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The taboo of harassment in the workplace is gradually being lifted among the general public. We talk about it, we suffer from it, but we don’t always know what it is. When can we really talk about harassment? Does it necessarily involve a hierarchical relationship? To what extent is the company responsible? Answers from Ariane Bilheran, clinical psychologist, doctor in psychopathology, consultant and author of Harcèlement en entreprise : comprendre, prévenir et agir (Armand Colin, 2010).

How is harassment defined in the workplace?

It’s a complex interpersonal mechanism that can be found in a variety of settings, such as the family, the institution or the workplace. Whatever the setting, several criteria are fundamental in determining whether or not a situation is harassment. The first criterion is the asymmetrical nature of the relationship. It is important to distinguish harassment from conflict, where the relationship between the two protagonists is symmetrical. Harassment is characterized by an asymmetrical relationship between a person, or a group of people, who abuse their power to destroy another person, or another group of people. Harassment therefore does not always concern just two individuals, but sometimes entire groups. However, for the sake of simplicity, in this interview I will only refer to « harasser » and « harassee » in the singular. Second criterion: repetition of acts. Harassment is characterized by a repetition of small acts of abuse aimed at slowly destroying the victim by terrorizing him or her. The seriousness of the situation lies in the accumulation of these invisible attacks. Third criterion: these attacks aim to destroy the victim’s psychological integrity.

Does harassment in the workplace necessarily involve a hierarchical relationship between the two protagonists?

Often yes, but not necessarily. As the relationship is asymmetrical, the harasser necessarily has power (official or unofficial) over the person being harassed. So, sometimes managers or directors harass an employee. However, I’ve also seen managers or HR directors harassed by employees who have a great deal of power for other reasons (unions, cronies…). So it’s important not to automatically incriminate the line manager. Unfortunately, this often happens, and sometimes wrongly. This is further complicated by the new generations’ relationship with authority and demands. For example, one employee, without realizing the consequences, claimed to have been harassed by her superior because he would not accept any spelling mistakes in her writing. Or a female manager was accused of harassing her male employees, on the pretext that she was a woman! So let’s try to distance ourselves from stereotypes, because reality is often far more complex.

What are the warning signs?

As this form of aggression is vicious and invisible, it’s not easy to spot, whatever our relationship with the victim (colleague, superior, friend, etc.). However, signs such as a noticeable change in mood, feelings of guilt, excessive silence, shame, depressive thoughts, somatization or repeated sick leave can alert us. The traumas experienced are sometimes comparable to those of torture victims (torture being a form of physical harassment, by the way).

Can you describe the first steps in a harassment situation?

It often begins with a change in the company, be it restructuring, the arrival of new recruits or a merger, or even the real or supposed fear of a redundancy plan. The harasser begins to display a series of insidious behaviours designed to harm the victim. These may be acts, such as attacking the victim’s integrity in public (humiliation, sexist jokes, etc.), or on the contrary non-acts, such as not saying hello to the person, taking away his or her desk, depriving him or her of the equipment needed to carry out his or her tasks. The aim of all these behaviours is to exclude the person from the work group, to disaffiliate them from their professional allegiances and their own values. The victim’s reactions will vary and will be used by the harasser to his advantage. Either she will be impulsive and rebel against the harasser, in which case she will be criticized for her lack of control, her « hysteria », or she will close in on herself. There are several types of harassment: moral, sexual and physical (less frequent because more visible). In all cases, the collective is largely responsible for the gradual establishment of the harassment situation, with passive witnesses (who usually don’t want to see) and active witnesses (who also see and participate).

Who can an employee who has been the victim of harassment contact?

There are a number of people you can turn to: Human Resources, members of the CHSCT (Comité d’Hygiène, de Sécurité et des Conditions de Travail – Health, Safety and Working Conditions Committee), including the works doctor and the labor inspectorate, as well as employee representatives. The important thing is not to remain isolated and to pass on the message. I advise anyone who has been harassed to be proactive, to gather testimonies from colleagues, to keep a diary in which to record the facts on a daily basis, and to systematically formalize these facts in writing (e-mail, registered letter, etc.). Once a complaint has been received, the company must launch an investigation without delay.

