Bullying in the workplace is more prevalent than we probably like to admit, but we tend to view it as an anomaly—an isolated bug rather than a widespread feature.
What if I told you instead that many workplace structures themselves encourage noxious behavior? What if workplace policies and procedures—even some of the ones that are supposed to foster a healthy workplace—provoke abuse and bullying? More often than we may realize, bullying is a built-in feature and not just a bug.
Let’s sneak a peek behind those sunny “we value our employees” posters tacked up in the breakroom and uncover some of these features.
Workers Commodified
This one is so prevalent that we tend to dismiss it as “just the way things are” while treating anyone who complains as malcontents. Look at what happens when workers try to unionize, to push back against soul-crushing conditions. They are excoriated and portrayed as whiny and entitled rabble-rousers. The ingrates!
Now let’s face it. If you’re an employer and your workers rise up en masse to organize, that’s 99.76 percent on you. Indeed, the fact that so many employers react to union movements with knee-jerk viciousness suggests why the workers are organizing in the first place. Yet, our media and other influencers fault the workers—in other words, they blame the very victims of systemic bullying.
But it’s not just anti-union stances. The overuse and abuse of noncompete clauses in employment contracts is so rampant that some state governments have had to step in. These clauses are like being chained to the oars of a galley ship. Non-competes can make some sense in a highly competitive industry that relies on closely held proprietary knowledge. But rampant non-compete clause usage in all sorts of fields traps employees in toxic work environments while suppressing wages because they can’t seek better employment elsewhere. If my boss treats me like crap here, I should be free to get another barista job across town, right?
Non-disclosure agreement abuse is even more offensive. The sole purpose of these instruments—known far and wide as the dreaded NDA—is to muzzle workers, enabling incompetent executives and predators to escape accountability and continue their reign of terror. It’s like the old cliche of the cop pushing spectators away from the scene of a smoldering car wreck. “Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. Nothing to see.”
NDAs typically protect bad behavior in two ways. Sometimes the victims of harassment, discrimination, and other abuses are paid to leave in exchange for a gag order. Other times, the abuser is pushed out, but the company uses mutual NDAs to avoid controversy. Either way, the offending party is free to go on abusing others while the company washes its hands of the matter.
Greed Glorified
Greed among the executives of many companies is the highest virtue. When you value profit over people, people will suffer. For instance, the obscenity of executive pay disparities in some industries is well-known. Bosses rake in record compensation, forcing them to make the impossible choice between splurging their lucre on another boat or a third home while their employees are forced to choose between paying rent or eating. Meanwhile, taxpayers subsidize this system as workers turn to government welfare to make ends meet. No wonder workers feel aggrieved, alienated, discontented, and trapped. And no wonder their bosses are so out of touch with reality.
Even within higher-paid industries, neglect and abuse abound. In one scenario, a senior employee charged with training new hires may discover that those newbies are actually earning more money than they are. It’s the classic salary inversion due to “market forces.” Or the newbie may be grossly underpaid because the salaries of previous hires have not kept up with the industry. This is called salary compression. Both inversion and compression are insidious abuses because, after all, no company would sanction the idea that being underpaid is an excuse for doing less work. This goes for salary, gender discrimination as well.
To make matters worse and cover up misdeeds, some companies forbid employees to talk about compensation at all. “How dare you discuss your pittance! Get back to your oar, peon!”
Notice how enforced silence is a key component to systemic bullying.
Human Resources Dehumanized
HR is supposed to be the worker’s friend, right? It is supposed to protect employees and foster talent—or so they say. Too commonly, HR is just the enforcement arm of upper management. And that makes sense. Human Resources may be where you go to get hired, but it’s also where you go to get fired.
Take harassment and discrimination. You are supposed to report these abuses to HR, but that is highly likely to backfire altogether. Too often the victim is labeled a “troublemaker,” silenced (there it is again), and maybe even escorted to the exit. Meanwhile the perpetrator receives a freshly sealed personnel file and is escorted to a spiffy corner office. Anything to make it all go away. After all, if we cover it up, did it ever really happen?
Another typical HR task is orchestrating and overseeing convoluted employee evaluation systems that mostly just scratch some bureaucratic itch and fail to assess actual performance.
These assessments must be done. They will be done. Even if they are bungled or misused or just plain dumb. You can and must be subjected to entirely subjective and inaccurate evaluations designed by a committee that combines the subtle gentility of Torquemada, the genius of Wile E. Coyote, and the wisdom of a canary trained to peck at a keyboard. Such evaluations are excellent at torturing workers and gratifying sadistic bosses but provide no other value.
Measurements Falsified
Oh, and those metrics used by employers to gauge productivity. What an arbitrary and ineffective mess! Probably the most used and useless are “time-on-task” measurements. Sure, way back in the early industrial age, when a worker at a machine could produce exactly 10 widgets in one hour, time-on-task made some sort of sense. Time literally equaled productivity. It was a wee bit inhuman, of course, but what the hell!
In our current reality, it makes no sense at all, not even in manufacturing. Yet, some employers go so far as to install surveillance software to track employees’ clicks and scrolls to assure that their every working moment is spent chained to their galley oar. The boss can then monitor all this remotely on a smart phone even while luxuriating on a resort beach or engaging in a tough negotiation over a g&t down at the country club. Actual science and common sense tell us that productivity improves with breaks and physical movement and that the more we work the less productive we are, but genius bosses know better.
Time-on-task is but one of the many arbitrary metrics included in employee reviews that miss the mark entirely. They fail to capture strengths, progress, and potential but do manage to send one message loud and clear: “You are a drone not worthy of serious attention.” At the same time, the bully boss who is obsessed with these useless metrics threatens jobs over perceived shortcomings caused by inadequate staffing, limited resources, and other factors totally within the boss’s control.
These are but a few of the ways that bullying is embedded in the very structures and systems that define an organization. Workplace bullying is not just the purview of the individual, then. Toxicity is often baked right in to the organization for bully-bosses to exploit.
In contrast, great leaders know that workers need to be inspired, not coerced. Workers need to know that they are valued and not disposable. Great leaders develop systems that cultivate loyalty, creativity, and true excellence by treating each employee with dignity and respect. Great leaders build structures that foster productivity and a dedicated workforce so that they can achieve their potential together.
What systems and structures have you seen that contribute to workplace toxicity? What can you do to counter their effect?
Leaders must build and maintain systems that counter toxicity and bullying in all their forms, and I can help.
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Jim Salvucci, Ph.D., is an author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant. He served higher education for 30 years as an English professor, dean, and vice president before founding Guidance for Greatness to guide young bosses to become the next generation of great leaders. He is a certified Tiny Habits coach as well as a certified Thrive Global coach and life coach and holds leadership certificates from Harvard University and the Council of Independent Colleges. Central to Jim’s leadership philosophy is that all great leaders are great humans as well as great teachers, guiding their people and their organizations through values toward success.
When Workplace Bullying Is Actually a Feature, Not a Bug