HR is there solely for the companies benefit not yours. In some cases should be call IR (industrial relations),

transition from HR to IR and lawyers
 

Yes, and can very quickly degenerate into a legal dispute. The friendly face of HR being replaced with stern faces of IR and lawyers. The claimant will be accused of under performing and that it was legitimate performance management and not bullying and harassment is a standard method of fighting! If you ever get in this situation get a good lawyer. Do not rely on HR or in some cases even the union they have a multitude of issues and you may not get attention deserved. Document everything and act in a professional non emotional manner and you can win.

Interesting article on this subject, see here: Bosses urged to watch for workplace psychopaths - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Hmm..the problem is most of the bosses are probably psychopaths themselves so the care factor will be zilch!

I'm with Sarcs on this.

'Watch out for' would mean have a robust policy (un written) to

1) support the bully if a complaint is made and attack the target.

2) promote the bully

3) recruit a bully


Of course the published HR policy would be very different.

Good advice here.

Don't ever trust, let alone confide in, HR.

Be very careful about what you say to other employees. I once made that mistake, and didn't discover until after I was "let go" that she was sleeping with my boss.

The only approach to take, if you wish to stay and fight it out, is to suppress all personal emotion and focus rigidly on how the alleged behaviour negatively affects the company and bring that subject up every time you are required to address the matter. ie:

"This behaviour consumes time and resources that should be better devoted to......"

Be aware that if you take on a narcissistic supervisor that they will lie through their teeth, fabricate evidence, blackmail other employees into testifying against you and of course try and find dirt on you from your private life, past employment, etc. I have seen all that happen.

It should also be noted that in Melbourne we have just seen a female p1ssing contest between Louise Adler, Chairman of MLC and Rosa Storelli, the school principle, which appears to have ended in a draw. If you take on something like that, then good luck to you.

the solution...
 

Remember, no matter what happens, there is always... . :ok: