Dealing With a Workplace Bully: Signs and Solutions

Dealing With a Workplace Bully

Bullying happens when someone intentionally and repeatedly uses their words or actions to cause stress or harm to another person. In most cases, the person doing the bullying has some form of power or influence over the person being targeted.

It’s worth separating bullying from ordinary conflict. Conflict is a clash of opinions, beliefs, or working styles. It can be resolved, often with the help of a mediator or manager. Bullying is different. It causes real distress and can leave short or long-term harm on the person being targeted, often called the victim.

Workplace bullying follows this same pattern. It’s usually employees who feel harassed or attacked by peers, immediate supervisors, or even senior management and company directors.

This article covers the tell-tale signs to watch for and practical ways to deal with a workplace bully.

Key Points and Facts About Dealing With a Workplace Bully

Workplace bullying is repeated, intentional mistreatment — not the same as normal workplace conflict.
Bullying shows up in three main forms: direct, indirect, and cyberbullying.
Roughly a third of American adults report being directly bullied at work, and bosses remain the most common source.
Targets face a high risk of losing the job they once loved, while accountability for the person doing the bullying remains rare.
There is currently no federal U.S. law specifically addressing workplace bullying, though public support for one is strong.

What Is Considered Workplace Bullying?

Although employees are encouraged to handle disagreements peacefully, emotions can sometimes get in the way. Tension in the workplace can lead to verbal exchanges, physical altercations, and, in some cases, bullying.

A workplace bully tries to exercise dominance and superiority over the person they’re targeting, pushing that person to do what the bully wants. There’s no single proven reason someone becomes a workplace bully. Personal insecurity and reacting to a perceived mistake by the target are common explanations people offer, though researchers caution these are assumptions rather than proven causes.

Some bullies openly isolate or intimidate their targets. Others do it more subtly. Below are three common types of workplace bullying to watch out for.

Direct Bullying

Direct bullying, also called face-to-face bullying, involves actions like name-calling or physical altercations. It leaves little room for guesswork — even bystanders are likely to witness the mistreatment directly, which makes it one of the more straightforward cases for management to catch and resolve.

That said, if the abuse comes from senior management, resolving it can be more complicated.

Indirect Bullying

Indirect bullying is the opposite of direct bullying. It may not be obvious to onlookers or even to the person being targeted at first. That ambiguity can leave room for further exclusion and undermining behavior.

Also known as covert bullying, this type is harder to report because it’s less visible. Victims of indirect bullying are also less likely to be believed, since a polite-seeming aggressor can more easily talk their way out of it when confronted.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying isn’t limited to the workplace, but it does show up there. It involves receiving threats or insults through digital channels — text messages, emails, or social media.

Cyberbullying can happen directly or anonymously. Direct cyberbullying, from a known sender, is usually faster to identify. Anonymous cyberbullying is harder to address because the sender is unknown. Research on workplace conduct has found that a meaningful share of workers experience bullying through digital channels like email, phone, or social media, not just face-to-face.

Workplace Bullying Examples

Workplace bullying is often used as a strategy to push a colleague or employee toward resigning. The person doing the bullying could be a coworker trying to get ahead individually, or a manager trying to quiet down a vocal employee.

Even though the motivation behind each bully may vary, these individuals typically want to get ahead at someone else’s expense. It’s also a way of making someone feel small, unworthy, and less confident.

Bullying takes different forms depending on the person doing it. It doesn’t have to be physical — it can also be emotional or psychological. So what are the tell-tale signs of workplace bullying? Here are some to watch for:

Harassing a colleague based on their gender, religion, race, or background. Some coworkers or supervisors single out people who seem different from the majority at work, which can push someone toward resigning.
Spreading lies or rumors, or discrediting someone. This falls under both direct and indirect bullying and can be hard to fight, especially when it comes from a trusted or senior person.
Intentionally leaving out important information or giving misleading details. Employees are sometimes excluded from meetings and then criticized later for not being up to date on a project.
Making rude gestures or sounds — sneers, clicks, eye rolls — whenever the targeted person is around.
Giving verbal or written insults. Using curse words or offensive language is a way of belittling a coworker. This usually falls under direct bullying and is easier to address early.
Stalking someone so they can’t work comfortably. This can be difficult to prove, even with witnesses.
Hitting someone or becoming physically aggressive. This falls under direct bullying and is generally easier to identify.
Using power or influence to affect someone’s comfort and performance. Such cases include subtle threats or conditions that aren’t spelled out in company policy.

