The people responsible for protecting employees are being bullied themselves. The Irish Workplace Bullying Report 2026 surveyed more than 2,000 HR professionals and business leaders. 85% have handled at least one bullying complaint during their career. 54% said they had personally experienced bullying.
Of those who raised a complaint, only 55% said it was investigated. 67% went on to leave their organisation, with 80% saying bullying was the main reason. 70% of complaints involve senior leaders, executives or managers.
Why This Happens
HR professionals occupy an impossible position. They are expected to protect employees. They are also expected to protect the organisation. When the bully is a senior leader, these obligations collide. The data shows how often they collide. 70% of complaints involve senior leaders, executives or managers. The people with the most power are the ones most frequently accused. The people with the least power are the ones tasked with holding them accountable.
HR professionals who raise concerns about senior leaders put their own careers at risk. They become the problem. They become difficult. They become the ones who need to be managed out. 67% eventually leave, with 80% citing bullying as the main reason. Only 55% of complaints are investigated. This means nearly half are not. They are dismissed, ignored, or quietly buried. The system designed to protect employees is failing to protect the people who run it.
Why This Will Continue Without Intervention
Organisations protect power. Senior leaders generate revenue. They make decisions. They hold institutional knowledge. Removing them is expensive and disruptive. Protecting them feels easier.
HR is not equipped to challenge this arrangement. They report to the same executives they are supposed to investigate. They depend on the same leaders they are supposed to hold accountable. Their budgets, their teams, their careers depend on maintaining relationships with people who may be bullies.
The result is a system that discourages reporting. Employees learn that complaints go nowhere. HR professionals learn the same lesson. 54% have experienced bullying. 67% leave because of it. The cycle repeats.
How Moody At Work Resolves This Issue
Moody At Work helps organisations see the behaviour that formal systems miss. Through continuous engagement tracking, companies identify patterns of bullying before they become embedded. Anonymous feedback channels give employees voice without risking retaliation.
Recognition programs reinforce the behaviours that build healthy culture. Real time data enables leaders to measure what matters and act on what they learn.
The 54% of HR professionals who have experienced bullying are not asking for sympathy. They are asking for systems that work. Moody At Work helps organisations build them.
Source: Irish Workplace Bullying Report 2026