It is a fact that the best and most dedicated workers are the ones bullied. Studies have proven this time and again.

See the workplacebullying (dot) org section on Who Gets Targeted, and it is the popular and bright workers who go the extra mile, unlike the stereotypical introverts of school bullying. In the workplace, it is normally, something like 80 percent of the time, a supervisor or manager and the target is a subordinate. The supervisor has some issue that the subordinate is looking more capable, and instead of behaving like a good manager, harnessing the talent of the subordinate and rewarding good work (which actually makes the manager look good; and normally the target is trying to do that for the manager and team, and is rarely a credit hog) a toxic/bully manager feels threatened and begins to sabotage the employee, block info employee requires to do the assignment, and slams the solid accomplished employee behind her back. If you have a particularly evil supervisor, she will covertly do this and garner support from the group to begin a mobbing campaign. The employee is bewildered because suddenly the group that used to give positive feedback and even be drawn to the positive attributes of the employee, suddenly is ganging up to make life miserable, and then the isolation begins… Assignments are redistributed to less capable workers to begin the process of making the target feel worthless, and eventually the group gets on same page that the target — a once valued and appreciated, productive worker — is now “the problem” and must be gotten rid of. It is a devastating experience, particularly for targets who do not know what workplace bullying and mobbing is. Most assume people are inherently good so it is inconceivable the treatment and gaslighting they endure. Targets assume they need to change and spin wheels trying, but no matter what, they can’t improve the situation. The bully pulls strings like a puppetmaster, and is often very covert, and the group enters a group-think that is so vicious and cruel, but it is normalized so they often don’t even think about how they (who may be good people) are participating in an unjust and DELIBERATE health harming effort that wastes not only the potential and productivity of the target, but hurts the business and entire workgroup too. Even participants begin to suffer depression and stress and leave at higher rate, all the while, unbeknownst to the employer (or if you are in govt, taxpayers) that critical resources are down the toilet, and liability is wide open, all to serve — wait for it — THE TOXIC AGENDA OF THE INITIAL BULLY, A CELL LIKE CANCER THAT SPREADS LIKE WILDFIRE. Any employer with half a brain cell should look hard for this covert master manipulator who is behind it all, because once the target leaves (is fired, becomes ill, commits suicide, or dies of a stress related ailment… a few may get out and move to another job, but most are destroyed permanently once it gets to this level) once a target leaves, the cycle normally starts over with a new target. The bully is too expensive to keep so for those brave souls who against the odds will stick it out and fight, the only way to have a chance is to make an unemotional business case to the highest person accessible in the hierarchy, showing the costs of keeping the bully. I am not saying all bullying ends up this bad, but in cases of mobbing, it is essentially hopeless and the target should leave for another job asap. This type of bully is referred to as a serial-bully (see the work of the late Tim Field… excellent info, old ugly website from the 90s but well worth it to read) and also considered corporate-psychopaths (see Robert Hare and Paul Babiak – Snakes in Suits for corporate psychopathy in depth… and it is not what you may think; the psychopath is amongst the most charismatic and charming outwardly, until you are the target, and then the “mask of sanity” is dropped for only you, usually behind closed doors, so you havent a chance being believed. These people are different in that they have evil agenda and zero capacity for accountability and conscience or empathy. It is a difference in the brain biologically that enables them to act solely on a “risk vs benefit” and “what’s in it for me that i can strip from the target like a vampire drains blood, and you are left devastated, isolated and sans career, while this scheming poser sucks up credit for all you contributed, shifts blame at you, the scapegoat, and never never is accountable for their own behaviour. The psychopath type bully is fearless except for ONE thing: exposure… and that is very hard to do when they lie well enough to pass a lie detector and the target, at this point, is looking the part of “crazy” due to the trauma endured. That feeds right into the rumours the bully alreadyspread about target being “crazy” (that is always part of the bullying cycle that the target is discredited as “crazy” or “potentially dangerous”… whatever the bully can instill in the group as fear of the target and the group-consensus is developed to get rid of and not pay any attention to any ofmthe target’s complaints. The HR people and management, even employees should be trained to recognise the pattern of bullying, because once you know how it unfolds, it is actually predictible and obvious, and certainly can be prevented. Bullying and Mobbing is ONLY beneficial to the bully and is detrimental to everyone else, even the pawns who are the drone workers temporarily boosted and fawned over in order to deem target useless and send a message that the target is not needed. I have watched literally millions go wasted, when added up… of taxpayer dollars… as these ridiculous behaviours spread just to oust me and any who were in support of me. Then teams of contractors were paid to take portions of my work on, and less skilled colleagues AND the bully herself, were trained to start learning skills I entered already trained in and had proven accomplishments stacked behind me… yet they took my functions away and pulled constructive termination by placing ke in a deliberately miserable position (the bully herself crafted sneakily and controlled my new placement functions to smallest detail so I would have no connection to the type of work in my 12+year career path. The cruelty and malice was frightening to the point i was sick everyday in that office wondering at what point more weird behavior would derail me or when I would be talked to in earshot of colleagues like I’m in grammar school rather than a professional in my forties. The situation I refer to where sometimes it turns into cyber harassment AFTER the target is already out of work and loathed by all, well, that is not something I have heard much or anything about. There is no escape.. The nutcase still is obsessed with destroying me even though I have already lost everything. That is behavior of a true and very dangerous psychopath, and I know I am not alone out there… I think others who go through this much with a longstanding ferocious mobbing, leave and cower in the home to recover, but then just START to be dragged into a cybersmear campaign after they have nothing left in them…. i think people like me often die of sustained stress and the learned helplessness that ensues when “fight” and “flight” proves futile for so long. It is tough for any mobbing target to reenter a job, or even get another job, sans recent references, but when smeared across the internet by your own former supervisor, who has access to ALL the worst data and info for a cyber criminal to ever get their hands on, via the PERSONNEL FILE, wow, the target has little room for hope or healing. The target cannot heal while still under attack. Eventually the stress will literally kill the target by taking toll on health and ensuring no resources or support. A bully with an agenda like that is sick and of most dangerous type, and others will not understand because, well, 96 percent of us have a conscience and cannot relate to the fact that the other 4 percent does not. And 3 of those 4 percent are sociopaths who eventually APPEAR to have an outburst and do crazy things. The one percent which comprise the psychopath, are those who seem normal and even better than normal as the act is put on for the world. They can plan an attack for years, have patience of steel and never miss a beat as master manipulators. They often are stalkers, secretly, in other areas of life and they may never let go … because asmlong as the target is suffering, the bully/psychopath id gleaning pleasure from that power and pain being inflicted at their will. Cyberspace will be an interesting place to watch as it relates to workplace bullying, because I believe this is happening much more commonly than we think.

But the targets of this sustained abuse no longer have a voice, and in many cases no longer are living as they die all too frequently.

See the work of Heinz Leymann, as mobbing was initially studied in depth in the EU, where it is known and is illegal. Read some of his work — we in the US are about 20 yrs behind in our progress with mobbing — but imagine the effects he documented, and the subsequent revictimization, but in today’s society when the internet is available, for a malicious person to destroy another globally and permanently, with a few fake profiles and some search optimization skills.

I hope to hear from others who have been through this because I know they are out there, but their voiced have likely been stifled. It took me years to talk about this and I still feel like I am giving it every last ounce of effort yet feel like I am a tiny squeak of a voice shouting from bottom of a well.