Bullying No Way Week: Small Acts, Big Impact
This week, from the 17th-21st of August, is Australia’s national ‘Bullying No Way’ week. This year, Australians are encouraged to reflect upon the theme of ‘Small Acts, Big Impact.’
Whilst Bullying No Way week is best known in school, bullying doesn’t stop at the school gate. In Australian workplaces, bullying and harassment are recognised psychosocial hazards under work health and safety (WHS) laws.
What is Bullying No Way week?
Bullying No Way Week is a national initiative supporting schools and communities to take action against bullying, harassment and violence, run each year with a fresh campaign theme. In 2026 it runs from Monday 17 to Friday 21 August, with the theme “Small Acts, Big Impact” — the idea that everyday actions, like checking in on someone or speaking up when something's not okay, compound into real cultural change.
The campaign is built for schools, but the underlying message translates directly to adult workplaces: bullying is rarely a single dramatic incident. It's a pattern, and patterns are built (or broken), by small, repeated choices.
Is workplace bullying a psychosocial hazard?
Yes. Since the model WHS Regulations were updated in 2022, workplace bullying and harassment are explicitly recognised as psychosocial hazards: a category of harmful behaviour that PCBUs (persons conducting a business or undertaking) must identify, assess and control with the same rigour as a physical safety risk. Bullying is defined as repeated, unreasonable behaviour that creates a risk to health and safety, and the duty to manage it is proactive: waiting for a formal complaint is not considered a reasonable response under the law.
For the full breakdown — legal definitions, employer obligations, and how to identify harmful behaviours early — see our guide: Workplace Bullying as a Psychosocial Hazard: What Employers Need to Know.
Small acts, big impact: what it looks like in a workplace
This year's theme gives HR teams and managers a genuinely useful frame, because the highest-leverage actions on workplace bullying are small and ongoing, not a once-a-year policy refresh. Five to focus on this week:
Check in with someone who's gone quiet. Withdrawal is one of the most consistent early signs of bullying — and it's often missed because it doesn't look like a complaint.
Name it when a “joke” keeps going. “It was just banter” is not a defence. Impact determines whether behaviour is harmful, not intent.
Back up a colleague in the room, not just afterwards. Bystander silence is one of the reasons harmful behaviour goes unchallenged for as long as it does.
Don't wait for a formal complaint. If there are signs (absenteeism, an obvious in-group and out-group, a manager everyone's stopped raising concerns to), you're already expected to act.
Make reporting genuinely safe, not just technically available. A policy nobody trusts isn't a control measure.
How to check where your workplace actually stands
Most organisations don't have a clear picture of their psychosocial hazard exposure until something's already gone wrong. Our free Psychosocial Safety Readiness Check walks you through all 7 psychosocial hazard categories — including harmful behaviours — across 28 readiness indicators drawn from Safe Work Australia's Code of Practice, so you can see where you're covered and where you're exposed before it becomes a liability.
For organisations ready to build manager capability on this specifically, Be Buoyant includes a dedicated module on recognising and responding to bullying and harassment as part of its psychosocial safety training.
The bottom line
Prevention beats response, every time — it's the whole logic behind the proactive duty under WHS law, and it holds just as true day to day. Notice when a joke's stopped being funny. Back up a colleague instead of staying quiet. Ask the person who's gone quiet how they're actually doing.
Do it consistently and that's what actually prevents bullying — not the incident report filed after the damage is done.
