It's hard to pinpoint how it started. Maybe it was when you saw your manager’s assistant noting those rare occasions when you came in 10 minutes late. Or maybe it was when the boss half-jokingly trashed your performance ? in front of a higher-up.

There now seems to be no end to your tormentor’s campaign of psychological harassment and professional destruction ? aimed squarely at you. The nitpicking, the demeaning comments and the full-blown lies have all come together to exact their intended effect: to make you quit or get fired.

This is the ugly picture of bullying in the workplace. “My supervisor would take my case files to inspect them, and then write me up at the end of the day because the files weren’t complete,” says a former employee of a California-based non-profit orgnisation.

Are you a target?

According to the The Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute (TWBTI), telltale signs of being bullied at work manifest themselves both in and outside the office. Just a few include apprehension about going to work and anxiety while you’re there, agenda-less meetings where you’re humiliated, never being left alone to do your job, and false accusations of incompetence.

The essence of workplace bullying is to twist political and social power to inflict psychological abuse on a carefully chosen target. According to Gary Namie, PhD, president of TWBTI and author of The Bully at Work, one in six American workers experiences bullying and most bullies and their targets are women. But employers and workers can both play roles to prevent bullying.

Management on alert

Companies should be concerned about bullying, if for no other reason than its potential to damage the bottom line. “Employers are frustrated with turnover caused by bullies,” Namie says. It often costs a company tens of thousands of rupees to recruit and train an employee to replace a bullied worker who left.

To prevent bullying, management should be vigilant. “The employer should be close enough to day-to-day activity to recognise and inquire about intimidation,” says Craig Pratt, an HR consultant and co-author of Investigating Workplace Harassment: How to Be Fair, Thorough, and Legal.

But employers are usually out to protect themselves. Often, their chief legal concern is avoiding any backlash that could result from taking action against an employee accused of bullying, says Karen Karr, special counsel at Steptoe and Johnson LLP in Phoenix. “If some harm does come to the bullied person, there’s some liability generally covered by workers’ compensation,” she says.

Tough to tackle

It’s easy to say that targets should respond aggressively to bullies, but it’s not always possible. “A lot of people who are targeted can’t fight back,” Namie says.

The alternative is to involve a higher manager or an advocate. But don’t confide in anyone close to the bully ? that could make matters worse. And make sure you document the abuse.

If you’re being bullied, leaving your job is sometimes the only way to salvage your physical and mental health. But tell the powers that be your reasons for leaving. Bullied workers who go out fighting are likely to get past the nightmare “If you skulk away in silence, the bully gets to be the oral historian,” Namie says.

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