According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, here are indicators you are being bullied. The Institute has guidance to identify bullying both inside and outside of the workplace.
Outside of Work
• You feel like throwing up the night before the start of your work week
• Your frustrated family demands that you to stop obsessing about work at home
• Your doctor asks what could be causing your skyrocketing blood pressure and recent health problems, and tells you to change jobs
• You feel too ashamed of being controlled by another person at work to tell your spouse or partner
• All your paid time off is used for “mental health breaks”
• Days off are spent exhausted and lifeless; your desire to do anything is gone
• Your favorite activities and fun with family are no longer appealing or enjoyable
• You begin to believe that you provoked the workplace cruelty
At Work
• You attempt the impossible task of doing a new job without training or time to learn new skills, but that work is never good enough for the boss
• Surprise meetings are called by your boss with no results other than further humiliation
• Everything your tormenter does to you is arbitrary and capricious, working a personal agenda that undermines the employer’s legitimate business interests
• Others at work have been told to stop working, talking, or socializing with you
• You are constantly feeling agitated and anxious, experiencing a sense of doom, waiting for bad things to happen
• No matter what you do, you are never left alone to do your job without interference
• People feel justified screaming or yelling at you in front of others, but you are punished if you scream back
• HR tells you that your harassment isn’t illegal, that you have to “work it out between yourselves”
• You finally, firmly confront your tormentor to stop the abusive conduct and you are accused of harassment
• You are shocked when accused of incompetence, despite a history of objective excellence, typically by someone who cannot do your job
• Everyone — co-workers, senior bosses, HR — agrees (in person and orally) that your tormentor is a jerk, but there is nothing they will do about it (and later, when you ask for their support, they deny having agreed with you)
• Your request to transfer to an open position under another boss is mysteriously denied
