Breaking the silence: tackling workplace bullying in hospitality – survey reveals industry’s hidden struggles

The results are in for Foodservice Rep’s inaugural “Let’s talk about it” survey on bullying in hospitality and how we can tackle it.

With bullying once regarded as part and parcel of working in the high pressure environment of hospitality, we sought readers’ input regarding how far hospitality has come in changing workplace culture for the better.

To that end, we asked readers to share their stories of workplace bullying and how such situations are tackled today. The survey was completely anonymous and ran for three months.

Here’s how the responses went:

  • 60% of respondents were male and 40% female, with 88% aged 35 years or older

  • 60% reported they had been bullied by a male

  • 67% of bullying came from a manager/owner/upper management or immediate superior

  • 67% of bullying was psychological in nature, 31% was a combination of psychological and physical, and only 1.64% was solely physical

  • 85% of respondents said it affected their personal life

  • 40% addressed it directly but 77% per cent said they didn’t seek support internally

  • A disturbing 90% said no disciplinary action was taken

  • 68% said it went unresolved or is still ongoing

Disparaging comments was the most common form of bullying cited (by 67% of respondents), followed by making unreasonable demands (64%), intimidation (56%), cruel and/or inappropriate personal comments (43%), threat of losing your job (38%), name calling (33%), being pushed/coerced to behave in a manner you felt inappropriate in your workplace (29%), discrimination on the basis of gender, sexuality, gender identity, physical appearance, disability or religion (25%), racial slurs/profiling (20%) and threatened or actual physical violence (14%).

These figures would seem to bear out the reports from professionals interviewed in our recent article on bullying in hospitality that bullying has long been prevalent in the industry.

It made me hate being at work. I couldn’t perform because I was so scared to do anything

Impact upon work performance

Asked how bullying affected their performance at work, responses included:

“It made me hate being at work. I couldn’t perform because I was so scared to do anything …  I was concentrating on not making a mistake rather than doing things to the best of my ability. It made me afraid to ask for help. If I was told how to do a job and I couldn’t remember, I would just try do it with out asking for clarification because I was scared of the repercussions of asking.”

“Scared everyday about what was going to happen, what mood I would be dealing with. Gave up opportunities for growth because of comments made. Doubted and lost all confidence in my abilities and knowledge. Became very insecure. To this day questioning myself constantly and have overwhelming feelings of not being or doing enough in or out of work. Stressed in work and stressed about work outside of it.”

Be direct and let them know that you have been offended and don’t appreciate the situation.

“It made me extremely frustrated and more likely to lash out and participate in hostile workplace behaviour.”

“Reduced my desire to go the extra mile.”

“Made me take excessive sick leave and intentionally underperform.”

 An overwhelming majority (85%) of respondents said the bullying affected their personal life and a majority (59%) left the position.

Advice to others

Asked what they would say to others in the same position, responses included:

“People in management positions should never make you feel uncomfortable, they should never use their role to make you or anyone else do anything outside of the expectations of your role. Speak up or walk away - most of them know they are doing the wrong thing, however will push the boundaries to see if they can get away with it.”

“The conversation I would have is with senior chefs rather than the victims because the problem is at the top. It is our duty to bring the next generation through the industry and as a whole we are doing a very bad job of it. The truth is the industry is not how it was 20,10, 5 years ago. If we, as kitchen management, perpetuate the cycle of what was normal then, we will lose the enormous amount of chefs that have potential to become great because it will be in the too hard basket.”

Just because your manager or superior copped the same behaviour when they started in the industry is not an excuse to treat others the same way.

“Just because your manager or superior copped the same behaviour when they started in the industry is not an excuse to treat others the same way. Why, when you know firsthand how it felt, would you want to inflict that onto someone else?”

“As a chef you work yourself to the bone already although it may feel like you just need to be better, faster, stronger or give more of yourself. You deserve to be built up, uplifted and respected - not torn down when you’re putting in your all. There are great places out there and people who want to mentor and guide you. It really does exist. You deserve better, don’t settle for less.”

There are great places out there and people who want to mentor and guide you. It really does exist.

“Be direct and let them know that you have been offended and don’t appreciate the situation. If ongoing your manager needs to know and deal with the situation. If the situation is mendable great, if not this needs to go to Human Resources.” 

We sincerely thank all those who took part in the survey and look forward to covering more important industry issues in the next FSR “Let’s talk about it” survey later this year.