How Bullying Can Affect an Employee

Some bullies are direct, while others use subtle tactics that are confusing and hard to catch when a bystander is present. Either way, these tactics are cruel and unfair to the people targeted. This section uses gender-based bullying as one example of how power imbalances play out at work.

Equal Pay Day is an annual observance created in 1996 by the National Committee on Pay Equity. The date isn’t fixed — it shifts each year based on the most recent wage data and marks how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned the year before.

According to 2024 U.S. Census Bureau data, the most recent available, women made up 44% of all full-time, year-round workers, and their median earnings were about 83% of men’s. The gap has widened for two years in a row, the first time that’s happened since this data has been tracked. It’s a meaningful disparity, and one that shouldn’t exist in the first place.

Here are some of the overall harmful effects of bullying in the workplace and their symptoms:

Anxiety: Watch for an increased heart rate, trembling, sweating, fatigue, restlessness, and hyperventilation.
High blood pressure: This can come with headaches, nosebleeds, dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pain, and blood in the urine.
Sleep problems: Signs include daytime fatigue, unusual breathing patterns, trouble falling asleep, and unintentional changes to sleep schedule.
Stress: Watch for headaches, low energy, upset stomach, insomnia, low libido, and chest or muscle pain.
Ulcers: This can come with weight loss, nausea, vomiting, bloating, heartburn, frequent burping, and stomach pain.

Victims of workplace bullying often have to work twice as hard to get the same acknowledgment as their colleagues. On top of that, a 2024 national survey found that targeted employees face a 62% risk of losing the job they once loved — whether through termination, being pushed out, quitting, or transferring to a different role.

Many complaints still fall on deaf ears. Some people stay silent and hope the situation doesn’t get worse. Others end up resigning, hoping to find something better elsewhere.

How Can Bullying Affect the Workplace?

Bullying is often tied to the aggressor’s own insecurities, sometimes triggered by a colleague’s success. A bully may dislike a coworker or employee over differences like age, race, gender, religion, or appearance.

Liking someone isn’t a workplace requirement, but civility and respect are. If the work environment turns into a place of fear and ridicule, the person being targeted will start to struggle. Their productivity, self-esteem, and health can all suffer as a result.

When anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem take hold, here’s what tends to happen:

The employee finds it harder to stay focused at work.
Problems they’d normally catch and solve quickly start to feel impossible.
They stop speaking up, even when they have a legitimate work question or concern.
They start making unusual or extreme decisions, whether knowingly or not.
Their drive and motivation decline, which lowers productivity.
They dread going to work and may start skipping it.
They may eventually resign.

Even a bold employee who calls out the bully may see their productivity dip, since attention shifts from work to:

Avoiding the bully
Defending themselves
Worrying over the situation
Rallying coworkers for support

None of these things seems dramatic on its own, but together they can leave the targeted employee feeling disoriented, helpless, or even traumatized. And if coworkers get involved without any real resolution, the whole company still feels the impact.

Here’s how workplace bullying can ripple out to affect the employer:

A decline in enthusiasm and commitment at work.
An increase in sick leave and other healthcare claims.
A greater risk of legal action against the employer.
Negative publicity for the company.
Extra costs to reassure current employees or recruit new ones.

Accountability for the person doing the bullying remains rare. In the 2024 national survey cited above, only 27% of people who bullied someone faced any negative consequence for it, compared to the 62% job-loss rate for the people they targeted. There is currently no federal U.S. law specifically addressing workplace bullying beyond existing harassment and discrimination protections, though a large majority of Americans support creating one.

What to Do if My Boss Is Bullying Me at Work

Before deciding how to handle the situation, get your facts straight first. What are the red flags that your boss is harassing you at work? The signs may seem obvious to some and easy to miss for others. Knowing them will help you figure out your next move.

Intimidates you: Your boss threatens to fire you, physically threatens you, or uses an intimidating stare to put you down.
Isolates you from your colleagues: You stop receiving work emails or meeting invitations that your peers still get.
Undermines your work: Your boss persistently criticizes your work without offering clarification or advice, sets unrealistic deadlines, or withholds important project information.
Verbally abuses you: Your boss humiliates you in front of colleagues, whether passively or directly, or hurls outright insults.
Hinders your success: Your boss promotes your peers and juniors while excluding you without explanation, or dangles unattainable goals.

If your boss checks most of these boxes, it’s worth deciding what you want to do about it. Standing up to an intimidating boss isn’t easy, and there’s real risk involved — including the risk of losing your job.

