COVID and Work-from-Home Bullying
The current COVID pandemic has led to wholesale workplace changes, with most of us now working from home. Logically, one would think that this has led to workplace bullies being halted from harassing their victims. However, this couldn’t be farther from the truth - bullies have quickly turned to using forms of harassment that don’t require physical presence. I call this “working-from-home bullying”.
Bullying may actually increase during the COVID-19 crisis
There are number of important factors that contribute to the perfect storm for COVID bullying. First, working from home during this unplanned crisis, in and of itself, creates challenging dynamics. This has resulted in a significant increase in workers feeling anxious, isolated and frustrated. This, in turn, creates additional vulnerability, which bullies see as an opportunity. The combination of isolation and vulnerability leaves working-from-home targets unprotected. Further, in many organizations, there aren’t clear behavioural rules for working from home, particularly in relation to communication (email, phone chats, virtual meetings, conference calls). Without clear rules for engagement, bullies see the risk of getting caught reduced. For example, bullies who might think twice about behaving badly in person may feel less constrained online, where the rules aren’t clear, the boss isn’t in sight, and peer pressure is less obvious.
Second, we are all feeling stressed and that can easily lead to bad behavior. We are balancing many issues while we are working from home – our children’s education, our family duties, our elderly parents to name a few. This is unchartered territory and our organizations likely have no policies or standards for this unanticipated new workplace setting. They are creating rules as we go. This environment represents a perfect opportunity for a bully – when one can easily defend a misstep as stress-induced or as a misunderstanding of the rules, bullies will take full advantage. Bullies are opportunists, and the pandemic may provide new chances for them to take out their enhanced frustration and single out, ostracise, ignore, berate and intimidate their targets.
Third, we are too busy trying to manage our radically changed work environments to pay attention to questionable behaviors and interactions that would normally be on our radar in the office. Since everyone is separated and focused on coping with the new work-from-home challenges, we aren’t as aware of bullying that might be going on, particularly if it’s directed at a co-worker. We can’t pop by someone’s office to chat if we notice someone is upset. We likely don’t even know there’s a problem now. Also, people are less likely to complain about bad behavior when there’s a pandemic going on – it could seem petty and unimportant given the crisis, even though it isn’t. The bottom line is that the reality of working from home provides bullies with opportunities to get away with their behavior.
Fourth, when working from home, it’s more difficult for managers and teams to stay connected and to monitor staff relationships and interactions. The risk of miscommunication and a failure to regularly check-in is high. Further, bad behaviors like bullying are harder for management to notice because staff are “out of sight, out of mind.” There’s little daily interaction where leaders can converse with their people, picking up on body language and signs of stress commonly caused by bullying. Consequently, these new work conditions create a climate where bullies can capitalize on the increased vulnerability of their victims.
How can bullies harass and intimidate from a distance?
While bullies may not be able to harm their targets in the office, they can do all kinds of things that hurt people working from home – using email, conference calls and virtual meetings as their venues. The following are examples of behaviors to watch for:
Inappropriate texts and emails that use unacceptable tone, blaming, shaming or taunting
Starting untrue rumours
Intentional miscommunication or a failure to communicate
Eye rolls, rudeness, interrupting, intimidating body language during virtual meetings
Leaving someone out of an email string that they should be included on
Accusing colleagues of not doing their work, particularly in front of others
Inappropriate jokes, emojis or memes designed to single out or hurt a co-worker
Using new work-from-home challenges as a means to isolate a staff member
Giving someone an unreasonable and unmanageable workload or assignment
Micromanaging people
Ignoring firm work boundaries - calls and emails out of hours or calls to home phones
What can leaders do to reduce the risks of COVID bullying?
Leaders and managers need to be vigilant during this difficult time, engaging with their teams and staff more often than they would if everyone was in the office. This isn’t business as usual. In relation to the increased risks of working-from-home bullying, leaders can do the following:
Set the proper standards for communication in the working-from-home world so that everyone knows the rules of engagement.
Be vigilant for signs of bad behavior on video calls, phone chats, texts, and group emails.
Consider now how to manage complaints about bad behavior in the work-from-home environment.
Revise the bully/harassment reporting guidelines to adapt to the new normal.
Check in regularly, particularly with people that you suspect may be at risk – this is a time of high anxiety, change, and stress and your people need your support more than ever.
Pay close attention to those who have a history of disrespectful behavior. You already know who your bullies are (or who is most likely to bully) – monitor their actions, emails, texts, and behavior at meetings and conference calls.
If you get any complaints about inappropriate behavior, handle them immediately.
Get help from HR or others – bullies are smart, manipulative and deviant and you may need support to deal with a problem.
Conclusion
To ensure that working-from-home bullying doesn’t take place during COVID, we all can take action to support each other in new ways. This is an unprecedented crisis that requires constant adaptation and agility. Now, more than ever, employees need to know that their employers, managers and co-workers ‘have their backs’. Even though they’re working from home, they’re not alone.
Set the stage so that bullies aren’t welcome. Remind each other that professionalism, respect and civility are a permanent part of their job description, whether working from home or not. We are still a team, albeit a digital one. We have rules and standards for behavior that apply even if we are at home. Be vigilant and watch for signs of bad behavior. If you see anything inappropriate, regardless of how small, take action to respectfully clarify that you won’t tolerate any workplace respect violations.
Together, we can ensure that our working-from-home offices are safe, supportive and bully-free during the pandemic.