How Do You Deal with a Workplace Bully?
The Bottom Line
BBC
4.6 • 606 Ratings
🗓️ 19 February 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Across our professional careers, many of us will come into contact with a difficult colleague or hard-to-please superior. But what happens when difficult behaviour crosses over into bullying at work? What effect does this have, not only on our wellbeing, but on our workplace as a whole?
Evidence suggests that bullying may be on the rise in the UK. A 2025 survey of British workers conducted by ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) found that 44% of respondents had experienced conflict at work in the last 12 months. And on the global stage, the resurgence of ‘strong man’ leadership has reignited a debate: does bullying behaviour get you what you want?
Evan and the panel look at what workplace bullying is, when and why bullying can occur, and the steps individuals and organisations can take to tackle this behaviour in the workplace.
Guests: Jason Warner, Managing Director (UK and EMEA) at SBS Kevin Rowan, Director of Dispute Resolution at ACAS Kara Ng, Senior Lecturer in Organisational Psychology at Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester
Production team: Presenter: Evan Davis Producer: Mhairi MacKenzie Production Co-ordinator: Katie Morrison Sound engineers: James Beard and Neil Churchill Editor: Matt Willis
The Bottom Line is produced in partnership with The Open University
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | Oh, hello. You have chosen a BBC podcast, but before you listen to it, we thought you might like our podcast too. |
| 0:12.1 | You might. You might. It is called Sightraught with me, Nick Grimshaw. |
| 0:15.2 | And me, Annie Mack. And we talk about the week in music. |
| 0:18.2 | All the news, all the cultural happenings in the UK and beyond. |
| 0:22.2 | And great guests. And it's on BBC Sounds. Yes, where you can also enjoy lots of playlists, |
| 0:27.7 | music mixes and live radio. Everything from my six music breakfast show to Radio 3 Unwind. |
| 0:34.5 | But obviously start with our podcast, sidetrack. Obviously. Obviously. |
| 0:40.1 | So if you like music, listen on BBC Sans. |
| 0:40.7 | Hi there. |
| 0:42.2 | Thanks for listening to the bottom line. |
| 0:45.9 | The Business Conversation podcast here and on Radio 4. |
| 0:49.5 | This week, we're talking about bullying in the workplace. |
| 0:53.7 | Just before that, a quick plug for a recent episode on pay, where we looked at whether if we all knew our colleagues' salaries, |
| 0:58.0 | that would provoke resentment or create more transparency and trust in the workforce. |
| 1:03.0 | But let's get today's topic. |
| 1:05.0 | Now, every workplace is staffed, at least for the time being, by human beings, |
| 1:09.0 | beings that are often all too human, |
| 1:12.0 | often indeed childish and sometimes nasty. And that means conflict at work is inevitable and ubiquitous. |
| 1:18.3 | In fact, a recent British survey of employees in 2025 found that 44% experienced conflict at work |
| 1:26.5 | in the last 12 months. And that obviously has to be managed. |
| 1:30.7 | Today, though, we thought we'd talk about one particular form of unpleasant behaviour, bullying, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.