Bully's rank relative to their Target:

- 81 % ranked higher, 1 or more levels
- 14 % same rank, a peer or co-worker
- 5 % lower rank, bullies higher ups

Average age is 44 years old (ages ranged from 19-82).

Bully's tactics were briefly described in the survey as one of the four categories used to illustrate the full range of cruel behaviors employed by bullies by the survey authors in their books (The Bully At Work, 2000, and BullyProof Yourself At Work, 1998-99). Respondents were asked to choose the dominant style used by the bully, acknowledging that most bullies adopt one or more of the family of tactics. The types of bullies described in the survey (with prevalence percentages reported):

- Screaming/Yelling, public attempts to humiliate, seeking to do battle when and where she/he chooses, needs to compete and "win" to feel good (Screaming Mimi, labeled simply as #1 in the survey) (14%)

- Controls all resources (time, budget, support, training) so as to prevent you from being successful at your job, undermining, setting you up to fail (#2 -- Gatekeeper) (20%)

- Constant, personal verbal assaults on your character, name calling, belittling, zealous attention to unimportant details, committed to systematic destruction of your confidence in your competence (#3 -- Constant Critic) (30%)

- Manipulates the impression others have of you, splits the work group into taking sides, defames you with higher ups and at next job, killing your reputation (#4 -- 2-Headed Snake) (36% overall, 39% for female Targets)

Here are some comments by Targets about closed doors meetings:

" . . . should have taken a tape recorder with me when she closed me in a room with her and refused to allow me to bring a support person with me"

" . . . he insisted on one-on-one meetings with the door closed. That's where he ruined my sanity and health, telling me no one would believe me, so to stay quiet about what was said there."

"I broke down when the two bully managers had me alone in the office without any witness. They also refused to let me have a peer witness in the subsequent meetings. They eventually let me have a witness they provided from admin.

The fact that 96% of co-workers were aware of the Target's plight bolsters the Campaign's claim that bullying is not a workplace secret, despite our reluctance to publicly discuss "the silent epidemic." Even if co-workers did not witness the bully's aggression, 87% of Targets said they directly told co-workers what happened to them.

Bullying, by definition, is a repeated act. In only 1% of cases was the hostility a single episode. The psychological violence perpetrated by bullies lasted an average of 16.5 months with the modal length of exposure being 18 months (for 42% of Targets).

The bully also targeted others in the workplace for hostile mistreatment. Non-government Targets reported 77%, while 88% of government Targets said that others were similarly mistreated. Ironically, by harassing several others--some members of protected classes, some not--the bully's record as an "equal opportunity harasser" serves to shield the bully and the host employer from legal liability.

More Prevalent Than Discrimination

Bullying is much more prevalent than illegal discriminatory misconduct. In only 8% of situations did the Target have legally "protected class status" while the bully did not. In an additional 15% of cases, both the perpetrator and harassed individual were eligible to claim that the misconduct could have been illegal discrimination.

Why It Happens

The bully's motivation was explored in a simple question -- "what caused the bullying?" The top five reasons (with accompanying percentages reported on the checklist provided in the survey) were:

1. Target refused to be subservient, resisted control (58%)
2. Bully envied Target's competence in the work to be done (56%)
3. Bully envied Target's social skills, being liked, positive attitude (49%)
4. Ethical Target behavior, whistleblower was retaliated against (46%)
5. The cruel personality of the bully (42%)

Remaining substantial reasons were as follows: it was Target's turn in rotation (39%); no known reason, attacks were unprovoked (36%); failure of Target to confront (33%); a hostile workplace culture where bullying leads to promotion (30%); bully has a personal problem, an addiction (25%)

Read some comments about the rationale for being bullied as written by Targets themselves.

Hostility With Impunity

The aggression by bullies rarely leads to negative career consequences. The perpetrators' immediate bosses directly helped the bully or punished the complaining Target in 42% of cases. Tacit support also came from 40% of the bullies' managers who did nothing to intervene.

Human resources also supported the bully by reacting negatively to the Target (32%) or by doing nothing (51%) despite requests for help. The correlation between actions taken by the bullies' bosses and HR was the largest of all support indices measured and was statistically significant (r = .496, p<.0001). this finding supports the perception of collusion target's report ‚ that hr serves management; it is not safe to complain about the bully there.

Work Trauma experienced by Targets (described in detail in the Health section) is worsened because of the preponderance of negative actions taken by bullies' bosses and HR (r = -.179, p<.0001 and r -.185, p<.0001, respectively).

Of the Target's co-workers, 11% actually sided with the bully.

Negative sanctions against the bully -- censure, transfer or termination -- occured in only 7% of the cases and that was only for those situations where the bullying had stopped for the Targets. The majority of survey respondents (62%) reported that the hostility was ongoing at the time of completing the online questionnaire.

© 2000, Gary Namie. Use without permission prohibited.