Mobbing at Work, Academic Mobbing, Bullying in the Military (I'm the one getting mobbed)

The goal of the person who's mobbing is to "prove" that you cannot do your job well. By giving in to anger, fear, or sadness, you will experience stress, which affects work performance and accomplishes the original goal of the person who's mobbing.

If you are facing up to a workplace mobbing, academic mobbing or any other type of mobbing, do the following:

1. Shift the emotional state - walking in nature, meditation, calming exercise like yoga or swimming, being around loving and supportive friends, finding laughter after work, all of these can take you out of a negative state which can build-up, if not addressed on time;
2. Control your psyche - when being bullied, your blood pressure can go sky-high, your hands may shake, your knees may tremble and your face could turn red. Techniques like deep breathing, relaxation and proper body posture can help you control these unconscious reactions and calm yourself down;
3. Control your thoughts - even after a bad day at work, our thoughts can continue replaying the event in our heads, often embellishing it and making it worse. Reframing and positive thinking can help you be mentally tougher and not crumble under the pressure.

You are a victim of bullying, harassment, abuse or mobbing, and you have decided to take some type of action. However, you are not sure what to do. Some people might tell you to report this to your supervisor or upper management. We advise you to look up whether your company has set up their "company policy review". What is that? Due to the fact that many companies have realized that aggression, bullying, and harassment at the workplace are detrimental to the mental health of the employee, as well as illegal in most countries, most companies have set up policies and procedures on how to deal with workplace mobbing. They serve to train the employee on what procedures are acceptable in the workplace environment, and which aren't.

This can help you when you are in doubt about whether you are a victim of mobbing, or whether what you are experiencing is "company culture". Check these guidelines to inform yourself on the company culture and what you can do if you find yourself on the receiving end of unethical and unacceptable professional behavior.

When on the receiving end of unethical professional behavior that includes mobbing and bullying, one of the possible solutions is to report this to a body in your company that would normally deal with such matters. Most companies have some sort of a health and safety committee or a body that deals with workplace discipline.

They can be approached to discuss matters of workplace mobbing. Normally you may be required to approach them with the incident in writing, after which you might be asked to discuss this in person with the appropriate body at your company. Be sure to provide a clear and precise report regarding the harassment you have been subjected to, because the company body that will read your report will usually act upon it by investigating these occurrences among other employees as well. 

Frontdesk employees are often subjected to mobbing in the form of harassment and sometimes violence from the general public, i.e. customers. This is also unaccepted behavior and most companies do not want their employees to be exposed to harassment from the public no matter how customer-oriented they are. These days almost all companies that have frontdesk employees and offices have some sort of security measures installed in their procedures to prevent this. It is best to prepare yourself with information such as:

1. Security devices: is your desk under security surveillance by a camera? Is there someone watching that camera? How do you signal that person that you are in trouble and in need of assistance?

2. Security personnel: most companies have at least one security officer in the office that is highly visible and acts as a deterrent in case of potential problems. Security officers might rotate. Learn who these people are, where are they posted (if they don't patrol), and how to signal them for assistance in the case of violence or harassment.

Being prepared is the best way to avoid such incidents.

If you are experiencing or have been subjected to workplace mobbing in any form, and you find yourself reluctant to go back to work, you can't relax and enjoy your job anymore, your performance is still down and you find yourself tense and always waiting for something bad to happen, you need to inform yourself whether your company offers any support services for victims of mobbing. These people are psychologists and can help you regain your balance, and shift any negative memories you are still holding on to, so that you can enjoy your job again and do well.

Mobbing, and some other types of mild bullying often happen unintentionally. It has been observed that lower-to-mid level management is often under a continual downpour of stress, expectations and tasks from upper management. Thus, lower-to-mid level management may inadvertently act out their stress in the office. This manager may not normally be a bully and because of that they might not be aware of what they have been doing to you or how they might have affected you. Employees can usually differentiate between the "normal" manager having a bad day and the real-life day-to-day bully. 

On the other hand, you might be experiencing some personal problems outside of your workplace which affect your work performance (like a chronic illness you are keeping a secret). The stressed-out manager might pick on you believing that you are trying to undermine him or that you are just too lazy or don't care. The manager doesn't know what is going on in your personal life and is only aware of what your actions are doing to his authority and career. 

Bullying can also happen from co-workers that have some unfavorable personal issues and then they may project them outward towards other co-workers or even clients and customers. 

