Spotting the 5 most common signs of workplace bullying

In addition to wreaking havoc on morale and productivity, workplace bullying may even land complacent employers in legal trouble.

Reason: New York and 11 other states are considering legislation that would protect workers from abusive bosses and co-workers.

To prevent workplace bullying, employers should be well-versed in all its forms. Aside from physical intimidation, here are five of the most common forms of workplace bullying to look out for:

1. Verbal insults of employees. This type of bullying is one of the most common forms — i.e., Bob calls Sean “stupid” because of a mistake, etc.
2. Slandering a co-worker’s name. Telling people that Marnie’s sleeping around too much, or Lloyd has a drinking problem.
3. Excluding certain workers. Being excluded from the majority of departmental activities can have an extremely negative effect on workers.
4. Unwelcome contact. It’s obvious that excessive touching is completely unacceptable, but staring at employees in a lewd manner also falls into this category.
5. Unreasonable management. This takes place when a supervisor saddles a co-worker with an inordinate amount of work or a disciplinary action is unwarranted.

Readers, are we missing any? Share them with us in the Comments section.