What is Workplace Abuse?
Workplace abuse (aka workplace bullying) encompasses both intentional and unwitting behaviors (words, gestures, images, actions, and failure to act) which, over time, humiliate, demoralize, or terrorize an employee or group of employees, undermine their targets’ credibility and effectiveness, and contribute to a disrespectful or hostile work environment. (Source)
Prevalence
According to recent studies, nearly 14% of American employees are targeted for emotional and psychological abuse in the workplace every year. Over 60% of them either quit, get fired, transfer, or quit after things go from bad to worse for them. (Source) Nearly 8.5% of the American workforce is lost every year to workplace abuse, making this problem the single greatest threat to your organization.
Presentation
Workplace abuse presents as isolation and deliberate exclusion, false accusations, sabotage, intimidation and aggressive behavior, verbal abuse and belittling comments, blocking advancement opportunities, unfair evaluation, undermining work, spreading gossip / rumors, withholding information, overly critical feedback, micromanaging, overloading with work, and / or removal of responsibilities.
Human Cost
Workplace abuse is known to cause depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, inability to work or concentrate, trouble making decisions, lower productivity, anger, emotional disconnect, C-PTSD, trust issues, self-doubt, shame, chronic pain, fatigue, unemployment, and myriad adverse physical, financial, relational, and spiritual effects for its victims, and has resulted in suicide for some. The human cost is incalculable.
What is Systemic Workplace Abuse?
In 2025, I made my first real contribution to the workplace abuse conversation: I discovered a Catch-22 that explains why secondary abuse in the form of gaslighting and scapegoating occurs as often as it does. Examine the five drivers of systemic workplace abuse for yourself.
Misunderstood Motives of Abusers
Figuring for those suffering with undiagnosed and untreated narcissistic and antisocial personality disorders, as well as those who present with dark triad traits, no fewer than 10% of the American workforce present with toxic behaviors.
The Dilemma of Employer Liability
Were employers to validate the lived experience of targets of workplace abuse, targets would then have everything they need to successfully sue their employer for damages. To mitigate liability, employers must scapegoat victims.
The Scapegoat Mechanism
According to the late social theorist René Girard, every group needs a scapegoat. In this context, more often than not, employers pin the blame for any and all workplace abuse onto targeted employees, causing greater harm than the primary abuse.
Sham and Biased Investigations
Most survivors of workplace abuse will tell you: once Human Resources got involved, their situation worsened drastically. The reason is obvious. HR is a function of Management. Heavily-biased, internal investigations are launched, not to search for the truth, but to mitigate risk.
Executive Disconnect
According to Girard, whenever a group scapegoats an individual, the people doing the scapegoating are completely unconscious of the violence they are committing, keeping those in the C-Suite both ignorant of the problem and powerless to do anything about it.
To learn more, click here to download my white paper:
The Catch 22 of Systemic Workplace Abuse:
How Institutions Guarantee Persistence.
Reject the popular notion that work environment is the primary driver of systemic workplace abuse
Consider employer liability and the Scapegoat Mechanism to be foundational to understanding workplace abuse
Develop cost-saving, ethical, open source, practical solutions for all organizations, large or small, private or public
Who am I?
I’m Chris Edward Jensen, former high school English teacher of twenty years turned clinical trials coordinator turned developer of solutions to workplace abuse. The workplace abuse I experienced in 2019 was catastrophic. Today, I’m committed to creating the most delicious, high-octane lemonade from the lemons that Life gave me.
What sets me apart? By looking at workplace abuse empirically rather than ideologically, I’m free to focus on developing wins for both employees and employers, rather than placing blame where it does little good.
To Potential Collaborators
If you have the resources and have personally experienced workplace abuse, you’ve come to the right place. Workplace abuse costs American employers an estimated $1.5 trillion annually, and only my Catch-22 discovery explains why the problem persists.
I’ve recently developed the world’s first comprehensive framework designed to neutralize the Catch-22 at every juncture, delivering outcomes that are more affordable, more ethical, and more sustainable than any existing approach.
I’m not looking for a grant committee or a board. I’m looking for one person who understands that the greatest breakthroughs rarely arrive through conventional pathways, someone with both the resources and the conviction to back a solution that is ready to be built.
I’m building this solution from nothing, after surviving workplace abuse that can only be described as catastrophic, in conditions most people would not have endured. I’m not asking for charity. I’m looking for a partner who sees this problem as it is, and wants to help radically transform how organizations address workplace abuse.
If that’s you, let’s talk.