Millions suffer bullying in workplace

Two million people have been bullied at work in the past six months, latest figures have suggested.

The TUC study – which coincided with November’s Ban Bullying at Work Day – calculated that bullying accounted for the loss of 18 million working days each year.

A separate TUC survey of more than 5,000 employees revealed that in three-quarters of bullying incidents, the perpetrator was a manager or supervisor.

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Managers themselves were often bullied by their bosses. A Unison/Acas survey found that almost half of middle managers were victims at some point.

But a study of HR managers by Occupational Health’s sister title Personnel Today found that seven in 10 HR professionals had witnessed or were aware of bullying in their organisation, down from 87% in 2004 and 93% in 1999.