In cases of this so-called "unintentional mobbing", it is often helpful to face and discuss the issue with the bully. If it is a manager, tell them how their behavior or treatment affects you and why you may find it ungrounded or even inappropriate. If you have some personal problems, you might want to inform them of what's going on in your life so they can be more empathetic. 

If a co-worker is doing the mobbing sitting down and openly discussing the issue, you might bring the problem up to the surface and prevent it in future. 

When working with people that have difficult personalities, prone to mobbing, bullying, and harassment, there are communication skills that can defuse or deter a bullying attempt. Use some of the following examples:

1. Excuse me, but I have a deadline for a project today. Can we talk tomorrow perhaps?
2. I am sorry, but I am preparing for a meeting. How about I get back to you?
3. Really? You could be right about that. Give me some time to think about it..and thanks for letting me know.
4. I haven't looked at it from that angle, but I will do my best to see it from your point of view.

Play with similar responses. They need to postpone or diffuse by being non-confrontational.

Usually everyone receives a detailed job description when starting a new job. And when your work effectiveness is measured, it is done so according to those tasks you were hired to do. Mobbing can often take the form of someone delegating their own responsibilities to you, throwing an endless pile of menial tasks in your direction, or just asking for more with shorter and shorter deadlines.

Check your initial job description. If there is a chance that your job performance can suffer due to this added workload, someone in the upper management might be willing to hear you out and put things back in place.

Mobbing, bullying, and harassment often takes place when the victim is alone with the bully. Controlling the scene means that you can prevent mobbing and bullying by avoiding being alone with someone that is bullying you, as much as possible.

If it is necessary to interact with this person in any way, try to do so with someone present in order to have witnesses to potential unethical workplace behavior.

Some forms of mobbing and harassment are extreme enough for the victim, that it is prudent to consider taking legal action (ex. sexual harassment).

Before doing anything, you should study the law in your country on this matter, or ask someone who is into this matter:

• what legal instruments are at your disposal;
• which legal bodies and entities can help you out.

Some countries have organized governmental bodies that give legal advice and other forms of help. Many countries have NGOs that offer free advice and legal representation.

By understanding why you are being a target of mobbing at workplace or academic mobbing, you will realize that it's probably not your fault, but actually comes from the fact that you are better at something: 

1. Mobbing targets are usually independent in the workgroup. They aren't subservient. They don't allow to be enslaved by others, they take steps to preserve their dignity and self-respect. Most bullies have strong resentment towards these character traits.
2. Mobbing targets are usually the most skilled in the workgroup. People turn to them for guidance and advice which they (usually) provide wholeheartedly, and for which they are admired and looked up to. Insecure managers and bullies have a problem with these people because they want all the attention and praise to themselves.
3. Mobbing targets often have more developed social skills. They may have higher emotional intelligence which in turn makes them easy to get along with, they make friendships easy, and they become (relatively) popular in a short time, clients and customers often like them more than others and ask for them to do business with. Bullies usually lack these traits and find them hard and impossible to develop.
4. Mobbing targets can be people with high integrity, strong moral and ethical standards, honest and fair. They may find it hard "to keep their mouth shut" when witnessing something that isn't right or fair, they might even engage in whistleblowing. They are not political players and definitely not appreciated among bullies.
5. Mobbing targets aren't aggressive, but aren't easy to intimidate. They can hold their group with calm, dignity and poise. They can be morally superior. This can drive a bully crazy!

In other words, getting mobbed may even be an (unintended) compliment on your personal traits and skills!

Unfortunately, some companies "approve" mobbing. You can spot this if their response to mobbing accusations include the following: 

• Bullying is actually tough dynamic management;
• Bullying is actually assertiveness;
• The bully isn't actually a bully, you are behaving like a victim;
• Victims really provoke bullying;
• Victims are not team-players;
• Victims are overly sensitive;
• It is the fault of the victims, because they can't defend themselves;
• The victim actually wants to sue the company and win easy money;
• Victims are actually whiners;
• It is just a personality clash;

More details available in the article on bullyonline.org.

If you determined that mobbing is actually in the "nature" of your company then there are only two solutions, in you are not sure how to deal with mobbing at work: either leave the company or stay and accept it.

One of the most prevalent forms of denial out there about mobbing is that everyone doing it, says it isn't mobbing, but a form of management. Thus, it is important for you as the victim to know what mobbing is.

