A new study by The Eagle Club, a network of senior female lawyers and C-suite execs, and the law firm Mishcon de Reya, found a pattern of bullying taking place among general counsel staff at high-profile companies, leading to huge levels of anxiety and depression.

Some employees identified overt hostility from their bosses in the form of shouting, throwing items, or sending aggressive emails and WhatsApp messages.

The most common, however, was the use of “subtle sabotage,” essentially microaggressions that made employees feel undermined and created an environment that was similar to domestic abuse.

“The slipperiest form of bullying is the most subtle and wide-ranging,” the authors wrote.

What is subtle sabotage?

Subtle sabotage can take many forms and manifests itself in different ways among the employees who formed the Eagle Club’s research.

Micromanagement is a key pillar of this form of coercion, with bosses erratically calling their employees to check in and ensure they always feel like they’re being watched.

Isolation was another major trait of subtle sabotage, with employees citing how they had been left out of “boys club” WhatsApp groups or were kept out of specific email chains.

A prevalent aspect of this pattern of behavior involved gaslighting, with employers playing down their actions to their employees to convince them it wasn’t problematic.

“These slippery behaviors that result in targets feeling gaslit have overlap with behaviors that are now in domestic relationships being defined as coercive control,” the authors wrote.

“Whether domestic or professional, this destabilizes the target and can delay or preclude them from seeking help,” the authors wrote. “In many of our interviews, where people were still not sure whether to call behaviors bullying or not, this is the pervasive effects of gaslighting still affecting them.” 

A boss holding the threat of dismissal over an employee unless they obey their commands, engaging in lying and deceit to other co-workers, and setting an employee up to fail by calling them out in meetings, are other forms of “subtle sabotage” identified by researchers as damaging experiences experienced by in-house legal counsel.

The research, which focuses on legal workers, showed workers in the profession were more likely to bear the brunt of this type of bullying because they would often provide advice that was contrary to the goals of the company.

“In one high profile case, the GC made it clear that her obligations as an “officer of the court” took precedence over her duty to the company, leading to significant personal consequences,” said Lesley Wan, an accomplished GC and CEO and founder of The Eagle Club.

Office housework

Employees also reported a trend of being given “office housework” like taking notes in meetings, making tea and coffee, unwrapping sandwiches, and buying gifts or cards for colleagues’ birthdays or retirement parties.

“Research has shown that women and those from a Global Majority background are more likely than white men to be assigned ‘office housework,’” the authors wrote. 

There are defined consequences to workplace bullying. Symptoms of poor mental health, like anxiety and depression, have been found to have a serious impact on employees’ productivity. It also increases costs to an employer as they deal with the price of increased attrition.

Even those who are not direct recipients of bullying but do witness it have been found to experience negative effects on their mental health and accordingly their output.

One former general counsel at a law firm told researchers: “I did not fully appreciate the impact until I left, and I had to spend a full month rebuilding myself. I was so exhausted. I did not appreciate how much my confidence had really taken a beating.”

How to report subtle sabotage

The reason bullying continues in workplaces despite the evident effects on employees’ mental health and productivity is manifold, according to the researchers. Results-focused corporations tend to ignore inappropriate behavior as fears of an overhaul might affect their bottom line. The power of the “bully,” who is often in a position of power, also makes it hard to inspire change.

“A common theme when reflecting on their experiences for those targeted by bullying behaviors was that they wished they had spoken up at an earlier stage. Bullies seem to feed off their success,” the authors wrote. 

“But the difficulty is how to speak up earlier, when for many targets it can take a while to figure out or admit what is going on. This is further complicated if they are being gaslit.”

The researchers advise workers to keep a paper trail of any inappropriate behavior they observe from their managers and keep a record of incidents to identify patterns of behavior.

“Keep all emails, screenshot any messages and, if possible, create an electronic or paper trail. This ensures you have a record of all the instances of this happening to escalate it.”