Forms of workplace violence and how to recognise them

Workplace violence rarely begins with a dramatic event. It typically starts with small boundary crossings that the organisation tolerates out of habit or convenience, and which over time become the norm. By the time the first formal report arrives, the pattern has usually been running for months or years.

The overview below sets out the forms it can take, and how it can be recognised — even when nobody speaks up.

The eight forms

Verbal violence

The most common form, and the easiest to play down. It is often labelled “style” or “temperament”.

• Shouting, belittling, humiliating someone in front of others.
• Mocking or disparaging remarks about a colleague’s person, appearance, origin or age.
• Continuous criticism without specifics, aimed at the person rather than the work.
• Threats concerning the job, the position or pay.

Psychological violence and mobbing

Rarely a single dramatic event. It assembles itself from small steps that seem insignificant on their own, which is exactly why it is hard to name.

• Systematic exclusion from meetings, from social events, from the flow of information.
• Withholding information needed to do the work.
• Deliberately setting impossible deadlines or pointless tasks.
• Disputing the results of someone’s work, or crediting it to another person.
• Ignoring a colleague, treating them as if they were not there.

Conduct of a sexual nature

It does not turn on intent, but on whether the conduct was unwanted and what kind of environment it created.

• Remarks about appearance, private life or sex life.
• Suggestive “jokes”, innuendo, intrusive compliments.
• Unwanted touching, leaning in close, crossing personal space.
• Sending unwanted messages or images of a sexual nature.
• Pressure: offering an advantage or holding out a disadvantage in exchange for conduct of a sexual nature.

Physical violence

The least disputed form, yet the least reported, because it carries the greatest consequences for the perpetrator.

• Pushing, shoving, dragging someone out of the way.
• Throwing objects, slamming things, deliberately damaging equipment.
• Physically preventing someone from leaving or moving.
• Any form of bodily harm.

Online and digital harassment

The fastest-growing form as the boundary between work and private life disappears. It leaves traces, but the evidence is easily lost.

• Continuous messages outside working hours, calls expecting an immediate answer.
• Humiliation in a group chat or on social media.
• Sending unwanted content through internal systems.
• Unjustified, continuous digital monitoring and checking.
• Excluding a colleague from groups and email threads.

Economic detriment

Rarely called violence, although in an employment relationship it is one of the most effective means of applying pressure.

• Withholding a bonus, an award or a promotion as punishment.
• Using overtime or shift allocation as a disciplinary tool.
• Cutting someone off from training and development opportunities.
• Hollowing out a role while leaving the formal position in place.

Violence from third parties

From a client, guest, patient, supplier or relative. The person affected often endures it because they feel the organisation expects them to.

• Verbal aggression, threats or conduct of a sexual nature from a client.
• The expectation that the employee should “put up with it”, because client satisfaction comes first.
• The incident passing without consequence, which leads to repetition.

Systemic pattern

Where it is not about one person’s behaviour, but about how the organisation works.

• There is no route for raising concerns, or there is one but nothing follows.
• A manager’s style becomes the norm over time, and the team adopts it.
• The people who speak up leave regularly, while the person named stays.
• The claim that “this does not happen here”, made without any measurement.

How it can be recognised

What a manager sees directly

• Someone who used to be active suddenly goes quiet in meetings.
• Two people consistently avoid working together.
• Laughter after which one person is not laughing — or leaves the room.
• A colleague who reorganises their day so as not to run into someone.
• Repeated “jokes” that always have the same person as their subject.

What the data shows

These indicators signal something even when nobody files a report. It is worth looking at them broken down by organisational unit, because the aggregate figure hides the pattern.

• Turnover in a single unit, while the rest of the organisation is stable.
• Short, repeated periods of sick leave in the same team.
• Exit interviews in which several people mention “the atmosphere” or “management style”, without specifics.
• Departures during probation concentrated under one manager.
• Zero reports for years, alongside a reporting channel that is supposed to work.

What does not amount to harassment

This matters at least as much as the list above. Stretching the concept weakens precisely the people it should protect: if every unpleasant situation at work is harassment, then the real cases become easier to dismiss as well.

This is not harassment in itself	But it can become harassment if…
Criticism of the quality of work, performance appraisal, naming areas for development.	…it targets the person, happens publicly and in a humiliating way, or consistently affects only one individual.
Allocating tasks, setting deadlines, holding people to account, checking the work.	…it is impossible, pointless, or used as a disciplinary tool.
Reorganisation, changes to roles, redundancies.	…they are aimed at one person because they spoke up or because of a protected characteristic.
Disagreement, argument, a tense working relationship between two equal parties.	…it becomes one-sided, and one party cannot defend themselves in the situation.
A one-off tactless remark that stops when the person objects.	…it continues despite the objection, or the person suffers a detriment for objecting.

What to do when you recognise it

Recognition is not in itself a measure. If a manager or an HR colleague sees any of the signs above, the next step is not gathering evidence, but assessing the situation and opening a conversation.

What exactly the employer must do after a report, who may investigate a case, and which deadlines to watch are covered in detail in the FAQ for employers.

If this affects you, or you witnessed an incident, you will find information and free helplines on Harassment at work – what can I do?