According to a study, bullying in the workplace affects the sleep of both the employee and their partner.
Sleep problems, for example, have been linked with bullying by superiors or colleagues.
Researchers from the University of East Anglia in the UK, Complutense University of Spain and Seville University, in Spain, have conducted a study that sheds light on the short term effects of workplace bullying.
Sleep satisfaction, sleep severity and sleep impact are all factors to consider.
In the Journal of Interpersonal Violence the researchers examined how bullying at work affected insomnia and tested the mediating role of “anger rumination” – repetitive, persistent thoughts about distressing events such as bullying.
The relationship between bullying, sleep and sleep difficulties increases with time. This is especially true for sleep-onset problems, difficulty staying asleep, and waking up early in the morning. It can be explained by anger at work and constant rumination.
The researchers also found that insomnia symptoms can spread between partners and employees, meaning the severity and impact of sleep problems can affect the other person. This shows how important sleep health is to relationships.
The lead UK author, Professor Ana Sanz Vergel, of UEA’s Norwich Business School said: “Our results show workplace bullying has a cumulative effect that affects not only the victim but also their partner’s sleep.
When individuals are bullied at work, rumination may be used to process the events and cope. This repeated thinking of distressing events may lead to sleep disorders such as difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.
She added, “Therefore rumination is a maladaptive strategy for dealing with workplace bullying. While this type of reflection initially seems like a good way to understand or resolve the issue, it may actually cause more harm over time.”
There is little information on the impact of workplace bullying on sleep, and its association with sleep. UEA also said that there is limited information on the effects of bullying outside the person who experiences it.
The team has conducted two studies to help them address this issue. The first study involved 147 employees who were monitored for five days. In the second, 139 married couples were observed over a two-month period. Both participants were from Spain and had to provide information on workplace bullying, anger rumination at work, and insomnia.
In the first study, bullying was shown to indirectly affect sleep severity via rumination, and in the second study, it also affected sleep satisfaction and impact. This indicates that rumination plays a major role in how bullying impacts various aspects of sleep.
The authors suggest that workplace bullying interventions should be developed both at an organisational level and on an individual basis. Reduced stressors, and the promotion of a healthy organization culture are crucial from an organizational perspective.
Individual interventions should focus on the development of skills that will help people better deal with stressors.
Professor Sanz Vergel said that training on how to disconnect at work is effective and can reduce the effects of bullying.
She added that “couple-oriented prevention programs are also needed in the workplace context – these could help both members of a couple learn coping skills, which in turn would reduce rumination and insomnia.”
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