Leadership Bullying – The Silent Epidemic Part One
In my first newsletter of 2024, I described the return-to-office (RTO) mandates as a mix of “Bribery, bullying, backflips, and bullshit.”
In May last year, I wrote a newsletter titled “When they go low, you go high – leadership bullying” in response to the rising use of leadership tactics that emphasise coercion and punishment.
I followed that up with “Bullying has no place – anywhere”, which explored how we can eliminate bullying from our workplaces.
Many of you contacted me about your experiences with workplace bullying. What became clear is that bullying has evolved into a new form. It is no longer about name-calling, shouting, and explosive outbursts. Instead, it is much more subtle, psychological, and insidious.
You used words like toxic, fear, control, sabotage, sanction, dysfunctional, ostracism, coercion and systemic.
Leadership bullying is the new workplace epidemic. Its impact on trust, well-being, engagement, and performance is devastating. In 2026, we must work to eradicate it
The consequences
If ignored, the impact can be fatal.
Court Services Victoria (CSV)
Melbourne Magistrates Court sentenced CSV, which administers Victoria’s (Australia) court system, after it pleaded guilty to not providing and maintaining a safe workplace.
“The court heard that from at least December 2015 to September 2018, workers at the Coroners Court were at risk from exposure to traumatic materials, role conflict, high workloads and work demands, poor workplace relationships and inappropriate workplace behaviours.
During this period, workers made numerous complaints, including allegations of bullying, favouritism and cronyism, verbal abuse, derogatory comments, intimidation, invasions of privacy and perceived threats to future progression.
Several workers took leave after reporting feelings of anxiety, PTSD, stress, fear and humiliation.
Some workers never returned to the workplace, including the Principal In-House Solicitor, Jessica Wilby. The 45-year-old had been on personal leave for three months, during which she was diagnosed with a work-related major depressive disorder, when she took her own life in September 2018.”
Dubbo Council
Mark Findlayson worked for Dubbo Council (New South Wales, Australia) for almost 20 years.
Mark’s job with the Council was to manage infrastructure and planning. This role arose from a council merger in 2017. When Mark asked for help because he was overwhelmed, he was told he should resign from his position. His wife said, “that was the most catastrophic thing that could have happened to him”.
She had watched her husband drown in an unsustainable workload, often coming home worried about his dysfunctional office. He hit rock bottom and took his own life in 2018.
Inexcusable
The Action Network, working to end workplace abuse, lists the names of 15 employees in the USA who took their own lives between 2005 and 2022 following forms of workplace bullying.
A 2025 scientific report published in Nature provided strong evidence that employees exposed to bullying have significantly higher odds of having suicidal ideation.
A report by The Sector in February 2025 found that 1/3 of employees in North America experience workplace bullying.
And I have previously written about the suicides at France Telecom. Between 2008 and 2009, 35 employees at France Télécom took their own lives following organised workplace harassment by company executives. (France Télécom became Orange S.A. in 2013).
The executives needed to cut costs, so they hatched a plan to eliminate about 22,000 workers and conduct an overall restructuring. Jack Kelly summed up the plan in his Forbes article, “French CEO Sent To Prison After His Policies Resulted In The Suicides Of 35 Employees.”
Evolution
In 2026, bullying has not gone away; it has evolved. It has become systemic, carried out by leaders who often do not know they are doing it. Many think they are showing strong leadership, having high standards, or driving performance. They mistake fear and control for respect and engagement. The results are just the opposite, but they fail to see it. They lack emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and insight into their own management styles.
It is quieter, smarter, and more sophisticated. It includes policy-driven and digital bullying. Leaders use psychological and workload bullying. They micromanage to retain control, and their biases (often unconscious) lead to exclusion, isolation, and discrimination.
I want to explore some of the ways bullying has become a silent epidemic in too many organisations. I will continue the exploration in the next newsletter.
Policy-driven
This is when power is hidden behind procedure, and it is the fastest-growing form of bullying. It is bullying that appears legitimate because it is wrapped in business needs, policy updates, operational requirements and performance expectations.
The return-to-office (RTO) mandates are the most visible example. It is not going into the office that is the issue; it is the power dynamics behind the demand that make it bullying.
I cited the example of the big banks linking pay rises and bonuses to the number of days spent in the office in a newsletter last month.
Sky News revealed on 29 August 2025 that the 4th-largest Australian bank, ANZ, bases its performance and pay on three tiers.
1. Staff appearing in the office less than 20% of the time receive no salary increase or performance bonus unless they have an exemption.
2. Staff showing up to the office between 21% and 40% of their hours worked could have their bonus cut in half.
3. Staff showing up to the office between 41% and 49% would be subject to a conversation with their managers, who have been told to act against those who fail to hit the 50% requirement.
Bullying is the application of punitive consequences. Policies are being used as weapons, and leaders become enforcers.
When leaders threaten, they are bullying.
“Come into the office or find another job.” Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase.
“If you don't show up, we will assume you have resigned.” Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla.
“If you can’t disagree and commit… It’s probably not going to work out for you at Amazon because we are going back to the office at least three days a week.” Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon
Why?
Why do leaders do it?
They fear losing control. Flexibility to work where and when you want threatens archaic leaders who rely on visibility rather than capability.
They are in their comfort zone with command-and-control. They are more comfortable with policies than conversations.
They do not trust. They assume employees will take advantage of autonomy.
They mistake policy enforcement for leadership because they don’t know another way.
Digital bullying
This is bullying that thrives when employees work remotely.
Distance, technology, and ambiguity make leadership bullying easier, faster, and harder to detect.
Employee surveillance tools are a prime example. Employees are bullied into keeping the green light on to avoid punishment for being unavailable. Leaders equate productivity with a digital presence.
Some leaders bully employees by sending “urgent” emails outside office hours and expecting an immediate response. Employees are intimidated by the expectation that they will instantly respond wherever they are and at whatever time.
Employees have reported that leaders use communication platforms and collaboration tools such as MS Teams and Slack to publicly shame them. They ask why certain tasks were not done, why mistakes were made and lay the blame directly on the employee.
This all gets exacerbated when technology provides leaders with additional tools to control employees. MS Teams will introduce a new feature later this year that will start flagging when employees are “not at work,” using a combination of presence indicators and device activity data. The system will even detect whether an employee connects to (or doesn’t connect to) the company’s Wi-Fi network.
This just gives leaders more data to fuel the control over why employees are not in the office.
Why?
Why leaders do it
Distance makes it easier to bully. Leaders do not see the reaction or the adverse impact they have had.
Remote working blurred the boundaries. Leaders have exploited the fact that they no longer need to overstep boundaries; they can breeze right through them.
They fear a loss of control and panic when they cannot “see” productivity.
Digital distance amplifies poor leadership and exposes the true behaviour behind the mask.
It matters
These behaviours, and those I will explore next week, are often not done maliciously.
They are done because leaders are insecure, lack emotional intelligence and self-awareness, are overwhelmed, and avoid discomfort. They are using outdated leadership models and are not prepared to unlearn and relearn. They are leading from fear and are unskilled in modern leadership mindsets.
This is why the epidemic is spreading- unconscious leadership is greater than intentional harm.