Mobbing in the context of human beings means bullying of an individual by any group (i.e. mob - mobbing). Workplace mobbing is bullying in the workplace by a larger group. It generally means that an individual is a target of disrespectful and harmful behavior, the individual experiences a psychological, emotional, and even a physical assault. 

For more information, please check the following page.

There are various solutions for people that are exposed to workplace bullying. This is a 3-step program presented by the WBI called the 3-step target action plan that will help you deal with bullying, mobbing and harassment.

Step 1 - Name what you are experiencing (bullying, harassment, etc.)
Step 2 - Take time to heal and organize a counterattack (ex. research your legal options).
Step 3 - Expose the bully (work with your employer to have this issue resolved).

For more explanation of this 3-step action plan, the pros and cons, please read the original concept here.

Mobbing doesn't just start one day and finish off the next. It takes time for it to develop and usually by the time you become aware that you are a victim, it could be too late. Here are some mobbing "self-defense" tips:

• Resolving the mobbing issue is your short-term goal. However, since many organizations side with the bully, you might consider a long-term strategy of departmental transfer or leaving the company for another organization. Your end goal is to have a workplace, a job you are happy with, so don't wait to have an emotional breakdown before you take action.
• Be cool. Sometimes the goal of the bully is to drive you crazy, and act out your anger in front of everyone, effectively making you undermine yourself. Never lose your cool in front of the bully.
• The goal of the bully can be to get you fired. The bully often works to suck up to higher management, so he may be in the position to cause you to lose your job. Regular harassment and emotional abuse can have a negative effect on your job performance. You may grow to dislike your job more and more, not being motivated or interested in it, and consequently, doing a bad job over the course of time. DO NOT give the management team a reason to fire you and side even more with the bully. Do a good job, even in the face of adversity. If you are interviewed by the HR or the manager, you can always open up about the harassment and say that you gave your best under the circumstances.
• Record every time you were harassed. This means who was the bully, when did that particular incident occur, why did it come to that, what happened, what was the exact behavior of the bully, were there any witnesses and their details and etc. This can help you present your case and position in a potential hearing, internally in the company, or at the courts.
• Study all company's procedures and action plans in order to deal with a bully. Also, obtain valid external information about mobbing in the workplace (internet, support groups, NGOs, etc.)
• Get some emotional and psychological support and healing. While working in that company you need to be healthy and sane.
• Get some additional training for the purpose of finding a new job.

If you feel that you are one of those few unfortunate people experiencing mobbing at work, realize that you are not alone at all. It might help you to know that it is actually quite common and that you are not "unlucky", nor is there something wrong with you. The Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) believes that in the United States alone, one third of the employees have reported being bullied. They have found that workplace abuse is more present in female-dominated professions like nursing and teaching. According to them, about 40% of the time, the perpetrators are women. The vast majority of targets are also women. 

Mobbing varies from country to country, from organization to organization, and from profession to profession. In can include ethnic, religious, sexual, and other forms of abuse and harassment.

When one is a target of workplace mobbing, bullying and harassment, it is easy to lose emotional control and behave in ways that portray you in a bad light, which, very often, is the goal of the bully. If you find yourself in this situation, these are some of the mistakes you should strive to avoid.

1. Dumping or venting your emotional frustration indiscriminately. This could mean several things:

a.Victims of bullying want to share their pain and drama to others, even co-workers, often several times a day, or until someone pays attention. At some level this is attention seeking. You want someone to "hear you". At best, co-workers might get turned off by this behavior after some time. At worst, you might say things in your frustration to be heard that someone might use it against you. 

b. You might lash out at co-workers or even managers that are not part of the mobbing in any way. You may do this in a moment of frustration, and feel bad about it later. After all, you are in an emotional turmoil. However, this behavior might make people less sympathetic to your plight.

2. Venting information. You are upset, you feel weak and helpless, so you begin making plans about what you are going to do to assert or protect yourself, which is fine, until you begin to talk about this to co-workers. You might even yell this information out, like saying in front of everyone that you will sue the manager for harassment. This gives time to the guilty party to prepare an excuse or defense, as well as reason to further sabotage and undermine you, until they are proven to be right.

3. Projecting a horrible future. Victims of mobbing and abuse often feel so emotionally fragile and helpless that they lose all positive images about themselves and their lives. Some engage in continual negative thinking about their future like "I am too old to find a better job" or "I'd better keep my mouth shut or they will fire me if I say something". This can accelerate the psychological breakdown of any person, as well as kill their hopes, drive and motivation. Realize that whatever you are thinking will probably never happen and that your helpless self is just messing with your mind in order to feel worse.

