Bullying in the workplace increases employees' psychological distress and plans to quit their job—even for workers who aren't personally being bullied, reports a study in the December 2018 Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The study by Kanami Tsuno, PhD, MPH, of Wakayama Medical University, Japan, and colleagues adds to previous reports showing "indirect harmful effects of workplace bullying in bystanders." The study explored the "contextual effect" of workplace bullying, using baseline and 1-year follow-up responses from more than 2,000 Japanese civil servants. Workers completed a questionnaire to assess bullying at work, rating the frequency of items such as "spreading of gossip and rumors" or "persistent criticism of your work."

Individual reports of being bullied at work were linked to increased psychological distress (such as depression) at 1-year follow-up. Bullied workers also had higher ratings on a scale assessing their intention to leave their job. But these effects of individual-level bullying were no longer significant after further adjustment for bullying on the division and department levels. Division-level bullying had a greater impact on both psychological distress and intention to leave compared to individual exposure to bullying.

This contextual effect "suggests that the presence of bullying in the workplace can be a strong indicator of mental health problems and intention to leave among work members, regardless of individual experiences or witnessing of bullying," Dr. Tsuno and coauthors write. "[B]ullying is not simply an interpersonal issue but is an organizational dynamic that impacts all workers, even those who are not personally victimized."

Division-level bullying might be "a proxy for [a] stressful working environment" or may have "negative spillover effects" on mental health and motivation in all workers. Dr. Tsuno and colleagues conclude, "The presence of workplace bullying is an indicator that calls for intervention by employers and occupational health staff."