Is there a profile of harassers and harassed personalities?

Yes and no. It’s tricky to talk about « profiles » when referring to such complex relationship issues. First of all, let’s be clear: not all stalkers are narcissistic perverts. The stalker feels a deep sense of insecurity towards the person being stalked. This may be because the stalker is perceived as different from the group (disabled, coloured, female…), or as a threat (e.g. the former employee who fears that the newcomer will take his job). Harassers generally suffer from major narcissistic problems. Those harassed, on the other hand, are often highly committed to their work, demonstrating real professional worth. In all cases, harassment is only possible within a dysfunctional work organization, either because of a lack of prevention, or because of a mismatch between the desired prevention policy and the reality of behaviors, etc. It is this work organization that is the focus of our attention. It is this work organization that also needs to be « treated », to prevent situations from recurring.

How can a company deal with harassment?

The intervention of a professional from outside the company is essential. The worst thing is to believe that the situation will « settle down ». This can lead to employee turnover, suicide attempts and sometimes even chain suicides linked to pathological working environments, in which harassment becomes a commonplace phenomenon. Harassment within a company reveals a pathogenic work organization, and often leads to traumatic contagions. The aim is to clean up the work environment, even if the protagonists have left. The first step is an audit. The external consultant gathers testimonies from each volunteer employee before carrying out an in-depth analysis of the situation. This is the case whether or not a complaint of harassment has been substantiated, as the aim is to understand what is going on at work organization level. However, the audit process must be accepted by the company’s management. It should be noted that the labor inspectorate also has the right to conduct investigations and draw up reports. Unfortunately, in the case of harassment situations, the company is always more likely to be sanctioned than supported in its resolutions, which reinforces management denials and the defense mechanisms of the work collective.

How much responsibility does the company shoulder?

A situation of harassment does not only concern the protagonists, but the whole group. Often, a dysfunctional company implicitly or explicitly encourages this type of behavior. There is rarely a single case of harassment in a company. The company, like a large family, has a duty to set a framework and ensure that the rules are respected. However, some companies turn a blind eye and allow abnormal situations to drag on for years, for fear of punishing their employees. Furthermore, some companies misunderstand harassment, mistakenly equating it with conflict and offering simple mediation in the hope that things will « blow over ». Harassment can also be deliberately used as a tool to get employees to leave. Last but not least, we must not forget that employers have a legal responsibility, notably by virtue of their obligation to ensure the health and safety of their employees. Responsibility for acts of harassment is recognized, irrespective of the measures taken by the company to guarantee the health and safety of employees with regard to harassment. It is precisely at this point that I believe it would be worthwhile to provide more support to managers who are keen to prevent such incidents from occurring, and who are ready to train, initiate prevention policies and work on their professional postures to this end.

How can the company avoid harassment?

Preventive policies and their day-to-day application considerably reduce cases of harassment, such as a sustained educational approach to employees, and a clear disciplinary policy. This would enable management to anticipate and ask the right questions upstream: How is a complaint received? Who handles them? What type of sanctions are established? When is an audit triggered? etc.

Are there any statistics on harassment in the workplace?

No. Harassment is very difficult to quantify, because victims rarely come forward. This « silence » of the victim, which is the silence of shame and guilt, plays into the hands of the harasser. We can observe phenomena approaching forms of Stockholm Syndrome, where victims « cover up » for harassers. We can’t rely on legal statistics, because only a small minority of those harassed file a complaint, and many don’t follow through.

Books by Ariane Bilheran

Ariane Bilheran and Patrice Adam, Risques psychosociaux en entreprise, Armand Colin, 2011.

Ariane Bilheran and Gilles Bouyssou, Harassment in the workplace. Understanding, preventing, acting Armand Colin, 2010.

Ariane Bilheran, Harassment. Family, institution, company Armand Colin, 2009.