Workplace bullying is not just a difficult relationship with a manager or a conflict within a team. It is a problem that can affect anyone’s sense of safety, health, dignity, and professional life. That is why it is important to know how to recognise bullying behaviour, distinguish it from ordinary disagreements, and respond when signs of abuse appear in the workplace.
In light of upcoming changes to Polish labour law, we are launching the educational campaign “Workplace Bullying. Notice It. Name It. Respond.” Its aim is to raise awareness of workplace bullying, explain how it works, and provide knowledge and practical guidance to help employees, team managers, and those responsible for organising work recognise undesirable behaviour in professional environments.
We also invite you to read the publication accompanying this article, which explores workplace bullying in greater detail, including its manifestations, mechanisms, and the most important legal changes.
What Is Workplace Bullying? Understand Before You Judge
In the simplest terms, workplace bullying is persistent harassment of an employee, manifested through repeated, recurring, or continuous behaviour that may undermine the dignity and safety of the person experiencing it.
Workplace bullying can take many forms: from humiliation, ridicule, and unjustified criticism to isolating someone from the team and undermining their reputation, as well as obstructing their work, intimidation, or exerting severe psychological pressure.
It is not always easy to recognise. It does not have to take the form of an open conflict, shouting, or direct aggression. It can develop gradually through everyday situations that may be difficult to interpret individually but, taken together, form a recurring pattern of harmful behaviour.
What matters, therefore, is not only what happened in a particular situation, but also whether the behaviour is repeated, the context in which it occurs, and its nature.
It is important to emphasise that not every difficult situation at work constitutes bullying. A single argument, a difference of opinion, justified criticism from a manager, or the enforcement of workplace responsibilities does not automatically amount to workplace bullying. The overall circumstances, the nature of the behaviour, and whether the legal criteria are met all matter.
How to Recognise Workplace Bullying: Five Areas of Behaviour
One important reference point in research on workplace bullying is the work of Swedish psychologist Heinz Leymann. He developed the LIPT (Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror), a tool covering 45 types of behaviour characteristic of workplace bullying. These can be grouped into five areas.
1. Communication
These are behaviours that restrict someone’s ability to express themselves freely and participate in professional communication. They may include interrupting, shouting, constant and unjustified criticism, or preventing someone from presenting their own point of view.
2. Social relationships
This area includes actions that lead to an employee being isolated or ignored, excluded from team interactions, or prevented from communicating with colleagues.
3. Reputation and image
Examples include spreading rumours, ridiculing someone, undermining their professional reputation, attributing behaviour to them that they have not engaged in, or taking action to discredit them in the eyes of others.
4. Professional situation
Workplace bullying may involve taking away someone’s tasks, assigning meaningless work or tasks that do not match their qualifications, systematically undervaluing their efforts, or obstructing their ability to perform their duties.
5. Well-being and sense of safety
This category includes, among other things, intimidation, threats, severe psychological pressure, and behaviour that may negatively affect the health and well-being of the person concerned.
These examples help explain the mechanisms of workplace bullying, but the occurrence of any one of them does not, by itself, determine the legal classification of a situation. Leymann’s tool is scientific and diagnostic in nature, whereas determining whether specific behaviour meets the statutory criteria for workplace bullying requires an assessment of all the circumstances in light of the applicable law.
Workplace Bullying as a Process – Why Is It Difficult to Recognise?
Workplace bullying can develop gradually. In the model described by Leymann, the process may begin with a conflict or a problem in a professional relationship and then evolve into repeated negative behaviour.
Over time, the person experiencing such behaviour may be portrayed as a “difficult employee” or even as the source of problems within the team. As a result, their professional standing may deteriorate, they may become increasingly isolated, and in extreme cases they may leave their job or be excluded from the organisation.
This does not mean that every conflict leads to workplace bullying. A conflict can be resolved through conversation, mediation, or appropriate intervention. However, it is important not to ignore situations in which negative behaviour becomes persistent and repeated.
That is why being able to recognise warning signs before the situation deteriorates is so important.
Not Every Criticism Is Workplace Bullying
An employer has the right to monitor the performance of duties, evaluate work results, point out mistakes, and require compliance with established rules. Differences of opinion and difficult conversations do not necessarily constitute workplace bullying either.
The line is crossed when justified and appropriately delivered feedback gives way to a recurring pattern of negative behaviour, such as systematic humiliation, ridicule, isolation, or obstruction of someone’s work.
It is therefore worth asking yourself:
Is this behaviour repeated?
Is it part of a broader pattern?
In what context does it occur?
Does it involve harassment, humiliation, or intimidation?
Does it make it difficult for me to function normally at work?
