Power Harassment At Work

Power harassment at work generates costs long before a complaint arrives, and most of them are already sitting in data the organisation holds.

Turnover by team. Organisation-wide figures hide it completely. One team consistently losing people while others do not is the single clearest signal.

Exit interview themes. People rarely name a manager on the way out, and they do describe conditions. Read them by team.

Internal transfer requests. Movement away from one area is a resignation that has not happened yet.

Absence patterns. Clustered in one team, not evenly spread.

Silence in surveys. A team with unusually low response rates is telling you something.

None of this proves anything about any individual, and none of it should be treated as a finding. All of it tells you where to look, which is more than most organisations have.

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

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