What is bullying?
Bullying is a form of aggression aimed at repeatedly and intentionally causing harm to someone. This can occur online and offline, physically and verbally. Various people are involved in bullying: the bully, the victim, and bystanders. The bully is usually not alone, but the victim often is. Being bullied causes various mental problems such as stress, anxiety, loneliness, shame, and lack of self-confidence. Bullying is often associated with children, but it also occurs among adults, including in the workplace. Unfortunately, workplace bullying often manifests as insults, intimidation, exclusion, and withholding important information. Research by TNO in 2017 shows that over half a million employees in the Netherlands were victims of bullying, with 80,000 of them being systematically bullied.