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Types of Bullying and Harassment + What to Do

Types Of Harassment (done)

Harassment

Harassment is a form of discrimination. It includes any unwanted physical or verbal behaviour that offends or humiliates you. Generally, harassment is a behaviour that persists over time. Serious one-time incidents can also sometimes be considered harassment.

Examples of harassment

A colleague repeatedly makes fun of your hijab.

A manager regularly makes inappropriate comments about your physical appearance.

An employee threatens your safety following a heated discussion.

A supervisor rubs your shoulders despite your repeated objections.

Different types of harassments (click on the trianlge for further info)

Discriminatory harassment

Discriminatory harassment refers to the verbal or physical conduct that denigrates or shows hostility toward an individual on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, physical or mental disability, and sexual orientation; or because of opposition to discrimination or participation in the discrimination complaint process. Some of the recognisable forms of it include.

a. Racial Harassment: Victims experience racial harassment because of their race, ancestry, skin colour, country of origin or citizenship. Racial harassment often occurs in the form of racial insults, racial slurs, racial jokes, disgust, insulting comments etc.

b. Gender Harassment: This is discriminatory behaviour against a person based on their gender. A typical example is negative gender stereotypes about how women and men should behave based on their gender. Some examples include:

Male nurses being harassed for being in what is generally regarded as a woman’s job

A female banker is trapped under the glass ceiling and gets taunted for not being the “leader material.”

A male colleague displays content (video, comics, posters) that is degrading to women

c. Religious Harassment: Religious harassment is often connected to racial harassment but is more specific on a victim’s religious beliefs. It can occur in the form of:

Intolerance towards religious holidays, traditions, customs etc

Offensive religious jokes

Pressure to convert to other religion

d. Disability-Based Harassment: It is the type of harassment faced by disabled individuals who experience bullying in the form of teasing, refusal to reasonably accommodate, patronising comments or isolation. It is mostly directed towards people who:

Are disabled

Are acquainted with someone who is disabled

Use disability services

Personal harassment

Personal Harassment is objectionable conduct or comment directed towards a specific person(s), which. serves no legitimate work or educational purpose and. is known, or ought reasonably to be known, to have the effect of creating an intimidating, humiliating, or hostile work or educational environment.

Some examples of personal harassment:

Inappropriate comments

Personal humiliation

Offensive jokes

Critical remarks

Intimidation tactics

Ostracising behaviours

Physical harassment

Physical harassment is also referred to as workplace violence and involves threats or physical attacks. When they go to extremes, they can also be considered as an assault. Physical gestures such as shoving with a playful intent can often blur the lines between what’s appropriate or not. Therefore it’s up to the person on the receiving end to decide whether the behaviour is appropriate or threatening.

Examples

Open threats of intent to harm

Physical attacks such as shoving, hitting, kicking etc

Threatening behaviours, such as shaking fists angrily

Destroying victim’s property to intimidate

Power harassment

The defining feature of power harassment is that there is a disparity in power between the harasser and the harassed. The harasser who is higher in the office hierarchy bullies the victim by exercising their power. In many cases, this happens between supervisors and subordinates. Power harassment can take many forms such as personal harassment, acts of violence or more often psychological harassment.

Example:

Harasser puts excessive demands on the victim that is impossible to meet

Harasser demands demeaning tasks far below the employee’s capability

Harasser intrudes in the employee’s personal life

Psychological harassment

This form of harassment affects a person’s mental well-being negatively. Victims of psychological harassment often have feelings of being put down or belittled on a professional or personal level or both. Their psychological damage proliferates and impacts their work life, social life and physical health.

Examples of psychological harassment in the workplace:

Denying the victim’s presence or isolating them

Belittling the victims or trivialising their thoughts

Discrediting the victim or spreading rumours about them

Challenging or opposing everything the victim says

Retaliation harassment

Retaliation harassment occurs in subtle ways and is often overlooked by many. It happens when a person harasses someone to get revenge for having already filed a complaint on them and to stop them from complaining again.

This is what retaliation harassment looks like:

Person A files a complaint about person B

Person B finds out about the complaint and who filed it

Person B harasses person A out of revenge and to deter them from making further accusations

Person B is now attacking person A in retaliation

Verbal harassment

Verbal harassments are quite common and occur between employees usually. It can be a result of personality differences which end up in conflicts that have escalated from the casual eye roll to something serious. Unlike many of the discriminatory harassments, verbal abuse between people is not illegal. It usually manifests as someone who is often unpleasant and rude. Because of this reason, verbal harassment can often be damaging and demoralising to the workplace as people refuse to co-operate with the abusive person. Some of the obvious verbal harassment behaviours include cursing, yelling, threatening, insulting a victim in private or public. When verbal harassment is aimed at a person who belongs to a protected class, it can be unlawful.

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is any harassment that is sexual and includes unwanted sexual conduct, advances or behaviour. Although other forms of harassment take time to set in or increase in severity, sexual harassment’s impact is immediate. Sexual harassment is one of the kinds of unlawful discrimination in the workplace and is dealt with swiftly.

Third party harassment

Third party harassment is a kind of workplace harassment where the perpetrator is a ‘third party’ – someone from outside the company. Unlike the usual cases where the harasser is a colleague, manager or supervisor, the third party is a supplier, vendor, client or customer of the company. The victims are often younger employees who are in ‘low-status’ positions such as cashiers, sales associates and so on. Their lack of experience and position in the company and often their reluctance to speak out as they are scared of losing their jobs makes them easy targets. As third-party harassment goes off the conventional narrative, it goes unnoticed and is often swept under the carpet. Regardless of how important the third party is, it’s the employer’s responsibility to take action immediately.

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