After recovering from severe burnout as a result of workplace bullying, Jessica Hickman is working to ensure that nobody else has to go through the same thing.
Hickman’s story with workplace bullying began back in 2013, when she first arrived in Australia from Wales as a backpacker in her mid-twenties. Initially, Hickman found a fulfilling HR leadership role in the Northern Territory, where she began running culture programs, helping bridge the gap between mental health support for the workforce and winning awards for her work.
All that changed, however, when a new HR manager joined her team. The manager was verbally and physically abusive and harrassed Hickman for three and a half years before the anxiety of it all left her burned out and admitted to a hospital.
Being constantly micromanaged and having things thrown at her put Hickman in a continuous state of fight, flight or freeze mode. She developed severe physical symptoms such as gut health problems, aches, pains, tension headaches and even repetitive strain injury in her arms and neck.
“But all while this was happening, I was on a visa. So I didn’t want to be pushed out of a job I was really good at and that I was receiving great recognition for,” says Hickman.
“If I lost my visa, that would mean I’d have to go back to Wales. And I’d set up a beautiful life in Australia. So I was kind of stuck in a job I love yet suffering so massively. I didn’t understand the mental, physical and psychological impacts of a toxic environment until it took me hitting burnout and going on my journey, my long journey of recovery and healing to overcome the workplace bullying.”
Hickman reported the bullying 32 times to her company management and was met with mixed results and little action. Many of the colleagues around her were also reluctant to help in fear that the bully might turn on them.
Due to this lack of support when she needed it most, Hickman has dedicated her career to making sure employers and employees are knowledgeable about how to create safe workplace environments.
Now an award-winning thought leader, globally recognised speaker, educator, coach and consultant encouraging others to champion change, she is also the author of two books and runs training programs to help eradicate toxic workplace culture.
Her latest book, “The Upstander Leader,” is a guide for leaders on how to speak up against toxic behaviour and bullying in the workplace.
Hickman says transforming her own traumatic experience into her career focus has required a lot of recovery and healing, but ultimately she’s learned a lot.
“It was always about the bully and his feeling of incompetence and fear and once I realised there was nothing I could have done to change that situation, I was a good, kind, empathetic person. That kind of set me free,” she says .
“I decided when I was laying in that hospital bed, that I had two options: to let the experience break me or make me. I chose the latter.”
Hickman also realised that gender played a big role in her experience with bullying and notes that her abusive male manager was very vocal about his opinion that women should be seen and not heard in the workplace.
“As I moved through different workplaces and industries and living in Australia, [I realised] we have got so far to go not only in the workplace with women in leadership roles, diversity, inclusion but also proper respect for women,” says Hickman.
Even in her new role as a business owner, she still faces challenges as a young female walking into a boardroom of typically white-haired males and engaging them in the topic of bullying and harassment.
“We’ve got such a long way to go with regards to gender equality and women in leadership positions and having success for women business owners,” she says.
Leading up to her latest book, Hickman got a lot of feedback from people through the daily workshops she runs across governments, private companies and even schools. She’s packed all of the knowledge she’s gained into the book to help those who want to learn how to successfully change culture and to be an “upstander” rather than a bystander to bullying.
“The biggest thing I want people to understand is that one person and one voice can change the world. So, if an individual picks up my book, whether in a leadership position or not, then making the conscious choice to speak up and support others can ultimately save and change your life,” says Hickman.
“If they build that capability in their teams and workplace culture, ultimately, they can create massive shifts.”