A new study by CareerBuilder finds the number of workers encountering bullies at the office is on the rise.Thirty-five percent of workers said they have felt bullied at work, up from 27 percent last year.Sixteen percent of these workers reported they suffered health-related problems as a result of bullying and 17 percent decided to quit their jobs to escape the situation.The study also found nearly half of workers don’t confront their bullies and the majority of incidents go unreported.The survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive from May 14 to June 4, 2012 and included more than 3,800 workers nationwide.Who Are the Bullies? Of workers who felt bullied, most pointed to incidents with their bosses (48 percent) or coworkers (45 percent), while 31 percent have been picked on by customers, and 26 percent by someone higher up in the company other than their boss.More than half (54 percent) of those bullied said they were bullied by someone older than they were, while 29 percent said the bully was younger.The most common way workers reported being bullied was getting blamed for mistakes they didn’t make followed by not being acknowledged and the use of double standards.The full list includes:Falsely accused of mistakes — 42 percentIgnored — 39 percentUsed different standards/policies toward me than other workers — 36 percentConstantly criticised — 33 percentSomeone didn’t perform certain duties, which negatively impacted my work — 31 percentYelled at by boss in front of coworkers — 28 percentBelittling comments were made about my work during meetings — 24 percentGossiped about — 26 percentSomeone stole credit for my work — 19 percentPurposely excluded from projects or meetings — 18 percentPicked on for personal attributes — 15 percent“How workers define bullying can vary considerably, but it is often tied to patterns of unfair treatment,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder. “Bullying can have a significant impact on both individual and company performance. It’s important to cite specific incidents when addressing the situation with the bully or a company authority and keep focused on finding a resolution.”About half (49 percent) of victims reported confronting the bully themselves, while 51 percent did not. Of those who confronted the bully, half (50 percent) said the bullying stopped while 11 percent said it got worse, and 38 percent said the bullying didn’t change at all.Twenty-seven percent of workers who felt bullied reported it to their Human Resources department. Of these workers, 43 percent reported that action was taken while 57 percent said nothing was done.If you’re feeling bullied in the workplace, remember the following tips:n Keep record of all incidents of bullying, documenting places, times, what happened and who was present.n Consider talking to the bully, providing examples of how you felt treated unfairly.n Chances are the bully may not be aware that he/she is making you feel this way.n Always focus on resolution. When sharing examples with the bully or a company authority, centre the discussions around how to make the working situation better or how things could be handled differently.Methodology This survey was conducted online within the US by Harris Interactive&Copy; on behalf of CareerBuilder among 3,892 US workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) ages 18 and over between May 14 and June 4, 2012 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With a pure probability sample of 3,892, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/-1.57 percentage points. Sampling error for data from subsamples is higher and varies.