So, you finally passed the preliminary tests and interviews and are ready to meet the new boss you will work for. It is natural for the boss to meet the new prospective employee for a final interview. However, this is a great opportunity for you to scan and test the boss for any mobbing indicators. How do you do that? Here are several ideas.

1. When visiting the office, observe the general atmosphere in the office. Are people ok? Do they engage in normal communication? Do they joke and laugh? How stressed out do they appear? Are they happy? 

2. If you get a chance to walk through the office with the potential boss, observe how people react to the boss. Do they greet him warmly? Do they joke? Do they murmur a greeting and try to get out of his way? Do they try to avoid the boss? When they talk to the boss, do they look straight into his eyes with normal body language, or do they try to avoid eye-contact with him and appear to be tense?

3. Observe the behavior of the boss towards his employees. While walking through the office, does the boss have any temper slips? Perhaps he makes some profane, vulgar comments about someone? Does he criticize employees in a crude, inappropriate way? Maybe he makes crude, inappropriate jokes about someone in the office working under him, making fun of their work, race, sex, religion, nationality, wardrobe, etc?

4. How does he behave towards you during the interview? Is he trying to make himself "cool" and "all-knowing" by making snide comments about your education or school? Does he have something condescending to say about your previous company? Does he engage in name calling? Does he make any threatening gestures? Perhaps he got upset about someone wanting to take a day-off due to working overtime lately?

5. Bullies often change the rules so that people may fail. During your interview, note if the boss made some sudden change in requirements or deadlines that left the employees stunned, wide-eyed, or complaining. Also, make a note if you get the impression that the boss somehow withholds valuable information and resources. As you leave, try to learn whether this job opening is due to someone being promoted, or because someone left or was fired.

6. Bullies often reassign blame to others, so, they can find fault. Observe if the boss blames or is overly critical of the employees. Does he mention punishments often? Does he have anything nice to say about your predecessor or is full of negative comments about him? Does he make comments about how the staff is unable to handle the job, the tasks, the responsibilities, and so on.

If you notice some of these signs, you may be walking into the nest of a bully. Try to learn more about the company.

Depending on where you are from, your country's labor laws, the existence of unions, and any relevant mobbing legislation, things might differ from what will be stated here. The ideas presented here are generally correct for most countries in the Western world.

Coercing an employee to do something that is against his will under the threat of being dismissed, is a form of mobbing. Usually, an employer can terminate employment due to gross misconduct, negligence and insubordination. If an employee is being dismissed because he refused to be coerced into doing something under the threat of being fired if the employee doesn't comply, the employee may file a claim for unfair dismissal. 

Ethically speaking, coercing an employee to do what they do not want to do under the threat of employment termination if they do not "play ball", is a breach of ethical conduct. As such, most companies have, or should have, ethical guidelines for both, employers (management) and employees, to adhere to. These ethical standards are there for the purpose of describing the standards a company wishes to uphold. A boss that engages in coercion most likely is violating this ethical standard (if the company has one).

Our solution is that you check your company's ethical standard. If they don't have one maybe they should implement it.

People often wonder if what they are experiencing is officially considered as bullying. Here is a definition you might find useful from BULLY ONLINE, a website dedicated to the topics of bullying, mobbing and the like.

According to this website “bullying is a conduct that cannot be objectively justified by a reasonable code of conduct, and whose likely or actual cumulative effect is to threaten, undermine, constrain, humiliate, or harm another person or their property, reputation, self-esteem, self-confidence or ability to perform."

Does this sound like what you experience in the workplace? If the answer is "yes", then you might want to face the bully to clear the issue, or report this to the upper management.

The more one researches this topic, the more solutions are found. Some are similar, some are very different. They do however agree on the basics. Here is a simple test you can do for yourself to know whether you are being bullied.

