What is mobbing?

Mobbing is the repeated and systematic targeting of an employee by one or more colleagues or superiors. It can involve verbal abuse, humiliation, social isolation, and other malicious tactics designed to undermine the victim's dignity, psychological well-being, and, ultimately, their ability to perform their job.

Signs of mobbing

The Swedish psychologist and university professor Heinz Leymann (1932-1999) is famous for his studies on mobbing among humans. Among other works, he developed the Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror questionnaire, a list of 45 mobbing actions at the workplace. This questionnaire is easily accessible online, but we can offer you a shorter version below:

How to recognise if you might be a target of mobbing

Verbal abuse and humiliation:

• Do you constantly face insults, put-downs, or sarcasm from colleagues or superiors?
• Are you ridiculed in front of others or excluded from important conversations?

Social isolation and exclusion:

• Are you deliberately left out of meetings, social events, or project teams?
• Do colleagues refuse to communicate with you or treat you with unnecessary coldness?

Work-related attacks:

• Are you constantly overloaded with unreasonable deadlines or impossible tasks?
• Do you experience sabotage of your work by colleagues or superiors?
• Are you unfairly criticised for your work, regardless of quality?

Attempts to damage your reputation:

• Are rumours or false information being spread about you within the company?
• Do you feel your colleagues or superiors are deliberately undermining your credibility?

Impact on your well-being:

• Are you experiencing increased stress, anxiety, or depression?
• Do you have difficulty sleeping or concentrating at work?
• Are you experiencing physical symptoms like headaches, stomachaches, or fatigue?

Additional signs:

• Feeling constantly on edge or hypervigilant at work;
• Loss of motivation and enthusiasm for your job;
• Increased absenteeism or thoughts of quitting;
• Difficulty trusting colleagues and superiors.

Remember:

Not all of these signs will be present in every mobbing situation ; the severity of the behaviour can vary. Even if you only experience a few of these signs, it's important to be aware and take action.

What to do?

If you are experiencing mobbing at work, contact ALEBA via email at legal@aleba.lu or by phone: +352 223 228 1. It is crucial to seek help.

• Read more about mobbing in Luxembourg
• Read the comment of our expert Jean-Jacques Rieff on the definition of harassment in article L.246-2 of the Labor Code from March 29, 2023