Workplace hazing can be disguised as onboarding, banter, or team socialisation.

When newcomers are humiliated, they don't ask questions and don't seek support.

Belief in the tradition and team dynamics often perpetuates hazing.

"Can you get us 12 coffees? Fresh into a new job, and told to go out and get everyone coffee. "I don't have a list; you're on your own." Or, "As a junior nurse, Lisa took a difficult patient on her second shift with no handover and no backup. When she asked for help, she was told to 'toughen up'." Everyone nods. That's the way it is here.

Companies dismiss these experiences as a tradition that newcomers go through; however, it is hazing. Studies focusing on the treatment of new employees reveal that hazing is much more common than most people believe. Somewhere between a quarter and three-quarters of American workers say they have experienced hazing at work.

What counts as hazing?

Bullying is often associated with hazing, but they are not the same. Bullying can happen to anyone, whereas hazing is what we put the newcomer through. Hazing is when we make a newcomer do an undesirable task or take part in a humiliating or coercive process (Thomas, Cimino, and Meglich, 2021).

Starting a new job is often uncomfortable. Research on organizational socialization finds that some discomfort is expected for a new employee. However, hazing has three features that distinguish it:

It doesn't teach anything. Getting coffee for 12 people doesn't make a person better at the job. Being left alone with a difficult patient on the second shift doesn't either. It's not about skill. And nobody cares if the individual can do the job. It's about testing if they will say yes without support.

It has an audience. The whole point: Other people are watching. Being made to tell an embarrassing story in the........

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