1. Are you being isolated? People that are bullied find them self-isolated in the company from a whole spectrum of activities and things. Some examples: excluded from what is happening in the organization, denied information and knowledge on how to achieve professional objectives, starved from resources that others find readily available, denied management support, overloaded with work, marginalized, ignored, etc.
2. Are you being controlled and subjugated? There are many ways that can make you feel controlled. Examples: having a very long job description, or an unclear one leaving room for different interpretations; given goals and deadlines that are ridicuously unrealistic , being on the receiving end of harsh, destructive criticism; forced to feel guilt and blame, having your ideas frequently ridiculed and/or dismissed, subjected to fault-finding, being micro-managed and more.
3. Are you being eliminated? This can happen over the course of time, often in subtle ways that don't seem obvious to you. Some indications are: being invited to "just chat about things", which turns out to be disciplinary hearing; facing unjustified disciplinary action, receiving unjustified verbal and/or written warnings, receiving "friendly" advice for voluntary resignation or early retirement, which is actually a form of coercion.

If you find some of these things happen to you, you may be experiencing a form of bullying and harassment. You might want to face and discuss the conflict with the bully, or report this to your upper management.

Victims of unethical workplace behavior often cannot tell the difference between what they are experiencing, or the seriousness of it. These explanations can help you understand the difference between bullying and harassment and assault.

The BULLYONLINE website gives their definition on the difference between workplace bullying vs. harassment and assault.

Bullying differs from harassment and assault in that the latter can result from a small number of fairly serious incidents - which everybody recognizes as harassment or assault - whereas bullying tends to be an accumulation of many small incidents over a long period of time. Each incident tends to be trivial, and on its own and out of context does not constitute an offence or grounds for disciplinary or grievance action.

In other words, bullying can be subtle and disguised as anything but what it appears to be. It is harder to recognize and harder to acknowledge. In fact, some victims of bullying are often in denial about what is happening to them.

If this is happening to you, it is definitely time to get out of denial!

Many bullies that harass their employees claim to do so because they practice some kind of tough, but effective management. This also keeps the victims in denial. 

There are many definitions of workplace harassment. The following definition is not a legal definition, but rather a guideline for understanding and recognizing workplace harassment.

"Any unprofessional, unwanted, unwelcome or unethical behavior in the workplace, ranging from mildly unpleasant remarks all the way to physical violence, can be considered harassment."

There are various forms of harassment: verbal, physical, emotional, sexual, racial, etc. 

If you are/have experienced any type of harassment, then you might be a victim of harassment, and you may need to take steps to report this to your superiors, or take some sort of legal measures.

Bullying is often used to describe a repeated pattern of negative intrusive volitional behavior against one or more targets. It may represent constant trivial criticism, devaluing, discrediting, undermining and the inability to acknowledge a person. Bullying is usually initiated and exercised by one person, although others might join in later. 

Mobbing, on the other hand, is (by definition) performed by a group of people in a social setting which in this case is a workplace. This "pack" might be small or large(er) and they involve themselves in an adversarial conduct with their chosen target in order to undermine or harm the target in a visible or measurable way obvious to others.

In mobbing there is always a pack leader. If this person is extrovert he is easily obvious for he/she is the one leading the adversarial action and coercing others in the pack to join in. If the leader is an introvert he/she is more difficult to spot for he/she works in the background coercing and manipulating others to join in on the mobbing. 

Generally, the introvert pack leader is considered more dangerous than the extrovert.

There are many ways to deal with the bully and other mobbing practices through the system, however, they are often not efficient. For example, if you file a grievance to the HR, the bully might have time to prepare a defense, or to move more aggressively in the direction of having you eliminated from the company, based on some false charges. If you go through unions, they might side with the management. Taking legal action might be time-consuming and costly, and there is no guarantee of success. 

Sometimes, the best way to deal with workplace mobbing, harassment or bullying is to stand up for yourself. Standing up and asserting yourself is empowering and being proactive, something that bullying strives to stomp out of the victim. However many people choose not to stand up for themselves, preferring to "lay low". For the mobbing pack, and even up the management ladder this may seem like an admittance of guilt, thinking that if you were truly innocent you would do something about it.

As with any human activity, there are many good reasons for taking an action, but there are also many reasons people don't act regardless of the fact how (un)grounded these reasons are. Here are some reasons for not acting on your behalf. See if you find yourself here:

1. The long-term mobbing practice has been such a "success" that the victim is feeling so disempowered that he cannot gather enough strength or willpower to mount a proper defense.
2. The bully has been so good at on one hand isolating the victim, and on the other hand at manipulating management, that he has managed to convince the majority of co-workers as well as the management that he is right about his criticism of the victim.
3. The mobbing practice has actually managed to convince the victim that he is somehow inadequate, thus the victim suffers from unjustified high levels of guilt, shame and embarrassment.
4. The target fears that he will lose his job if he/she stands up for himself.
5. In those cases when the bully is the manager, and the victim fears being fired, the victim dreads that the manager will give him such a bad reference that he will not be able to find a good job, or any job in a long time.
6. Sometimes, the only way to stand up for yourself is to take the manager bully to an employment tribunal. This goes in your record. The fear to act here is that the victim believes other employers will see him/her as a troublemaker and won't hire him/her.
7. There is such a high level of office/company denial that the victim can't find any support or someone to back up their story.

