Don't transfer employees who should be fired. The American workplace is not just getting leaner. It's getting meaner. Back-stabbing coworkers who spread malicious rumors or give you the silent treatment. This rude behavior has been called everything from workplace incivility to psychological aggression.
Lawyers call it a hostile work environment.
From the schoolyard to the workplace, bullying is loosely defined as repeated aggressive behavior that deliberately causes physical or psychological torment. Called the silent epidemic, it is only in recent years that bullying, long the subject of exhaustive research and public debate abroad, has begun to emerge as a major workplace issue in corporate America. Researchers blame the rise in workplace bullying on the failings of a society that gave rise to road rage and other uncivilized behavior. They also point to the uncertain state of today's workplace as companies hemorrhage workers, slash budgets and freeze salaries. Bullies often act out of insecurity or to hide their own inadequacies in the face of corporate tumult, studies show.