Browse topics
Moral harassment is a situation that damages the dignity and integrity of professionals, damaging dedication in the workplace as a whole.
It represents a form of violence that emotionally destabilizes employees.
Action can come from managers and leadersand also employees of the same company.
The practices are generally vexatious and cause humiliation, embarrassment and offense to workers' dignity, generating disastrous and damaging consequences.
Do you want to understand the dangers of this risk and how to identify cases in your company? Follow along below and stay on top of the subject!
What is bullying?
Bullying consists of actions that expose employees in a repetitive and prolonged manner during the course of their duties.
It is an abusive attitude that can manifest itself through behaviorsThese are words, acts and gestures that damage a person's physical and mental integrity.
This form of violence in the corporate environment can occur through direct actions, such as accusations, shouting, insults, among others, and indirect actions, such as gossip, defamationisolation and social exclusion.
Humiliation interferes with professionals' lives, compromising their relationships and their ability to work.
Is bullying a crime?
The Federal Chamber of Deputies approved the Bill 4.742 of 2001which defines bullying at work as a crime.
The bill also provides for the inclusion of moral harassment in the Penal Code, defining a penalty of detention for the crime of one to two years, and a fine.
The penalty can be increased if the victim is under 18. The bill is still pending in the Senate.
In the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws), moral harassment can also serve as a justifying cause authorizing professionals to leave their jobs through indirect termination of the contract.
What are the types of bullying?
According to the interpretation of the law, there are some common situations that can be classified as bullying:
- Interpersonal: occurs on an individual basis to harm a particular employee;
- Institutional: when the company itself encourages or tolerates cases of bullying;
- Vertical descentWhen the highest-ranking professional practices violence against staff;
- Vertical upwards: when employees harass managers and leaders;
- Horizontal: usually practiced by a team at the same hierarchical level;
- Mixed: the victim is affected by all hierarchical levels, from management to co-workers.
What constitutes bullying at work?
We have seen that bullying is any inappropriate and abusive conduct that can harm a person's physical and emotional integrity.
These actions aim to inferiorize, isolate and mentally destabilize the victims in the workplace.
To constitute moral harassment, however, it is necessary for the practice to occur regularly, often going beyond the limits normally expected of an employment relationship.
It is precisely its excess that can lead to the incidence of bullying.
Examples of bullying at work
Here are the main examples of attitudes that can be considered bullying in companies:
- Taking away the employee's autonomy or challenging their decisions;
- Ignoring the presence of employees;
- Imposing vexatious punishments;
- Criticizing the victim's private life;
- Assigning derogatory nicknames;
- Physically isolate the employee so that they don't have any contact with other colleagues;
- Posting derogatory messages in social media groups;
- Manipulating informationnot passing them on to employees.
What are the consequences?
There can be psychological, physical, social and professional consequences for the victims, in addition to damaging the work environment as a whole.
The harassed can suffer from stress, depression, isolation, irritability and generalized pain, emotional exhaustionamong others.
The company, on the other hand, may experience a reduction in productivity, an increase in staff turnover, absenteeism in excess, labor indemnities and administrative fines.
For this reason, the practice should always be repressed by the organization itself, creating a healthy corporate space for everyone.
How to identify it?
In order to identify whether people are being bullied, it is essential to continually evaluate employee behavior and performance.
If Human Resources employees notice a lack of productivity, isolation and humiliation in the team, this is a warning sign.
In this case, it is important to gather evidence of the bullying and write down in detail all the situations suffered with the respective date, time and place.
Also, list the names of the professionals involved, especially those who witnessed the events.
How should the company behave?
The main step is to break the silence and report situations of bullying to the company's leaders and managers.
If your complaint is unsuccessful, contact your labor union or class representative body to assess the possibility of filing a lawsuit for compensation for moral damage.
In addition, anyone who feels victimized or witnesses such acts in the workplace can file a complaint, depending on the seriousness of the harassment.
HR should offer support to employees and provide psychological counseling to mitigate the damage.
How to help victims of bullying at work?
Reporting bullying at work can also come from colleagues who have witnessed the act, and the victim is not the only one who can report it.
That's why it's important to go to the company's whistleblowing channel or to HR; keeping quiet is not the best option.
It is also legal to try to provide support for the victim and to guide channels that support them emotionally.
11 actions to prevent bullying at work
Fortunately, there are many ways to prevent bullying at work. Take a look:
- Ensure that all professionals understand what constitutes bullying;
- Encouraging the participation of the whole team in the day-to-day running of the company;
- Promote lectures, workshops and courses on the subject;
- Reduce repetitive work functions;
- Carrying out psychosocial risk assessments in the corporate environment;
- Give examples of appropriate behavior and conduct;
- Offer psychological support to victims;
- Establish channels for receiving complaints;
- Spreading the company code of ethicsemphasizing that the conduct is incompatible with the principles of the organization;
- Ensure that administrative practices are applied to all employees, with respectful and fair treatment;
- Realize integrity test.
Tool to help identify bullying
An effective way of reducing cases of bullying at work is to adopt a integrity test to assess the profile of the professionals.
This test measures candidates' potential in the face of ethical dilemmas, identifying behavioral triggers that can be developed to prevent certain situations.
The PIR (Online Integrity Test), identifies the level of resilience, i.e. the ability to resist actions that may arise on a daily basis.
For example, detours, handling of expenses, conflict of interest, briberymoral and sexual harassment, among others.
To prevent as many cases of bullying as possible in the company, HR can adopt PIR to identify the profile of the professionals to be hired more assertively.
The tool can also be used with the company's current employees to assess their values and principles.