If you find yourself in this list then you might be putting off doing what is necessary and standing up for yourself. The more items on this list you find yourself in, the tougher and patient you are.

Some people want to solve issues through the system, and going to unions for some types of mobbing is their choice. Generally speaking, the answer should be positive without thinking too much about it. That is why unions are there, there are structures already set-up for cases like workplace mobbing, there are processes and procedures in place, etc. However, sometimes unions side with company management due to politics. Other times, your union representative might be willing to help, but he/she is blocked by the higher echelons in the union that are close with the management of your organization.

Do some reading on how your local union has acted in similar cases in the past and do get some advice before taking any actions.

Support by co-workers when being bullied or harassed is one of the most important and powerful gifts a victim can receive. Yet people sometimes find themselves in shock when good friends and colleagues from work, suddenly become distant, or don't want to discuss your problem, or even try to downplay it, like it is just your imagination. Some give you outright advice to "play ball", "bend with the wind" or in other words accept the bullying without rocking the company boat too much. 

If you find yourself in this situation, there isn't much help someone can give you, but understanding what is going on with your friends and co-workers may be of some consolation to you.

There are three main reasons why your co-workers aren't siding or supporting you in your time of need.

1. Ignorance of the bullying practice - this can mean several things: denial of bullying, inability to recognize or acknowledge bullying, blaming the victim for what is happening to him, "following the herd" mentality or in other words not being willing to stand out, due to personal emotional intelligence or previous work experiences they might consider mobbing normal behavior, being manipulated or coerced by the bully themselves, being too disempowered to stand up in your support, and much more.
2. Fear of being bullied - there is a powerful undercurrent of fear running through the organization which prevents people from speaking up or taking action, some people are so weak that they just side with the bully who in their view is the more powerful and likely to win, some have already witnessed another colleague that has been disciplined for siding with a co-worker and against a bully, due to fear some people might help covertly without risking exposure, and most just don't want the bully to place them in his target list.
3. Complicity - the friends and co-workers you trusted in have actually never been true and loyal to you, people may side with the bully for personal benefits and will support him, lie for him, deny his behavior, serve as his apologist and more; the bully is successful at convincing or bewitching your co-workers to support him, some pathetic people think that bullying is fun to watch.

Everyone is familiar with the destructive influence bullying, mobbing, and harassment have in the work environment. More and more countries are passing various laws against workplace mobbing and harassment. Yet, instead of mobbing going down as a trend, some data and studies show that mobbing is on the rise.  

A government inquiry done in Australia in 2012 reveals that workplace mobbing and bullying has increased to 70% in the last three years (2009-2012). Other statistics show that one out of three employees are affected by workplace bullying in one way or another. Keep in mind that these numbers are not completely accurate. For every case of abuse reported, 8 to 20 cases go unreported.

There are several reasons for this increase in workplace mobbing and bullying, and knowing what these reasons are may help you in protecting yourself from being the victim. 

1. Companies experiencing financial pressure - these are companies and organizations that are not doing well. Could be that they are not competitive, their market is shrinking or whatever. The main goal is that when a company feels things are going sour, managers promote, allow and turn a blind eye to workplace mobbing. 
2. Companies managed by Boards of Directors and Shareholders - directors and shareholders are fairly alienated from the actual workplace, the work process and their employees. These people are usually only driven by their own financial interest. If they want more, or think that things aren't going well, they will "allow" mobbing if it increases their gain.
3. Companies that outsource - many companies appear to respect labor laws, and other unwritten moral and ethical codes of behavior in the workplace. However, these same companies often outsource, in order to increase production and sales in places where the workforce isn't protected by strong legislation. Although mobbing and bullying isn't mandatory (understandably), these companies permit themselves to engage in (excessive) bullying, abuse, mobbing and harassment simply because they can, and no one can do anything about it.

If you find yourself being employed in a company that falls under these categories, you might experience mobbing in future.