The views expressed herein are solely those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of One News SVG.
We put out a challenge on Saturday, September 12 for members of the public to submit pieces on the topic: “What does bullying look like in the workplace”. We received 10 entries. The following is the top entry. Writers were offered the option to remain anonymous and nine of the 10 writers requested anonymity.
Here is the top entry:
When people hear the words workplace bullying, they often imagine shouting, insults, threats or someone being openly humiliated in front of colleagues. But bullying does not always announce itself so clearly. Sometimes it is subtle. Sometimes each incident appears insignificant on its own. It is only when those incidents become a pattern that you begin to understand their effect.
Consider a few examples.
Information necessary to complete a task is not communicated to you, yet you are expected to jump on board when it is time to get the work done. Suddenly, something you knew nothing about becomes urgent. You are expected to understand the background, work out what needs to be done and deliver within a ridiculous timeframe. If you struggle, the focus is placed on your performance rather than on the fact that you were never included or informed in the first place.
You are missing from the meeting invite, the group chat or the email thread. When you ask, you are told it was discussed already. Somehow the decisions are made in rooms you were never asked into.
Your idea is dismissed in a meeting. Ten minutes later a colleague repeats it in slightly different words and is praised for it. Nobody notices, or nobody says anything.
Every error, however small, is noticed, raised and remembered, often in front of everyone. The work that actually carried the project, the problem you solved before anyone else saw it, the weekend you gave up, passes without comment. Nobody owes anyone praise. But when the only feedback a person ever receives is corrective, the message is clear: what you get wrong matters, and what you get right does not.
You speak during a discussion and coworkers exaggerate a yawn, exchange looks or make gestures suggesting something is wrong with you, perhaps that your breath smells. Nobody says anything offensive. If confronted, it is a joke, a coincidence, a misunderstanding. But when it happens repeatedly, you notice. You become conscious of yourself whenever you speak. You wonder whether you should say anything at all.
The conversation goes quiet when you walk in. It picks up again when you leave.
That is the problem with subtle workplace bullying: each behaviour can be small while its cumulative effect is significant.
Is every one of these bullying? Of course not.
Workplaces are busy. People forget to send emails. Managers make mistakes. Colleagues misunderstand each other, deadlines change, and sometimes poor planning really is just poor planning. Sometimes a yawn is just a yawn.
The distinction is the pattern and the effect.
When the same individual is repeatedly excluded, undermined, embarrassed or placed in situations where they are likely to fail, and never allowed to succeed on the record either, we should be willing to ask harder questions about the workplace culture.
None of this needs to involve shouting. In fact, some of the most difficult workplace behaviour to address is precisely the kind that provides plausible deniability. When confronted, there is always an innocent explanation: “I was just tired.” “It was only a joke.” “I thought somebody told you.” “Everyone else knew.”
One incident may genuinely have an innocent explanation. A repeated pattern deserves attention.
Professionalism should mean more than showing up, doing your job and avoiding obvious insults. It should include treating colleagues with basic dignity. If someone has an issue with another employee, there are respectful ways to address it privately. Humiliating gestures and indirect ridicule accomplish nothing except making another person uncomfortable.
Likewise, if someone’s contribution is required, include them in the communication. Give them the information and reasonable opportunity necessary to perform their role. Do not exclude people from the process and then judge them solely by the outcome. And if their work is worth correcting, it is worth acknowledging too.
Perhaps that is why conversations about workplace bullying are important. They encourage us to examine not only dramatic incidents, but also the everyday behaviours we have normalised.
Sometimes the question should not simply be, “Did anyone threaten or insult me?”
It should also be, “Does this workplace consistently make someone feel excluded, humiliated, undermined or deliberately set up to struggle?”
Because sometimes workplace bullying does not look like bullying.
Sometimes it looks remarkably ordinary.
END
Why was this adjudged the top piece?
This is the strongest piece of the collection. It is measured, well-crafted, and thought-provoking.
Rather than leaning heavily on personal experience, it encourages readers to examine the everyday behaviours that often pass unnoticed. The recurring examples, being left off a meeting invitation, having an idea dismissed only to be applauded when someone else repeats it, or sensing a conversation fall silent when you enter the room, are instantly recognisable without feeling accusatory.
One of the article’s greatest strengths is its careful distinction between workplace bullying and the ordinary misunderstandings that arise in any organisation. It makes the important point that the issue is not an isolated incident but a recurring pattern of behaviour. That nuance adds depth, balance and credibility to the argument.
The closing lines leave a lasting impression:
“Sometimes workplace bullying does not look like bullying. Sometimes it looks remarkably ordinary.”
It is the kind of ending that stays with the reader. More importantly, this is the type of opinion piece that invites thoughtful national discussion rather than deepening divisions.
END
