Upward Bullying: How to deal with it in your workplace

Last Updated On:

When we think about workplace bullying, we usually think about bullying between colleagues or senior staff members bullying those in more junior positions. However, we are now seeing increased numbers of workplaces reporting instances of junior staff members bullying those in management positions, in what is known as ‘upward bullying’.

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how many managers are victims of upward bullying as many cases go unreported. Senior staff members may feel embarrassed or perceive that they have failed as a manager if they report being bullied by their direct reports.

One survey found that 6.7% of respondents said that they had been bullied by their staff, while a study by the Workplace Bullying Institute found that 14% of all workplace bullying is upward. The chances are that the real numbers are higher than reported.

In this guide, we’ll explain what upward bullying is, how to spot it and how you can deal with it to ensure that all team members feel safe and happy to come to work.

What is upward bullying?

Upward bullying is when an employee bullies their line manager or someone in a more senior role than them. Groups of employees may also participate in upward bullying together in ways that can often go unnoticed by other managers or members of staff.

Research has shown that gender can play a part in upward bullying. Some team members won’t recognise the legitimacy of a female boss, which was noted in the 2021 House of Commons Defence Committee (HCDC) report where interviewees described ‘overt hostility towards, and bullying of, women (often first into post)’.

Upward bullies are more likely to use covert methods to bully their managers. Let’s look at a few examples of upward bullying in the workplace.

Examples of upward bullying

Upward bullying isn’t always as obvious as the kind of bullying that is seen from a manager to a less senior member of staff. Some examples of upward bullying include:

  • Spreading rumours or gossiping
  • Showing continued disrespect
  • Doing things that make the manager appear unable to do their job
  • Openly teasing or demeaning
  • Failing to comply with rules, meet deadlines or attend meetings
  • Making unrealistic demands
  • Being outwardly rude and offensive

Many of these signs of upward bullying could be hidden, but even if other staff members notice they could be mistaken for more traditional clashes between management and less senior staff. It’s important to be open with your team, especially your managers, and help them understand the impact of upward bullying on the wider team.

The impact of upward bullying

Upward bullying, while most distressing for the victim, can also have a huge impact on other team members and your organisation as a whole.

For the victim or target

The impact on the target of upward bullying will largely be the same as for anyone else who is a victim of workplace bullying. Constant bullying will soon take its toll and can have a significant impact on the victim’s mental health. In recent years, it’s also become clear that workplace bullying can have an impact on physical health too, resulting in flu-like symptoms, heart problems and even an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in later life.

If upward bullying is left unaddressed, the target could end up taking frequent or prolonged periods of sickness-related absence, but even if they continue to work it’s likely that their productivity will be lower. They may think they are unable to do their job, which could lead to them feeling forced to resign.

For your organisation

It’s not only the victim that can end up with health problems due to upward bullying. Studies have shown that bystanders’ mental health can be affected by workplace bullying, which in turn affects their physical health. This could start to have a serious impact on your organisation.

Witnessing upward bullying can leave staff members feeling pessimistic about your workplace culture, and could begin to affect their productivity or even force them to resign. 61% of employees say they’ve resigned from a job due to workplace culture issues, so upward bullying could significantly impact your organisation’s turnover.

Additionally, if you don’t have the right procedures in place to help you spot upward bullying, it can lead to a toxic culture that makes managers leave. As perpetrators of bullying are often assumed to be in a position of power, it’s not uncommon for the less senior staff member to be perceived as the victim.

A study of Swedish managers found that limited support or lack of understanding for managers when they are a target of upward bullying can result in the bullies receiving support from higher management, which can lead to the manager resigning.

Losing top talent because upward bullying hasn’t been spotted could affect your organisation’s performance. It can cost up to two times the leaver’s annual salary to replace them, plus the new recruit won’t know the workings of your business. Morale among remaining employees can drop, and your reputation can suffer, making your organisation less attractive to work for.

So, as well as fulfilling your legal and moral obligations as an employer to your employees, it makes sense to tackle upward bullying to protect your business.

A male employee shouts at his direct line manager in an example of upward bullying at work.

What is the difference between bullying and harassment?

If there is an instance of upward bullying in your organisation, in some cases it could become harassment. Bullying itself is not against the law, but harassment is, under the Equality Act 2010.

The main difference between bullying and harassment is that harassment is when the bullying is related to any of the following protected characteristics:

  • age
  • disability
  • gender reassignment
  • marriage and civil partnership
  • pregnancy and maternity
  • race
  • religion or belief
  • sex
  • sexual orientation

While bullying isn’t against the law, employers still have a responsibility to prevent bullying and harassment and are liable for any harassment suffered by their employees.

So even if you don’t think there’s a problem with upward bullying in your organisation, you should make sure you have training and policies in place to help all members of staff understand what upward bullying is and how to spot it.

How to deal with upward bullying

Since upward bullying is rarely spoken about, it can be difficult to know how to deal with it. The key is to ensure you have the right policies, procedures and training in place to help all team members understand how to recognise upward bullying and how they can report it if they are a victim of or witness it.

How to deal with upward bullying

Upward bullying must be taken as seriously as any other form of bullying at work. When an incident is reported or identified, we must consider how we respond to upward bullying. There are a few things you should do:

  • Take the complaint seriously: Acknowledge it and activate your formal grievance process. Ensure the victim knows how to access support, either through an employee assistance programme (EAP) or other means.
  • Begin an investigation: Consider the context in which the bullying might have happened and whether employees may have colluded to spread gossip or derogatory views using technology, such as internal messaging software. If you believe they may have, you should make investigations to collect evidence.
  • Challenge the perpetrator(s): Challenge the employee(s) appropriately and fairly based on the evidence given to you and your own investigations.
  • Begin disciplinary action: If there is sufficient evidence to suggest that upward bullying occurred, be prepared to take action against those employees in the same way you would if it were a manager bullying a direct report.

Preventing upward bullying

1.     Review your policies

You should have a bullying and harassment policy in place already, but does it specifically reference upward bullying?

Make sure your policy includes a clear definition of upward bullying and examples of how it can occur. It should also outline the process for reporting upward bullying. This should include the formal grievance process as well as your disciplinary process. Often, managers are not given the opportunity to raise a formal grievance regarding upward bullying, but it should be dealt with in the same way that any other complaints from less senior staff would be dealt with.

2.     Offer training

Hold bullying and harassment training that includes a section on upward bullying. It’s not spoken about in workplaces as much as other forms of bullying, which makes it more difficult for other employees, and even victims themselves, to spot.

You could offer bullying and harassment training for managers and other employees separately. Training for managers should include explanations of all types of bullying and harassment. There should also be a section on how to tackle bullying and upward bullying and what they can do to prevent it.

Training for all employees should include the same content, but also offer practical advice on how to come forward if they see upward bullying taking place and how they can contribute to a positive and inclusive work environment.

3.     Work on your organisational culture

If you suspect that there is an upward bullying problem in your organisation, you should work to improve your culture. Workplaces with positive cultures are less likely to experience issues with upward bullying because the environment is open and honest and employees are encouraged to come forward to talk about any problems.

Consider your company values and mission and how you want your leadership team and employees to behave. Listen to your staff and communicate with them to find out what problems they face and how they want to see the organisation change.

Transforming your workplace culture won’t happen overnight, but taking small steps will help create a more positive environment where all employees feel empowered to do their best work and have great relationships with their peers and managers.

How to identify an upward bully

Upward bullies can often keep themselves hidden for longer periods of time as they use insidious methods to bully their managers. This is why it’s crucial that your entire team knows how to spot the signs of an upward bully.

Here are some of the key signs of an upward bully to look out for:

1.    They withhold information

Upward bullies tend to use more subtle forms of victimisation, and withholding information is one of the most common. By withholding information, either from their manager or from their peers, they can impact productivity, which in turn can make the manager look like they are incapable of doing their job.

2.    There’s typically a group of upward bullies

It’s relatively rare for upward bullies to act alone. There may be one person who instigates it, and they can often manipulate other members of staff so they don’t even realise that they are part of a group of bullies.

A group of upward bullies can spread rumours or gossip around the workplace, either through technology like email or instant messaging platforms or in person. They may also make multiple complaints to HR or senior leadership to make it look like their manager is involved in serious misconduct.

3.    They turn up late or miss deadlines

If a team member consistently misses important work deadlines or turns up to work or meetings late without valid reasons, this is a red flag. Upward bullies tend to engage in this behaviour to undermine the manager and make them look like they don’t have control of their team.

4.    They constantly ask for private meetings

This one can be tricky to identify as upward bullying. If an employee keeps requesting private meetings with their manager, this can be a sign that they have other issues such as skills gaps or mental health problems that they need help with. But when these meetings come with unrealistic demands, this can be an indicator of upward bullying.

Upward bullies can be manipulative in private meetings and have unrealistic expectations or demands that can be difficult for managers to say no to. You should make sure that your managers know who to speak to if they are unsure of how to respond to an employee’s request.

If you’re made aware of repeated demands from the same group of employees, it will make it much easier to identify upward bullies and deal with the problem before it affects your manager’s mental health.

A female line manager looks upset as her team talk about her behind her back. Upward bullying in the workplace is more common than we think.

Advice from our Managing Director on upward bullying

We can’t ignore that upward bullying happens. Too often, managers and supervisors feel that if they’re experiencing this, it must mean they’re not leading effectively – but that’s simply not the case. Upward bullying can happen to even the most capable leaders. As HR professionals and leaders, it’s on us to create an environment where everyone feels safe enough to come forward if they’re feeling targeted or undermined in any way. For instance, appropriately dealing with every report of bullying shows that we take it seriously. And, by providing support without judgement, we are reinforcing that every individual’s experience matters and that we’re committed to a culture of respect.

Monica Wray, Managing Director

How we can help

At Fitzgerald, we can help you with all types of employee relations cases and support you in developing robust bullying and harassment policies to stop all forms of bullying in its tracks. If you would like support with dealing with and preventing upward bullying, please contact our team on 0330 223 5253 or office@fitzgeraldhr.co.uk.

Further reading

If you found this article useful, you might like to give these a read…

Want HR insights and updates delivered straight to your inbox?

Sign up for our HR Talk newsletter and we'll send you the latest content on people management so you're always up to date.

Looking for an Outsourced Human Resources Services Company?

Let's have a friendly chat to see how we can help

Fitzgerald Logo

Fitzgerald is a full-service HR Consultancy. We help our clients create brilliant places to work so they can attract recruit, manage, develop, and retain, great people.

Fitzgerald-HR-People-Culture-Logo