Bullying is common in the workplace

A recent study from CareerBuilder shows the playground isn't the only place one will encounter bullies. Twenty-seven percent of workers reported they have felt bullied in the workplace with the majority neither confronting nor reporting the bully. Comparing genders and age groups, the segments that were more likely than others to report feeling bullied were women, workers age 55 or older, and workers age 24 or younger. PRNewswire

Who are the victims? Women reported a higher incidence of being treated unfairly at the office. One-third (34 percent) of women said they have felt bullied in the workplace compared to 22 percent of men. Looking at age, 29 percent of workers age 55 or older and 29 percent of workers age 24 or younger reported they had been bullied on the job, the highest among age groups. Workers age 35 to 44 were the least likely to report feeling bullied at 25 percent.

Who's the bully? The most common culprit is the boss, the survey said. Fourteen percent of workers felt bullied by their immediate supervisor, while 11 percent felt bullied by a co-worker. Seven percent said the bully was not their boss, but someone higher up in the organization. Another 7 percent said the bully was their customer.

Forms of bullying: Bullying can come in a variety of forms. When asked to describe how they were bullied, workers pointed to the following examples:

• My comments were dismissed or not acknowledged (43 percent).

• I was falsely accused of mistakes I didn't make (40 percent).

• I was harshly criticized (38 percent).

• I was forced into doing work that really wasn't my job (38 percent).

• Different standards and policies were used for me than other workers (37 percent).

• I was given mean looks (31 percent).

• Others gossiped about me (27 percent).

• My boss yelled at me in front of other co-workers (24 percent).

• Belittling comments were made about my work during meetings (23 percent).

• Someone else stole credit for my work (21 percent).

Confronting and reporting the bully: Although bullies can be intimidating, nearly half of workers said they confronted the bully about his or her actions. Of these workers, 43 percent said the bullying stopped, 13 percent reported the bullying became worse and 44 percent said the bullying stayed the same.

Nearly three in 10 workers took their concerns to a higher authority and reported the bully to their human resources department. While 38 percent of these workers stated that measures were taken to investigate and resolve the situation, the majority of workers (62 percent) said no action was taken. Of those who didn't report the bully, one in five said it was because they feared bullying would escalate.

The study was conducted from Feb. 21 to March 10 and included more than 5,600 full-time workers nationwide.