Bullying - what is it?

Bullying - what is it?

Bullying isn't something that just happens in school playgrounds. It happens all too often in workplaces, making the daily lives of many workers intolerable.

Bullying occurs in many workplaces. Results from various Australian polls show that around 50% of workers have been bullied, threatened, harassed or abused at work. Bullying can be a threat to physical wellbeing, and it can make life at work a misery. This was confirmed in the ACTU's Work Shouldn't Hurt survey. It can result in actual physical injury or health problems due to stress. Not only is it a health and safety issue, but it also affects the productivity and effectiveness of organizations. It is a serious problem.

What is bullying?

The definition of bullying in the WorkSafe Victoria Guide Preventing and responding to bullying at work was:

"Workplace bullying is repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety."

Bullying is the misuse of the "power" of an individual or group derived from their position, seniority, physical attributes, gender, race or nationality against other people. The following types of behaviour, where repeated or occurring as part of a pattern of behaviour would be considered bullying:

Verbal abuse
Excluding or isolating employees
Psychological harassment
Assigning meaningless tasks unrelated to the job
Giving employees impossible assignments
Deliberately changing work rosters to inconvenience particular employees
Deliberately withholding information that is vital for effective work performance

This list is not exhaustive and other factors which may contribute to the risk of bullying include:

Organisational change
Workforce characteristics
Workplace relationships
Work systems

What isn't bullying?

Reasonable management actions carried out in a fair way are not bullying. For example:

setting performance goals, standards and deadlines
allocating work to a worker
rostering and allocating working hours
transferring a worker
deciding not to select a worker for promotion
informing a worker about unsatisfactory work performance
informing a worker about inappropriate behaviour
implementing organisational changes
performance management processes
constructive feedback
downsizing.

Of course - behaviour associated with some of the above may be bullying - i.e. how rostering and allocating hours is done - if it's done fairly, and everyone is treated in the same way, then it is not bullying.

Tool for identifying bullying

We have created an easy to use tool to help you identify if what you're experiencing at work is reasonable management action, organisational justice program or bullying. This tool is to be used as in an indicator only.

What are the health effects of bullying?

For the worker

Stress and ill health can become part of the daily life of those being bullied.

Symptoms can include:

~ anxiety ~ headaches ~ difficulty focusing ~ difficulty making decisions ~ irritability ~ nausea ~ ulcers ~ sleeplessness ~ skin rashes ~ irritable bowel syndrome ~ high blood pressure ~ tearfulness ~ loss of self-confidence ~ various illnesses of the organs, such as kidneys ~ thoughts of suicide ~ reliance on unhealthy "stress relievers" such as alcohol or drugs

For Your Boss

Bullying is recognised as a major cause of stress in the workplace and by law, stress must be dealt with in the same way as any other health and safety hazard. Employers who fail to tackle bullying can pay a high price:

lost time - because staff are affected by stress and ill health
lost incentive - because morale is low
reduced work output & quality of service
lost resources - because people who are trained & experienced leave the organization
adverse media attention

Your employer has a duty to provide a safe workplace under section 21 of the OHS Act 2004 as well as the duty to provide adequate training and information for you to be able to perform your role safely. They also have the duty to monitor the conditions of the workplace to make sure they are safe under section 22 and the duty to consult on matters relating to health and safety under Section 35. The OHS Act empowers HSRs to take action on bullying.

The new Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 also require your employer to eliminate or mitigate psychosocial hazards using a modified Hierarchy of Controls.

Who is at risk?

Anyone can be bullied. Casual employees, part-time workers and those employed on individual contracts or Australian Workplace Agreements are generally more vulnerable to bullying because they are less likely to complain.

Fellow workers, supervisors or managers can carry out bullying. Australian unions, as well as independent research carried out by the Staffordshire University in the UK (which surveyed many hundreds of workers), indicates that in the vast majority of cases, bullying is carried out by a person in authority while stress and ill-health becomes part of the employee's daily life.

OHS Reps resources

Other useful Union publications:

ACTU: Mind Your Head campaign to improve workplace mental health
ACTU: Work Shouldn't Hurt survey report 2021

The UK's peak union council, the TUC has produced guidance for safety representatives on dealing with bullying and violence, including:
- Draft Survey on Bullying [pdf]
- Guide for HSRs
- Reporting work-related violence - advice from the TUC
The UK union UNISON has produced very useful advice for union delegates and OHS reps: Bullying and Harassment at Work. The page has links to other resources, such as guidelines which give advice on the sorts of things that can be done to combat bullying in the workplace. The guideline includes a draft bullying policy and survey: Tackling Bullying at Work [pdf]

WorkSafe resources:

Compliance code: Psychological health
Psychosocial risk assessment tools
Workplace bullying
Workplace bullying fact sheet
Aggression or violence
Aggression or violence fact sheet
Gendered violence
Gendered violence fact sheet
Poor organisational justice
Poor organisational justice fact sheet
Poor support
Poor support fact sheet
Poor workplace relationships
Poor workplace relationships fact sheet
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment fact sheet
Preventing workplace bullying - includes employer duties and checklists
Workplace bullying: A guide for employers (PDF version)

What to do if bullying happens to you - information for employees

Safe Work Australia resources:

Other resources:

Mind Your Head has an excellent database on psychosocial hazards. It breaks down hazards into their impacts and the risk assessment and control measures that can be used - Find it here.

Updated May 2026