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Let’s talk about gaslighting in the workplace.

This insightful podcast offers a real-time look at gaslighting and its workplace implications.

Ignoring rude behavior, subtle bullying, or toxic leadership puts you at high risk for severe burnout. These issues can trigger anxiety and panic attacks, sometimes right away and sometimes over time.

Many of us know that organizations often fail to take real action against these damaging behaviors.

If you give your all at work, even working late, but still start doubting yourself, this is not normal. Sooner or later, it becomes a mental health issue.

When conversations start roleplaying in the head, this is the moment when you think whether you are too sensitive or if it’s that you have developed mental confusion along with brain fog. And then you start getting disconnected from your work, not just office work, but from the daily chores.

All these symptoms appear when the person gets repeatedly exposed to incivility and gaslighting at the workplace.  

And the point is that gaslighting often goes unnoticed and unaddressed in many workplaces.

This isn’t just an issue in startups. Even large companies that claim to value civility and ethics can have this problem.

Gaslighting can seriously harm employees’ mental health. Over time, it also damages the organization’s reputation.

Disempowering employees through workplace gaslighting

When mockery and ridicule become normal at work, people in power may use these tactics to manipulate others.

Some managers, instead of working to improve themselves, focus on finding faults in others to keep their power.

Through these manipulative tactics, coworkers or supervisors can make you question your judgment, decisions, self-worth, and even your values.

Here are some common gaslighting behaviors you might see at work.

• Denying or manipulating the statements they made earlier
• When you raise a concern, they call it an overreaction or your irrational imagination
• Making you feel incompetent by twisting the facts
• Escalating things against you (both verbally and via documentation) to make you feel incompetent
• Misusing their powers to make you feel small or confused

People in authority sometimes use gaslighting to keep their dominance and protect their positions.

When gaslighting becomes normal, victims often feel anxious and constantly worried.

Low mood and depression find their way and are aggravated with self-blame and a sense of guilt.

Over time, this erodes self-trust and confidence. Victims may end up feeling powerless and stuck in negativity.

A study conducted among Greek employees found that the employees with high exposure to gaslighting from their superiors at the workplace had increased levels of depression and anxiety.

They were more disconnected or less engaged in their projects and started practicing ‘quiet quitting’, meaning they were failing in their jobs, doing the bare minimum, feeling emotionally checked out, and having no desire to give their 100% in their roles.

Damaging the workplace at all levels by weaponizing gaslighting

When a person at the workplace is targeted via gaslighting, it’s not just a personal loss but a much greater loss to the entire organization.

If managers or coworkers make someone feel manipulated or attacked, that person may lose loyalty, feel demotivated, and stop being creative at work.

At this point, victims stop performing well and lose motivation to stay. Over time, this leads to higher turnover and damages the organization’s reputation, no matter how big it is.

Quiet quitting often leads people to consider leaving their jobs. Research shows it’s a key reason employees’ decisions will severely impact work quality.  

New hires often face the same gaslighting, and the cycle repeats itself.

Gaslighting leads to demotivation and less engagement. It stifles innovation and causes performance problems, leaving victims unable to bring new ideas or energy to their work.

The huge impact of those small, rude acts

Gaslighting is a form of mistreatment. Often, management doesn’t take it seriously and blames employees for not reporting it.

Sometimes, when employees do report gaslighting, it backfires and creates more problems for them.

The low-intensity rude behavior is another form of gaslighting, which is identified as:

• Ignoring the greetings
• Hostile stares or rolling eyes
• Silent treatment
• Avoiding phrases like ‘thank you’ or ‘please.’
• Negative gestures
• Dismissive comments

Victims often give offenders the benefit of the doubt, especially if they are seniors or colleagues, to avoid feeling insecure at work.

Sometimes, victims see gaslighting as accidental or minor, thinking it happened by chance or because the offender was in a bad mood.

When the intent is unclear, victims often ignore these actions and hope they won’t happen again.

But when these events happen often, they steadily erode self-confidence.

Disrespect at work is hard to avoid. Studies show that incivility increases stress and can cause emotional exhaustion.

Gaslighting eventually causes extreme job dissatisfaction and harms both physical and mental health.

These problems lead to work withdrawal. Victims lose interest, arrive late, take long breaks, and feel mentally checked out.

The toxic work environment, aggravated by the ongoing incivility, can be further aggravated by the acts of bullying or open aggression by the authoritative offenders.

Understanding tolerance against gaslighting

A cross-cultural study analyzed employees in Singapore and Australia with full-time jobs at multinational companies. Findings revealed a significant impact of gaslighting/workplace incivility on employees’ work satisfaction.

The sense of withdrawal was unavoidable in gaslighting across organizations in both countries. The victims appeared emotionally disengaged, worked less, and were pulled back.

Findings revealed that the victims serving the Australian organizations had lower job satisfaction despite escalating the gaslighting issues to the Speak Up Office.

However, when organizations in Singapore took complaints seriously, victims withdrew less and felt more satisfied at work.

The authors of this study suggested that gender and culture are two important factors influencing people’s interpretation of disrespectful, incivility, or gaslighting acts in the workplace.

Within cultures with a lower power-distance, such as those in Australia, people had a strong expectation for equality and were less willing to adopt a ‘let it go’ approach for incivility, rude/disrespectful behaviors, or gaslighting.  

Conversely, in Singapore, with a higher power-distance organization, the respectful submission/deference to the superior’s decision-making hierarchy was normalized in the work culture.

This study found that women and individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds sought to socialize with those engaged in gaslighting them to safeguard their peace and secure their jobs.