The answers to these questions can help organise your observations. However, they do not replace an individual legal assessment of the situation.
Changes to Labour Law from 5 November 2026
On 5 November 2026, amendments to the Labour Code and the Code of Civil Procedure concerning, among other things, workplace bullying and discrimination at work will enter into force. The changes are intended to simplify the definition of workplace bullying, clarify its manifestations, and strengthen measures to prevent undesirable behaviour in the workplace.
1. Simplifying the Definition of Workplace Bullying
The new definition will be based on persistent harassment of an employee. Persistence may take the form of repeated, recurring, or continuous behaviour.
An important change is the removal of the existing statutory requirement that harassment must also be long-term. This does not mean, however, that a single incident will automatically be considered workplace bullying. The nature of the behaviour and an assessment of the specific situation will remain important.
2. A Broader Understanding of Workplace Bullying
The new regulations identify examples of behaviour that may constitute workplace bullying, including humiliation, degradation, intimidation, ridicule, unjustified criticism, isolating an employee, and obstructing their ability to perform their duties.
The list is open-ended. This means that other behaviours may also be considered workplace bullying if they meet the relevant statutory criteria.
The regulations also take into account different forms of behaviour: physical, verbal, and non-verbal. Workplace bullying does not therefore have to involve direct confrontation – it may also manifest itself through communication, social relationships, or organisational practices.
3. Who Can Engage in Workplace Bullying?
Bullying behaviour does not have to come from a manager. It may also be carried out by someone in an equivalent position, a subordinate, another person working within the organisation, or someone performing work on a basis other than an employment relationship. It may involve one person or a group of people.
This means that the problem should not be reduced solely to manager–employee relationships. Workplace bullying can occur across different types of professional relationships.
4. Greater Employer Responsibility for Preventing Workplace Bullying
The amendments emphasise systematic efforts to prevent workplace bullying and other undesirable phenomena at work. These include preventive measures, identifying irregularities, responding appropriately, taking corrective action, and supporting those affected.
Employers with at least 10 employees will be required to establish appropriate rules and procedures in this area, unless these are already covered by existing sources of labour law. A six-month period from the law’s entry into force has been provided for adapting internal regulations, meaning the deadline is 5 May 2027.
The changes are intended to emphasise that preventing workplace bullying cannot be limited to responding only once the problem has become serious. It is also important to create conditions that allow risks to be identified early and appropriate action to be taken.
What Should You Do If You Suspect Workplace Bullying?
If concerning behaviour occurs regularly at work, it is worth taking it seriously and looking for an appropriate way to respond.
Notice it. Pay attention to recurring behaviour: humiliation, ridicule, isolation, unjustified criticism, intimidation, or obstruction of work.
Name it. Try to describe what is happening precisely. Separate facts from interpretations and pay attention to the frequency and context of incidents.
Document it. If possible, record dates, circumstances, and what happened. Keep relevant messages and other materials. Documentation can help you organise the situation and present it to the person or institution you turn to for support.
Respond. Consider using your organisation’s existing anti-bullying procedure, contacting the appropriate person or department, employee representatives, a trade union, or the National Labour Inspectorate. Depending on the circumstances, you may also seek legal advice.
Not every difficult situation will constitute workplace bullying under the law. That does not mean, however, that behaviour violating dignity, safety, or the principles of proper conduct at work should go unchallenged.
“Workplace Bullying. Notice It. Name It. Respond.” – An Educational Campaign on Our Social Media
As part of our educational, informational, and awareness-raising activities, we are running the campaign “Workplace Bullying. Notice It. Name It. Respond.” – a series of dedicated posts published on our social media channels from 7 October to 5 November 2026.
In these posts, we address topics related to recognising workplace bullying, distinguishing it from conflict and justified criticism, examples of undesirable behaviour, how bullying develops, and changes to labour law.
We also highlight the role of employers, team managers, and entire organisations in preventing workplace bullying, identifying warning signs, and taking appropriate action.
We want knowledge about workplace bullying to be accessible, understandable, and useful in everyday professional life. We want employees to be able to recognise concerning situations, name them, understand the possible ways to respond, and know where to seek help.
We Invite You to Read the Publication
This article is accompanied by a publication devoted to workplace bullying, which expands on the topics covered in our campaign. It brings together key information about the definition of workplace bullying, its manifestations, the model of how this phenomenon develops, warning signs, and upcoming legal changes.
We encourage you to read and share the publication and use the information it contains in educational activities and conversations about safety in the workplace.
It is important to know how to recognise workplace bullying, but also how to respond to it.
Notice it. Name it. Respond.
Because a safe working environment begins with awareness, responsibility, and concrete action – taken by every one of us.