Bullying: The Hidden Health Hazard in Your Workplace

Hello KSKOers

After attending the United Against Workplace Bullying Conference 2025 last week and thinking about the powerful podcast conversations I’ve had on the topic, I wanted to share with you my worries about the rise and impact of bullying, harassment, incivility and disrespect at work. It’s a challenging subject, but an essential one, and as always, we’ll approach it through the lens of learning, curiosity and growth and work out what we, as managers and leaders can do in our daily work lives to make a positive impact.

Looking forward to joining you on your learning journey!

Over the last few years, I’ve spent a lot of time immersed in conversations about workplace behaviour: through interviews on The Knowing Self Knowing Others Podcast, in my own reflections from The Self-Awareness Superhighway, and most recently at the United Against Workplace Bullying Conference 2025. One message has risen above all others: bullying, harassment, incivility and disrespect at work don’t simply make for unpleasant environments, they carry profound consequences for individual wellbeing, organisational culture, and ultimately, public health.

What strikes me more and more is how these problems persist not because people don’t care, but because our systems, our language and our leadership practices still struggle to keep pace with the complexity of human behaviour. Yet we know enough to act. We have the insights, the research, the stories and the tools. What we now need is for leaders to have courage, consistency and commitment to make positive change

The conversation we are having today

During the conference, Nicki Eyre opened with a reminder that often shocks people new to this field: bullying still has no legal definition in UK law. Even the upcoming Employment Rights Bill won’t define it. This leaves organisations, leaders and individuals relying on subjective interpretation, inconsistent practice and legal routes that feel out of reach for many.

Zelda Perkins spoke powerfully about how many workplace complaint systems are “set up to protect the powerful,” resulting in processes that silence, delay or deflect rather than support, restore or resolve. Her work on the ethical use of non-disclosure agreements – ‘NDAs’, shines a light on how badly organisations sometimes want to avoid reputational harm, and how often they forget the human harm at the centre.

But perhaps the most startling session came from Liza Collins and Dr Jasmin Tzortzakakis Malik, who reminded us that bullying is not merely emotional distress or interpersonal conflict; it is a biological threat.