Adult victims of workplace bullying urged to get help
The Dorset Anti-Bullying Service are reminding people they are here to help
Bullying might be a problem we associate with children, but adults can be bullied too.
The Dorset Anti-Bullying Service is urging anyone who feels they are being humiliated, ridiculed or discriminated against at work to get help.
The service has seen a drop of enquiries during the pandemic and want to remind people that they don't need to suffer in silence.
The not-for-profit project was set up in 2017 by Alison Fox, who herself was bullied.
She told us:
"I learnt as a child to accept unacceptable behaviour. So then as I got older I still thought it was to do with me and accepted more unacceptable behaviour. I never considered it might be something to do with the other person. I always took much too responsibility."
A poll carried out by YouGov for the TUC and released in October 2015 (sample size 1738) found that:
• Nearly a third of people (29%) have been bullied at work
• Women (34%) are more likely to be targets of bullying than men (23%)
• The highest prevalence of workplace bullying is among 40 to 59-year-olds, where 34% of people are affected
• In nearly three-quarters (72%) of cases the bullying is carried out by a manager
• More than one in three (36%) people who report being bullied at work leave their job because of it.
• Looking at the effects of workplace bullying, nearly half (46%) of people say that it has an adverse impact on their performance at work, and the same proportion believe it has a negative effect on their mental health. More than a quarter (28%) say it has a detrimental effect on them physically, and around one in five (22%) have to take time off work as a result of being bullied.
Alison Fox has this advice:
"Talk to somebody outside the organisation first. When you have done that you can work out if you want to talk to someone inside the organisation or not. 9 times out of 10, if you think that something is happening, that's because it is."
You can contact the Dorset Adult Anti-Bullying Service on:
Telephone: 07754 296 658
E-mail: info@dabsonline.org