Psychological harassment: The most common and least talked-about workplace abuse

Experiences of Violence and Harassment at Work: A Global First Survey

What is psychological workplace harassment?

What qualifies as psychological harassment?

Open, obvious harassment

Subtle harassment

constantly

In-between cases

Serial sarcasm: A manager’s “jokes” aimed at one employee aren’t wit; they’re calibrated status signals. One quip is clumsy. A weekly routine is humiliation as policy.

Micromanagement as control: Oversight becomes harassment when time-tracking, approvals, and reversals are so granular they disable judgement—and are followed by public beratings. That’s not quality assurance; it’s dominance.

Feedback weaponised: Legitimate feedback cites evidence and offers a path to improve. A drumbeat of negatives without specifics or support is punitive by design.

Boundary erosion: After-hours calls, pings, “quick checks” that ignore stated norms convert rest time into unpaid compliance.

Tough management vs. psychological harassment

Your playbook for psychological harassment

“This is happening to me,”

Document everything

Read the rulebook

Set a boundary (only if safe)

Report internally

Build support

Know your legal options

Workplace harassment isn’t just a matter of bad bosses — it’s a public health issue. The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of working-age adults were living with a mental disorder in 2019. Depression and anxiety alone cost the global economy roughly 12 billion lost workdays each year, a staggering $1 trillion in lost productivity.