Exposing Workplace Bullying

In this episode, Dr. Jan Kircher breaks down what really happens when bullies band together — not the loud, chaotic “mob” people imagine, but the quiet, coordinated, and often invisible patterns that escalate harm behind the scenes.

She explains how co‑bullying works across roles and hierarchies, why the behavior is so hard to recognize, and how organizations unintentionally reinforce it through investigations, performance reviews...

In this episode, Dr. Jan Kircher examines how workplace bullying is hidden, protected, and normalized through the mask of respectability.

She explains how bullies use credibility, professional capital, and carefully managed public personas to deflect accountability — whether the bullying comes from a peer building informal power or a leader using formal authority to frame abuse as “just part of the job.” The tactics are often the s...

This episode breaks down how bullying shifts depending on where it sits in the organization. Dr. Jan Kircher looks at the difference between a peer who builds informal power through influence, access, and narrative control — and a leader who uses formal authority to mask harm as part of their job. She traces how each position uses the same tactics but with different tools, protections, and consequences, revealing why both forms of ...

Season 3 continues by challenging one of the most common misunderstandings about workplace bullying: the idea that there’s a single “type” of bully.

In this episode, "Portrait of a Bully," Dr. Jan Kircher breaks down why popular explanations — personality disorders, narcissism, and neat labels — feel satisfying but don’t actually explain how bullying works in real workplaces. Drawing from lived experience and a sociological lens, s...

Season 3 Profile of a Workplace Bully opens by going straight to the source of bully culture — the workplace bully. The confusion, the power, the patterns, and the co‑bullies who reinforce the harm don’t happen by accident. They’re part of how bullying survives inside organizations.

In this first episode, Dr. Jan Kircher begins the Workplace Bully Dossier by breaking down what we actually know about workplace bullies and why unde...

This season closes by turning the focus on the bystander — the unseen force inside bully culture. Silence, fear, and loyalty to power don’t stay neutral inside workplaces where abuse is happening.

In this concluding episode, Dr. Jan Kircher pulls together the emotional, psychological, and organizational threads from the season to explain how bystanders sustain bullying and why understanding their role changes how you understand you...

Most people respond to workplace bullying alone — but that’s exactly why nothing changes. Collective action is a powerful way to make workplace bullying harder to deny. When experiences connect, the system loses its hiding place. In this episode, Dr. Jan Kircher explains how to safely collaborate, map out organizational dysfunction, and enlarge the problem so leadership can no longer minimize it. Even small connections can shift th...

Coalition building inside a bully culture isn’t about rallies, big movements, or calling people out in meetings. It’s about strategy — small, quiet moves that protect you and shift the power dynamic over time.

In this episode, Dr. Jan Kircher breaks down how to identify potential collaborative partners, how to approach them safely, and how to build support without putting yourself at risk. You’ll learn what subtle allyship really l...

Bystanders are told to “speak up,” but in bully culture, that can backfire fast. In this episode, Dr. Jan Kircher breaks down what real bystander action looks like — small, strategic moves that protect you and start shifting the power balance.

You’ll learn why quiet resistance often works better than bold confrontation, and how bystanders can help without making things worse.

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In this episode of Exposing Workplace Bullying, Dr. Jan Kircher reveals how bystanders stop being neutral and start becoming part of the abuse. When they cross the line, they don’t just protect the bully — they help build the system that keeps bullying alive and amplify the harm it causes.

Resources:

• StopBullyCulture.com for tools and support
• Follow Dr. Jan Kircher for updates and stories

⚠️ Trigger Warning: Includes dis...

Workplace bullying doesn’t survive because of one person — it survives because of the crowd that allows it. In this episode, Dr. Jan Kircher breaks down how groupthink, bias, and the need to belong twist ordinary workplaces into systems that protect the bully and punish truth-tellers.

You’ll hear how bystanders learn to rationalize harm, how bias turns cruelty into conviction, and why neutrality is the most dangerous stance of all....

In this episode of Exposing Workplace Bullying, Dr. Jan Kircher challenges one of the biggest lies in bully culture—the idea that bystanders are neutral. Neutrality isn’t harmless; it’s complicity.

Drawing from personal experience and years of research, Dr. Kircher reveals how bystanders protect power through inaction and what that means for those who experience bullying.

Resources:

• StopBullyCulture.com for tools and support
• ...

Season Two of Exposing Workplace Bullying starts here. This episode pulls back the curtain on bystanders—the people who see bullying but do nothing.

Dr. Jan Kircher explores why silence is never neutral, how group dynamics protect bullies, and why betrayal from bystanders often hurts the most.

🎧 Listen now and see the full picture of bully culture.

 Resources:

• StopBullyCulture.com for tools and support
• Follow Dr. Jan Kircher ...

Reclaiming your power at work isn’t about fighting the bully — it’s about protecting yourself, staying steady, and building strategies that actually work. In this episode, Dr. Jan Kircher pulls together everything from Season One, showing how to move from surviving to rebuilding while preparing for Season Two: The Bystander Effect. Learn how to focus on your response, reduce harm, and maintain control in a system that often protect...

Think reporting workplace bullying will fix the problem? Think again. Reporting isn’t a clean fix — it can be risky, draining, and often feels like you’re the one on trial. In this episode, Dr. Jan Kircher explains why reporting rarely plays out the way you imagine, how bullies build alliances before you even speak up, the role of documentation in telling a story HR can’t ignore, and what pushback looks like — with practical guidan...

When HR shrugs, leadership looks away, and colleagues stay silent, it can feel like the whole system is stacked against you. So what can you do?

In this episode of Exposing Workplace Bullying, Dr. Jan Kircher shares practical ways to protect yourself when no one else will — from using micro-scripts and assertive questions to spotting patterns that help you respond instead of react. You’ll also hear Shirley’s story of how small shif...

Deciding whether to stay or leave a bullying workplace is one of the hardest choices you’ll face. In this bonus episode, Dr. Jan Kircher explores the risks on both sides and why the decision is so personal — tied to your health, career, and future.

To go with this episode, I’ve created a companion resource: Should I Stay or Go? Weighing Your Options in a Bullying Workplace. It’s a tool to help you reflect on your own situation, and...

In this episode of Exposing Workplace Bullying, Dr. Jan Kircher explores what bullying really looks like at work — and how it’s often far more subtle, calculated, and damaging than people realize. She shares the criteria she’s developed to help you recognize it, along with her own personal experiences of navigating an abusive workplace. If you’ve ever wondered, “Is this just a bad job, or is it bullying?” — this episode will help y...

When you’re told to “document it,” while you’re being bullied at work, it can feel like just another burden — one more exhausting task piled onto an already painful experience. But documentation isn’t busywork. It’s your silent witness, your record of truth, and one of the strongest tools you have against workplace bullying.

In this episode, Dr. Jan Kircher breaks down why documentation matters, what kinds of details to capture, an...