The Prankster

Everyone loves a good prank every now and then, but there’s a point where harmless pranks can be considered bullying. When that prank harms someone either physically or emotionally, then that’s when it becomes bullying.

However, not every prankster is a bully, but it’s important for them to stay on the right side of the line between playing a harmless prank and intentionally humiliating someone.

The Gatekeeper

A Gatekeeper is a person or group with a vested interest in limiting the choices of other people. Many workplaces have gatekeepers of some sort who purposely exclude others from workplace activities so that their targets never quite feel like they belong. Unlike other types of bullies, the Gatekeeper is a passive bully. This bully’s key weapons are their resources, time and information. They will deny you these resources so that you can’t do your job efficiently.

The Gossipmonger

This type of bully will whisper in the game room and spread rumours on coffee runs. Sometimes it’s personal stuff. Other times, it’s performance-related. Both are hurtful and can damage reputations.

This bully can be particularly threatening because your reputation may be damaged before you know it’s even happening or have the opportunity to defend yourself.

The Criticising Cricket

These are the people responsible for decreased labour productivity and low morale. Constructive criticism is a good thing, but pestering people often for no good or even malignant and selfish reasons is both annoying and toxic, to say the least. These people are also responsible for micro-managing employees.

The Forever Thirsty (for attention)

Whatever these people do, it is to seek external validation. They will try to be on the good side of management by constant flattery. They will also be really nice to their colleagues, only in a superficial manner. They have a reputation for coaxing out personal information from a person only to use it against them later. They can be really disruptive and annoying during a meeting or a group task, hindering good workplace culture to better their own promotional prospects and to appease their over-inflated ego.

The Wannabe

These bullies come from a major sense of lack. Thus, they have created a very high sense of self for themselves in compensation. They see themselves as indispensable. They watch workers who are more competent and always trumpet their mistakes. They are not agile and will hardly take suggestions positively. In fact, any feedback directed towards them will often be taken as an insult, and they will go out of their way to hurt, humiliate or discredit others.

The Self-proclaimed Guru

There are no issues with their own productivity. It is just that they lessen everyone else’s. They feel that they are above all and lack emotional maturity. As a result, they fail to consider how their actions affect others and aren’t able to fathom the possibility that they can be wrong. They don’t hold themselves responsible for their own actions; they also don’t amend the rules that everyone follows. They are not a good team player and will often put others down as a way to make themselves look high and mighty.

The Sociopath

These employees are intelligent, articulate, and charming but are the most destructive bullies of all. The reason for that is they appear to have little or no empathy for others. These bullies often rise to positions of power within the company by manipulating people to get what they want. They have no concern for anyone, and they are alien to the concept of ethics and morals.

Types of Workplace Bullies at a Glance

These labels describe patterns of behaviour, not a diagnosis of anyone’s personality. The table sums up how each type usually behaves, whether the bullying tends to be overt or covert, and a first step if you are on the receiving end.

Type of bully	Typical behaviour	Overt or covert	A first step if you are targeted
The Angry Bird	Yelling, insults, name-calling, public humiliation	Overt	Stay calm, do not respond in kind, write down what happened and report it to a manager or HR
The Two-Faced Snake	Friendly to your face, undermines you behind your back, takes credit for your work	Covert	Confirm decisions and agreements by email so there is a record of your work
The Prankster	“Jokes” that embarrass, hurt or humiliate	Overt	Say plainly that it is not okay. Report it if it happens again
The Gatekeeper	Withholds information, resources or time, and leaves you out	Covert	Ask for what you need in writing and keep the replies, then raise the pattern with your manager
The Gossipmonger	Spreads rumours about your personal life or performance	Covert	Do not engage. Note what you hear, when and from whom, and raise it with HR
The Criticising Cricket	Constant, unjustified criticism and micromanagement	Overt	Ask for specific feedback in writing, so fair performance management can be told apart from repeated unreasonable criticism
The Forever Thirsty	Flatters management, digs for personal details to use later	Covert	Keep personal information to yourself and keep conversations professional
The Wannabe	Broadcasts others’ mistakes, treats feedback as an insult, discredits colleagues	Both	Keep your own record of your work and involve your manager early in any dispute
The Self-proclaimed Guru	Puts others down and acts as if the rules do not apply to them	Overt	Point to the agreed rules and processes, and escalate if it continues
The Sociopath	Charming and manipulative, often in a senior role	Covert	Keep careful records and report through a channel that does not go through them

Overt vs Covert Bullying in the Workplace

Overt bullying is easy to see: shouting, insults, threats and public put-downs. Covert bullying happens quietly. It looks like being left off emails, having information or resources withheld, rumours, sabotaged work or credit taken for your ideas. Half of the types above work mostly this way.

Covert bullying is harder to prove because each incident can look minor or deniable on its own. What shows it up is the pattern over time. That is why a dated record of what happened matters, and why colleagues who notice it matter too. Our guide to being an active workplace bullying bystander covers what they can do. Employers can pick up covert bullying earlier by offering a confidential way to report, and by looking for repeat names across complaints, exit interviews and staff surveys.

Is It a Workplace Bully or Just a Difficult Personality?

Not every difficult colleague is a bully. Someone can be blunt, competitive or hard to work with without bullying anyone. Under section 789FD of the Fair Work Act 2009, a worker is bullied at work when a person or group repeatedly behaves unreasonably towards them and that behaviour creates a risk to health and safety. Reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner is not bullying, and neither is a one-off disagreement.

So the questions to ask are: is the behaviour repeated, is it unreasonable, and is it affecting someone’s health or safety? Our guide to bullying versus conflict in the workplace explains the difference in more detail, and our article on common types of harassment at work covers related behaviours.

So how do you tackle bullying in the workplace?

Sometimes, we may not even realise that bullying is already happening. This lack of awareness can lead to a culture of bullying within our workplaces that can lead to difficult and expensive consequences both for the employee harassed and your organisation.

The best defence any organisation can have against workplace bullying is prevention. So often understood as common sense but so rarely put into place as common practice is an appropriate education process for newly inducted staff and as ongoing refreshers, and that is why workplace compliance systems such as the one that Sentrient provides are so important for all businesses in Australia.

To get you started, here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to creating a good workplace culture that is free from workplace harassment and bullying.

Define what workplace bullying means in legal terms. Also, list out the common behaviours that constitute toxic, rogue and, at times, illegal behaviours.
Educate your employees, contractors, volunteers, etc., with online workplace compliance training courses. E-learning workplace compliance training courses are the best way not only to educate your employees on proper conduct but also to help reduce the risk of vicarious liability.
Outline the complaint procedures for employees for proper Workplace Incident Reporting, including guidance on what to do when the bully is the senior person or the manager.
Carry out a detailed explanation of the complaint and investigate the matter to solve things internally.
Assure employees there will be no Victim Shaming, this will help employees carry out proper workplace incident reporting, unencumbered by fear.
A detailed list of violating anti-bullying workplace policies and procedures.

SMBs and larger organisations in Australia are choosing to address such matters via the Sentrient online workplace compliance system, which includes: e-learning workplace compliance training courses, a workplace policymaker and an automated full-stack workplace system for central control and real-time reporting.

Get a free demo, and purchase our services directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the main types of workplace bullies?

Common types of workplace bullies include the openly aggressive bully who yells and humiliates, the two-faced colleague who undermines you behind your back, the gatekeeper who withholds information or resources, the gossip, the constant critic, and the charming manipulator who often holds a senior role. Some bully openly, while others use covert tactics that are harder to spot.

2. What is covert bullying in the workplace?

Covert bullying is bullying that happens quietly or out of sight, such as excluding someone, withholding information or resources, spreading rumours, sabotaging work or taking credit for it. Each incident can look minor on its own, so keeping a dated record helps show the pattern over time.

3. How do you stop a workplace bully?

Keep a record of what happens, including dates, what was said or done and who saw it. Report it to your manager, HR or a senior leader under your workplace’s bullying policy. If the bully is your manager, use a channel that does not go through them. Employers stop bullying by setting clear policy, training staff and acting on reports consistently.

4. Is a difficult coworker the same as a workplace bully?

No. Under the Fair Work Act, bullying is repeated unreasonable behaviour that creates a risk to health and safety. A colleague who is blunt or hard to work with, a single disagreement, or reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable way is not bullying on its own.

5. What should employers do when a manager is the bully?

Make sure staff can report without going through the manager involved, for example to HR, a more senior leader or a confidential reporting channel. Investigate impartially, protect the people who report from victimisation, and apply the same standards to managers as to everyone else.

This article is general information only and is not legal advice. Obligations vary by state and territory and by employment arrangement, so seek advice from an employment law professional for your situation.