Examples Of Psychological Harassment In The Workplace

Examples of psychological harassment in the workplace are usually described as one person targeting another. It also occurs at team level, and that version is harder to name.

A manager who criticises the group publicly and never individually. Blame distributed collectively after any problem. Threats about job security used as motivation. Contradictory priorities issued and then held against everybody. A culture where raising a concern is treated as disloyalty.

Nobody is singled out, so nobody feels entitled to complain about it. People conclude that this is simply how the place works, and turnover rises without a single complaint ever being made.

Work health and safety duties reach this. Psychosocial hazards include poor support, low control and poor organisational justice, none of which requires an individual target.

Safe Work Australia covers psychosocial hazards. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s psychological safety training course and online survey software.