Can You Identify Workplace Bullying?
The case of Governor Andrew Cuomo
The psychology behind bullying is fascinatingly multifaceted. There are many theories as to why people bully others and how this can differentiate due to patriarchal gender norms and societal discrimination. Personal experiences such as stress, trauma, a difficult home life and being the recipient of bullying themselves are all thought to be determining factors in what leads someone to become a bully. For others, it can be due to a lack of understanding of how their actions or words truly impact others or that their model of relationships is warped because of experiences with key figures in their lives.
The common theme appears to be that those who bully seek to put others down using what society has informed them is something that can be attacked, such as the person’s gender, race, disability, religion, class, sexual orientation, appearance, weight etc. All aspects of a person’s identity play a role in bullying: two men of different races will suffer bullying in different ways, women and men will suffer bullying in different ways and also bully in different ways too.
Looking briefly at binary gender as an example, there are theories that outdated gender norms have influence in patterns of bullying. For example, traditionally in places such as the UK, boys are taught that aggression and anger are more acceptable reactions to an upsetting or unfavourable situation than an emotional response. Resultantly, the theory suggests that when they feel insecure, overlooked or mistreated they can react in a way that belittles, intimidates or upsets others because they were robbed of an alternative response in childhood. Girls, on the other hand, are told that they are allowed to be emotional but that this is what makes them weak and incompetent. Phrases such as ‘crying like a girl’, ’man up’, ‘grow some balls’, ‘drama queen’ (the list goes on and on) reinforce the idea that in order to get ahead in life stereotypical male traits are necessary.
When you take all of this complex human emotion and experience and put it into the workplace it gets even more interesting.
Female workers can feel pressured to act more ruthless in order to keep up with their male coworkers, afraid that they will not be taken seriously or respected highly enough if they show weakness. A study found that women who defied gender norms by being more assertive at work were more likely to be targeted by their female coworkers whereas men who acted assertive and warm reported lower levels of incivility from their male coworkers. Therefore, for the group in this study, men who deviated from male norms gained social credit, yet women who acted more in line with male norms were punished. Isn’t that just the way the cookie crumbles.
This particular study did not take into account other variables such as race but others have shown that women of colour are most likely to receive harassment at work than any other group, are held to a higher standard than their male and white counterparts, receive less support from their managers and are not advanced by senior staff due to unconscious bias. More likely to be bullied than bully, women of colour receive an intersectional form of workplace harassment, derivative of both racism and sexism.
Looking now at the most typical bully and usually the most powerful, the rich white man. Currently deeply embroiled in scandals regarding the sexual harassment of several female employees and the altering of reports to omit the full number of nursing home patients killed by coronavirus, Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York is also accused of being a bully. He denies all of this, but who’s surprised?
At the beginning of March 2021, nearly a dozen current and former staffers of Cuomo’s office spoke to Gothamist/WNYC. Whilst some gave a kinder description of the Cuomo workplace, saying that although their hours were excessive they did not think the climate was toxic, most reported that Cuomo has created an ‘intense work culture that was brutal for some, traumatic for others’. These staffers stated the sexual assault allegations were not surprising, due to what they described to be a workplace where ‘outdated gender binaries were the norm, bullying was constant’. Cuomo would assign people the same project to see who could do it faster or better, some recall being flown back from holiday because a task needed doing. The Governor would also fire people on the spot if something happened where he felt embarrassed and was looking for someone to blame, the bosses would then hide this person from Cuomo but allow them to continue working without his knowledge.
Here we can see the impact of traditional gender norms, as it appears that Cuomo’s main reaction to any form of stress or worry is anger and aggression. He resorts to exerting his power over others almost as a form of protection for himself. (Allegedly.)
Three of the former staffers referred to their experiences in the office as ‘Stockholm syndrome’ and one said it was a textbook abusive relationship. They felt pushed into wanting to be there, wanting to be liked. The benefits of being able to get into top positions in government, finance, technology and more kept them ensnared, as well as the potential damage to their career from going against these powerful people.
“We’re all kind of waking up to the fact that we were in a cult.”
Expected to answer calls and attend meetings at any hour of the day or night and attacked personally for any minor mistakes, the staffers are over-worked and disregarded.
Staffers were made to feel that if they could not keep up with the overbearing workload or the way they were treated it was because they could not hack it, not because it was just unacceptable. This is where I would theorise that the rhetoric of ‘manning up’, for both women and men, creates a toxic environment where people believe that they have to keep working harder and harder, they have to prove that they can do it.
Cuomo’s micromanaging allegedly goes as far as dictating how his staff are dressed. One of the named staffers (most are anonymous as they fear backlash from the governor and his senior staff) Ana Liss, stated, ‘I knew by looking cute, and not being obstinate or opinionated, and doing what I was told and looking polished… That is the only way I would survive there.’ Again, those gender norms are prevalent, women are discouraged from being ‘opinionated’ and are made to feel that they need to look a certain way, traditionally feminine, to get by.
Liss also believes that she was treated favourably by Cuomo for being a blonde woman, showing how often women of colour are not advanced in the workplace as this is a treatment they would not be afforded.
Cuomo’s aides said staffers had to wear certain shoes when he was in the building, for women it was high heels and for men it was dress shoes, which had to be polished.
“There was a general sense that when the governor was in the building that you were to walk on eggshells and while you’re walking, make sure those shoes are nice and shiny.”
The bullying extended beyond the staffers of the administration. Judith Enck, the then regional administrator for the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 2 (including New York and New Jersey) recounts a phone call she received from Howard Glaser, Cuomo’s Director of State Operations. Glaser was asking Enck to withdraw a public document the EPA had submitted which was unfavourable regarding New York’s impact studies on hydro-fracking, Enck describes the call as abusive, stating that Glaser threatened to ‘destroy’ her if she did not do as he asked. This is allegedly one of several times top Cuomo staffers tried to intimidate or silence her.
If you’ve read my post on Water Contamination in America, this perhaps answers my question about why the EPA has been so neglectful in monitoring dangerous chemicals in US drinking water, maybe they have been forcibly stopped from reporting the truth.
Workplace bullying occurs at all levels of society and can be difficult to deal with for fear of repercussions.
Top tips for dealing with a workplace bully:
- Keep a log of each incident, with times, places and names of people you could contact to be witnesses
- Collect as much evidence as possible but do not store it at your workplace
- See if there is a system for anonymously reporting incidences at work and research its effectiveness
- If you think you may be at risk of losing your job, seek out legal counsel to advise you on your rights and the paths you can take
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