But this doesn’t mean they weren’t affected by gaslighting. They just didn’t feel able to speak up or report the misconduct.

When organizations avoid addressing gaslighting escalations

Victims who report gaslighting often doubt whether their complaints will be taken seriously. They don’t know how the organization will respond.

Many victims don’t report gaslighting because they are afraid.

Often, employees don’t escalate issues because they think management won’t believe them or will label them as oversensitive or difficult.

Victims also fear that reporting gaslighting could harm their careers or lead to retaliation.

Most importantly, many sense that organizations are unlikely to act against the perpetrators.

The reduction or ignorance of company management of gaslighting complaints creates a culture of silence that normalizes workplace incivility.  

The victims begin to feel unimportant and invisible in the workplace. Their trust in the leadership drops drastically.

When abusers know there are no consequences, they continue gaslighting without hesitation.

Research studies have demonstrated the possibility of lowering withdrawal and dissatisfaction among victims of gaslighting with the due diligence of the organizations in attending to the complaints of workplace misconduct and abuse.

Organizations need to take complaints seriously, investigate them properly, and protect those who report from retaliation.

Research studies have also indicated that, among Australian men, even when their escalations against gaslighting were addressed by organizations, this move did not completely reverse the damage.

This was just because the victims lost trust in the work culture and processes.

When bystanders rarely act on gaslighting

Gaslighting or bullying by those in power is common. The problem gets worse when bystanders see it but are too afraid to act or report it.

For bystanders to act against gaslighting, they need to notice it, see it as a real issue, feel responsible to help, know what to do next, and feel safe to report it.

In reality, bystanders rarely act when workplace ethics are only on paper and not put into practice.

Strong hierarchies and fear of retaliation can stop bystanders from acting. They also worry about social isolation and losing career opportunities if they speak up.

As a result, victims become isolated, and the abuse continues unchecked.

The authors of several research studies on workplace misconduct, including gaslighting, have argued that organizations must thoroughly change their workplace culture and environment so that whistleblowers are not blown off for simply escalating the misconduct.

Organizations need not only clear policies but also trusted reporting channels. Supportive leaders should help witnesses feel safe to report abuse without fear of consequences.

Action items for the organizations to counter/prevent gaslighting

Research suggests several key actions organizations can take to eliminate gaslighting. Here are some important steps to consider.

• Any abusive behavior, including incivility and gaslighting, when reported or observed, must not remain unattended and must not be kept hidden on paper. Organizations must adopt a zero-tolerance approach to such heinous acts.
• Organizations should make it safe to report unethical behavior right away. They need clear, confidential channels for whistleblowing about gaslighting.
• Managers and leaders must be trained to recognize subtle forms of employee abuse. They should have the skills, expertise, confidence, and autonomy to respond early to gaslighting interventions. And most importantly, they should avoid practicing gaslighting under any circumstances.
• The organizations should invest in and develop validated tools capable of identifying, tracking, and recording workplace behaviors of all employees, regardless of their profile, power status, or authority.
• Psychological support should be genuine, not just for show. Both external and in-house services should work to reduce gaslighting and support victims’ mental health.
• Organizations should regularly hold sessions with employees, leaders, and HR to explain how gaslighting harms individuals and the workplace as a whole.

Key takeaways

Research on gaslighting sends a clear message.

Incivility and gaslighting should never become normal at work. Leaders must recognize the harm and take strong action to stop it.

The damage from gaslighting doesn’t just affect employees. Over time, it destroys minds, careers, organizations, and businesses.

Awareness against gaslighting must not be confined to documentation and formal training. Real support, robust (actionable) policies, and awareness are the only ways to make the workplace humane, respectful, and safe for employees.

With these steps, organizations can help employees feel confident in their abilities, so they do not just work for a paycheck.

References

Borthakur D, Crockett L, Mihalchan J, Swann J, Saikia MJ. Empowering bystanders: a psychological and institutional model for intervention in academic bullying. Front Psychol. 2026 Jan 6;16:1650438. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg. 2025.1650438. PMID: 41567460; PMCID: PMC12815844.

Gheshlagh RG, Bigdeli K, Kukreja P, Pandey J, Nassehi A, Jafari M. Decoding workplace gaslighting: evaluating a Persian version of the gaslighting workplace scale. BMC Nurs. 2025 May 2;24(1):483. doi: 10.1186/s12912-025-03134-5. PMID: 40316977; PMCID: PMC12046921.

Isern-Mas C, Almagro M. Unmasking therapy-speak. Theor Med Bioeth. 2025 Dec;46(6):465-489. doi: 10.1007/s11017-025-09730-5. Epub 2025 Sep 30. PMID: 41026356; PMCID: PMC12583418.

Kukreja P, Pandey J. Workplace gaslighting: Conceptualization, development, and validation of a scale. Front Psychol. 2023 Mar 30;14:1099485. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg. 2023.1099485. PMID: 37063563; PMCID: PMC10097938.

Loh JMI, Khan MI, Talukder MJH. To complain or not to complain: Management responses as a moderator in the relationship between workplace incivility and workplace outcomes among Australian and Singaporean targets. Heliyon. 2023 Oct 21;9(11):e21363. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21363. PMID: 37908710; PMCID: PMC10613909.

Popat N and Pandey J (2026) Workplace gaslighting: a construct for organizational research. Front. Psychol. 17:1589063. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1589063

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Truly yours,

Dr. Khalid Rahman Health Scientist | Scholarly Communicator | Licensed Integrative Medicine Practitioner PhD (Clinical Research) | MSc (Bioinformatics) | MSc (Clinical Research & Regulatory Affairs) | Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Application | Bachelor of Unani Medicine & Surgery