Definition: Workplace bullying refers to repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed toward a worker or group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety. Harassment includes unwanted behaviour related to a protected characteristic, such as gender, ethnicity, disability, or age, that creates a hostile, intimidating, or humiliating environment. Both are serious psychosocial hazards with significant legal implications as well as health consequences.
Overview
Harassment and bullying are the most well-known psychosocial hazards and account for the largest single category of mental health compensation claims in Australia at 33.2%. Despite extensive policy work, they remain prevalent in most large organisations.
Bullying typically involves a power dynamic and repeated behaviour: aggressive management style, persistent criticism, exclusion, humiliation, interference with work, or the withholding of information. It is distinct from reasonable performance management, which may involve criticism but is conducted respectfully and with a legitimate purpose.
Harassment may be a single event if sufficiently severe, such as a serious incident of sexual harassment, or a pattern of behaviour related to a protected characteristic. Sexual harassment, which includes unwanted physical contact, sexual comments, and inappropriate communications, is subject to heightened regulatory and legal attention in both Australia and New Zealand following reform processes.
The psychosocial harm from bullying and harassment extends beyond the target. Witnesses to these behaviours also experience distress and reduced psychological safety. Teams in which bullying or harassment is known to occur but not addressed have measurably lower trust and engagement, even among those not directly targeted.
The most important risk indicator is whether workers feel able to report these behaviours, and whether reporting leads to effective action. Organisations with low complaint rates do not necessarily have low incidence; they may simply have cultures in which workers do not trust the process.
Why it matters
Harassment and bullying account for 33.2% of serious mental health compensation claims in Australia, making them the single largest driver of psychological injury claims by far. They are explicitly named in the Model Code of Practice and WorkSafe NZ's 2024 guidance. Australia's national positive duty under the Sex Discrimination Act, effective from December 2022, requires organisations to proactively prevent sexual harassment rather than only responding to complaints. The regulatory and legal exposure from unmanaged harassment and bullying is the highest of any psychosocial hazard.
Warning signs
Signs this is managed well
- Workers feel genuinely safe to report harassment or bullying without fear of retaliation
- Reports are responded to promptly, fairly, and with appropriate outcomes
- Leadership takes a visible stance against these behaviours and models respect
- Complaint rates are not treated as inherently bad, but as indicators of system confidence
- Prevention-focused activity exists beyond policy, including training, culture monitoring, and manager accountability
Signs this is a risk
- Workers describe being reluctant to report because they fear nothing will happen or things will get worse
- Complaints are slow, opaque, or perceived as favouring the respondent
- High-performing or senior individuals are protected from accountability
- Low complaint rates in a high-risk environment that are more likely explained by underreporting than low incidence
- Cultural norms in some teams normalise disrespectful, dismissive, or aggressive behaviour
Control measures
- 1Establish a clear, accessible, and trusted reporting pathway for harassment and bullying
- 2Respond to complaints promptly, transparently, and with proportionate outcomes
- 3Remove protections for high-performing individuals when their behaviour creates psychosocial harm
- 4Train managers to identify and interrupt bullying patterns, not just respond to complaints
- 5Proactively assess culture for normalised incivility that precedes formal harassment patterns
- 6Implement Australia's positive duty requirements for sexual harassment prevention as a proactive, systematic obligation
Legal context (Australia and New Zealand)
Harassment and bullying are named as the primary psychosocial hazards in the Model Code of Practice. Australia's positive duty under the Sex Discrimination Act (effective December 2022) requires organisations to take proactive, reasonable and proportionate measures to prevent sexual harassment. Victoria's OHS (Psychological Health) Regulations and Compliance Code include bullying and harassment as specified hazards requiring assessment and control. WorkSafe NZ's 2024 guidance identifies bullying and harassment as social and relational hazards. Beyond WHS obligations, harassment creates exposure under anti-discrimination legislation and common law.
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Regulatory timeline
How this factor has been formalised in Australian and New Zealand workplace health and safety frameworks.
Regulatory timeline
- 2022
Model Code of Practice names harassment and bullying as the primary psychosocial hazard category.
- 2022
Australia's positive duty under the Sex Discrimination Act comes into effect in December 2022, requiring proactive prevention of sexual harassment.
- 2024
WorkSafe NZ guidance identifies bullying and sexual harassment as social and relational hazards within the psychosocial framework.
- 2025
Victoria's OHS (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 require specific assessment and control of harassment and bullying as part of psychosocial hazard management.
Related factors
- Work Interaction →The quality of relationships and interactions within the team and organisation.
- Leadership →The quality and consistency of management behaviour at all levels.
- Organisational Justice →Whether workers experience the organisation as fair and equitable.