National Prevalence

• Directly bullied – 32.3% of adult Americans
• Extrapolated to those working – 52.2 million workers
• 26% “believe” but have no personal bullying experience
• 72% are aware of workplace bullying

Number of Workers Affected by Bullying

• Directly bullied – 52.2 million workers (at time of survey)
• Indirect experience (witnesses) – 22.6 million
• Affected by bullying – sum of direct + indirect – 74.8 million
• It’s an Epidemic!  Albeit a “silent,” undiscussable one.

Gender

• 30% of women survey respondents were bullied
• 34% of men survey respondents were bullied
• The most frequent pair (36% of all bullying) was a male perpetrator/male target
• 18% of bullying was woman-on-woman
• Overall, 51% of bullied targets were women
• 59% of bullying situations involved same gender pairs
• Non-binary: 6% of targets, 3% of perpetrators

Workplace Bullying by Race of Targets

• Most bullied – African-Americans
• Affected (direct + indirect) rate (57%) highest for African-Americans
• Hispanics & African-Americans bullied at higher than national rate
• Whites bullied less than national rate
• Despite being bullied at lowest rate, Asians’ rate of awareness of bullying equals that of Hispanics & African-Americans

Perpetrator Rank

• 75% said bully acted alone (knowing that detection may be difficult)
• 29% of perpetrators were peers of equal rank (highest in our 6 surveys)
• In only 3% of cases, the target was attacked from above, across & below
• The alliteration “bully boss” still represents the most frequent rank, 55%, though it is lower than in past year surveys

Societal Bullying & Workplaces

• “Trickle-down” of disrespect from the public sphere into workplaces acknowledged by 69% of respondents
• The effects are to encourage workplace perpetrators and to stop following rules or laws
• Only 15% of Americans said actions by politicians do not affect workplace conduct

Stopping Workplace Bullying

• Sadly consistent through all WBI surveys, bullied targets pay the price for ending their bullying (which they neither invited nor deserved)
• Targets have a 62% of losing their jobs after targeting
• Loss through: constructive discharge (18%), termination, transfer, or voluntarily quitting (25.6%)
• Perpetrators suffered negative consequences for their misconduct less than half the rate endured by targets (27% vs. 62%)
• However much lower the accountability for perpetrators was, it is is the highest rate ever measured in WBI surveys (progress?)
• Also, employers evidently took some positive actions to stop bullying, also encouraging news
• Coworkers remain a disappointment with a dismal rate of intervention and support for targets (2%)

Support for a New Law

• We asked about a proposed law to protect workers from bullying with the right to sue employers for failing to do so (the Workplace Bullying Accountability Act we are introducing in states beginning in 2025)
• 8% of Americans said current laws are adequate, nothing new needed
• Strong & somewhat strong support (87%) crossed ideological boundaries — conservatives (82%), moderates (75%), liberals (92%)
• And across political parties: republican (84%), democratic (92%), independent (85%)