Bullying is never okay. It can be difficult to understand what it is unless you’ve experienced or witnessed it. Here are some helpful definitions:
Bullying is offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour involving the misuse of power that can make a person feel vulnerable, upset, humiliated, undermined or threatened. Power does not always mean being in a position of authority, but can include both personal strength and the power to coerce through fear or intimidation.
Bullying can take the form of physical, verbal and non-verbal conduct. Non-verbal conduct includes postings on social media outlets. Bullying may include, by way of example:
- shouting at, being sarcastic towards, ridiculing or demeaning others
- physical or psychological threats
- overbearing and intimidating levels of supervision
- inappropriate and/or derogatory remarks about someone's performance
- abuse of authority or power by those in positions of seniority
- deliberately excluding someone from meetings or communications without good reason
When this is in relation to a protected characteristic as defined in the Equality Act 2010, this is known as Harassment. Please see the 'Harassment' Support section for further information on support. The protected characteristics are:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender reassignment (covers Trans and Non-binary)
- Marriage and Civil Partnership
- Pregnancy and Maternity
- Race (covers Ethnicity and Nationality)
- Religion or belief (covers all faiths/beliefs and none)
- Sex
- Sexual orientation