Because of that, it’s worth thinking through your decision carefully. Do you want to confront the situation directly, indirectly, or focus on coping mechanisms instead? Here are two approaches worth considering.

Option 1 – Focus on Your Career

Start by protecting your career. A difficult boss over a long stretch of time can derail your career path. Here are the options available to you:

Stay and adapt: If you still like your job and want to keep it, that’s a valid choice. It won’t be easy — you’ll need to build confidence and avoid letting the bully’s opinions get to you.
Keep working hard: Continuing to perform well and stay professional gives a toxic boss less to hold against you.
Resign: Update your resume and start applying elsewhere. Use your network and credentials toward the goals you originally set for yourself, and look for ways to cut costs while you manage the transition.

Option 2 – Focus on Your Well-Being

A 2024 national survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute found that about 32% of American adults report being directly bullied at work — around 52.2 million workers — and that bosses remain the most common source of bullying, responsible for 55% of cases. To protect your health while you decide how to handle the situation, here’s what you can do:

Don’t blame yourself. Your boss may make you feel worthless or incompetent, but the problem lies with them. You generally can’t control how they think or behave — only how you respond.
Detach from the toxic environment where you can. Many workplace bullies thrive on creating discomfort for others. Rather than letting that get to you, try treating your job as a practical way to pay the bills while you plan your next step.
Connect with someone you trust. Bullies often try to isolate their targets from other people. Share what’s happening with a close family member or a professional counselor — talking it through can help you feel less alone and rebuild your confidence.

What Should I Avoid When Trying to Deal With a Workplace Bully?

Victims of bullying shouldn’t blame themselves. Instead, focus on staying positive and protecting your well-being. Here are some other things to keep in mind:

Avoid instigators at work — anyone encouraging you to become combative or spreading your situation around to colleagues. Steering clear of them helps prevent rumors and misrepresentation.
Avoid vague information. If you address the issue with the relevant authority, come with hard evidence. Stating the facts confidently and professionally strengthens your case.
Avoid visible nervousness where you can. Poor posture, stammering, or awkward body language around the bully can suggest low confidence. Standing tall and making eye contact can help you project more confidence, even if you don’t feel it.
Avoid skipping work. Frequent absenteeism can put your job at risk. If you need a break from the environment, use your leave days instead.
Avoid aggressive confrontations. If the bully tries to taunt you or escalate the situation, it’s usually best to walk away rather than risk a verbal or physical altercation.
Avoid getting emotional in the moment. You generally can’t control the bully’s behavior, but you can control how you respond. Stay clear, direct, and professional, even when they’re trying to provoke you.

Checklist for Dealing With a Workplace Bully

Recognize the behavior
- Confirm it’s bullying, not just ordinary workplace conflict.
- Identify whether it’s direct, indirect, or cyberbullying.
Track the incidents
- Keep a written record with dates and details.
- Save any relevant messages or emails.
Get support
- Talk to a trusted colleague, friend, or counselor.
- Identify any witnesses who can back up your account.
Report or respond
- Bring your documentation to HR or a trusted manager, if appropriate.
- Decide whether to confront the bully directly.
Protect your career and well-being
- Keep performing well at work where possible.
- Consider your long-term options, including whether to stay or look elsewhere.

Moving Forward

There isn’t one clear-cut way to deal with a workplace bully. Some people prefer to stay quiet and manage it privately, while others choose to tackle it head-on.

If you know someone dealing with workplace bullying, the most helpful thing you can do is offer them a safe space to talk about it. Share practical advice if they want it, but let them make the final call on how to handle it — and stay ready to support whatever they decide.

FAQ: Dealing With a Workplace Bully

What’s the difference between workplace bullying and normal conflict?

Conflict involves opposing opinions or working styles and can usually be resolved through discussion or mediation. Bullying is repeated, intentional mistreatment aimed at causing distress, and it doesn’t resolve on its own the way a disagreement can.

What should I do first if I think I’m being bullied at work?

Start documenting incidents as they happen — dates, details, and any witnesses. This record will matter if you decide to raise the issue with HR or a manager later.

Can I report my boss for bullying me?

Yes, most companies have a process for reporting mistreatment by a supervisor, usually through HR. Bring documentation, and review your company’s policy first so you know what to expect from the process.

Is workplace bullying illegal?

There is currently no federal U.S. law that specifically addresses workplace bullying. Existing harassment and discrimination laws may apply if the bullying is tied to a protected characteristic like race, gender, or religion.

How common is workplace bullying?

National survey data suggests roughly a third of American adults have directly experienced bullying at work, with bosses being the most common source.

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