Workplace bullying has skyrocketed, and remote work might be partially to blame

Reports of bullying in the workplace have skyrocketed in recent years as companies increasingly embrace remote work. 

Ethisphere, a firm that aims to promote ethical business practices, surveyed over two million respondents globally and found a nearly 13-point jump in reports of workplace bullying compared to pre-pandemic. The startling increase in reported bullying comes down to two main factors, says Ethisphere CEO Erica Salmon Byrne: the entrance of Gen Z in the workplace and remote work. 

To clarify, Gen Z’s workforce entrance hasn’t caused an increase in bullying. (Gen X and millennials aren’t ganging up on office interns.) But younger professionals are more willing to identify and call out bad behavior in the workplace. 

“Just think about the nomenclature that our kids are being given in school—the upstander versus bystander language,” says Salmon Byrne. “That is language that not every generation has been given.” This cultural shift bears out in the data. Gen Z survey respondents were more likely to indicate that they’ve observed bullying in the office.

But don’t let their gumption fool you. Although young employees are likelier to raise their concerns than other generations, they’re not reporting bullying to higher-ups. Almost 39% of Gen Z employees responded that they chose not to report misconduct when they witnessed it, whereas Gen X was most likely to report the behavior (53%). 

“The Gen Z population, in particular, is less likely to raise concerns because they don’t have a lot of comfort in the system,” says Salmon Byrne. “They’re not completely convinced that they won’t experience retaliation as a result, and that’s consistent with what we see in EEOC data.” The federal agency has seen an influx of harassment and discrimination reports in the last two years. 

The shift to remote work plays a role in this as well. Virtual work requires employees to rely more heavily on written communication and informal chat functions than in the past, making it easier for people to misconstrue messages. Additionally, the lack of visibility with dispersed work has made misconduct or bullying behavior, in some instances, easier to conceal and harder to witness and report.

So, what does this mean for HR heads? They should be training managers to promote a culture where all employees feel safe speaking up.

“As we think about what the workforce of the future is going to look like, it really comes down to manager preparedness,” Byrne says. “We can publicize hotlines all we want, but people are going to people, so the real key is, are the people they go to prepared?”

Amber Burton
[email protected]
@amberbburton

Reporter's Notebook

The most compelling data, quotes, and insights from the field.

Women in their 20s are less likely to say they feel resilient in their personal and professional lives than those over 40, new data from Cisco and The Female Quotient find. The survey defined resiliency as the ability to handle life's ups and downs while acting according to one’s own values and beliefs. Younger women report feeling less resilient because of job constraints and personal responsibilities like caring for young children. This signals that leaders need to think more critically about the types of workplace benefits and support they’re offering women early in their careers, says Francine Katsoudas, Cisco’s chief people, policy, and purpose officer. 

“Many times, benefits are seen as something that is stable, and I don't think they should be. And so the message to CHROs is that we have to be listening on a regular basis to understand the needs of our people,” she tells Coins2Day.

Around the Table

A round-up of the most important HR headlines, studies, podcasts, and long-reads.

- Portable retirement plans have gained popularity among gig workers and job hoppers, allowing them to retain the same plan from job to job. MarketWatch

- Crypto exchange Crypto.com announced Friday that it would lay off 20% of its workforce. It's the second round of layoffs at the company in the past six months. TechCrunch

- Twitter is shutting down at least 12 of its international offices amid major cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk. Insider 

- In a milestone for the tech industry, Apple retail workers at the company’s first unionized store began collective bargaining last week. It’s one of the few Big Tech unions to successfully begin bargaining. CNN

Watercooler

Everything you need to know from Coins2Day.

RTO slo-mo. Goldman Sachs’s CEO David Solomon​​ called all employees back to the office last year and urged them to show up five days a week. One year later, office attendance is still below pre-pandemic levels. —Geoff Colvin

Time theft. Accounting firm Reach CPA ordered a Canadian worker to pay the company back thousands of dollars for time theft. The company claimed its tracking software found that the employee wasted 50 hours on non-work-related tasks. —Alice Hearing

Office demands. The CEOs at Disney, Starbucks, and Dow Jones are putting their feet down and demanding that employees return to the office. —Steve Mollman