The White House recently faced scrutiny when it failed to terminate a senior adviser found to be engaging in bullying, despite President Joe Biden’s first day promise to terminate those who engage in this type of misconduct.

Eric Lander, who was Biden’s top science adviser at the time, bullied and demeaned his staff in violation of White House policy, Politico reported.

A two-month investigation reportedly found that Lander created a toxic work environment, where employees were bullied, dismissed, yelled at, and humiliated in front of their peers.

According to reports, the investigation concluded that Lander violated the White House’s “Safe and Respectful Workplace Policy” which defined bullying as “repeated behavior that a reasonable individual would find disrespectful, intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive.”

Employees also claimed that Lander retaliated against those who spoke out and asked questions by allegedly calling them names, disparaging them, laughing at and shunning them.

Women in particular were reportedly the target of his behaviors, allegedly left in tears and traumatized, although the report did not conclude that Lander targeted women in particular.

Following the investigation, Lander apologized for his behavior, and acknowledged it was his responsibility to set a respectful tone. “I have spoken to colleagues within OSTP [Office of Science and Technology Policy] in a disrespectful or demeaning way,” Lander wrote in an email obtained by Politico.

Biden warned on Inauguration Day to his appointees that a hostile workplace will not be allowed in his administration. “If you are ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot. On the spot. No ifs, ands or buts.”

Instead of termination, Lander was required to hold more collaborative meetings and employees were to undergo training. But Lander later resigned.

One of the most telling indications that identify Lander was a workplace bully are reports that he had a “Jekyll and Hyde” personality.

Frequently, bullies are brilliant at managing up and controlling their aggressive and demeaning behaviors in public. This causes them to be widely popular and valued by leadership and constituents.

In private, these same individuals are vile and vindictive. This is why it’s difficult for leadership to believe that the behaviors are as bad as alleged. But they are, and probably worse.

Companies make many mistakes in addressing the allegations.

Employers will question why a person will stay working for the bully or didn’t complain earlier. Workers in a bullying situation are similar to someone experiencing domestic violence.

In some cases, an employee might tolerate the bully’s behavior for over a decade. It’s a controlling relationship and the employee has been so demoralized and beaten down by the bully that the employee loses self-worth and lacks confidence to even begin to look elsewhere.

The other indication that Lander is a bully came from reports that employees were afraid of Lander, and that he yelled and screamed.

Not all bullies raise their voice, but many do. Employees are not generally afraid that the person will commit physical violence, but workers are more afraid of the impulsive nature of the bully’s reactions to employees that do something to upset the bully.

Unfortunately, bullies create such chaos, setting inconsistent expectations and changing rules on the fly, that employees don’t know what the bully expects, and they live in fear that the bully will escalate quickly and unexpectedly.

Employers should set expectations through a Code of Civility or Conduct, and then train all managers and employees on those expectations.

Upon receiving a complaint, employers should conduct a thorough investigation by someone who understands workplace bullies.

Bullied employees will not typically have documented proof or specific instances of the bullying. There will likely not be a video or an email. Bullies are usually too clever for that.

Workers are typically so numb to the bullying behaviors and have been so demoralized, that they have a difficult time identifying what has happened to them. They will frequently describe feeling “smaller than” or losing all sense of self-worth.

Companies should interview all employees, not just those who complain or who are targets, because other employees typically see what is happening to the targeted individuals and can explain the bully’s behaviors better than those who are targeted.

If an employee is found to be engaging in bullying behavior, generally that person will need to be terminated, regardless of how important or well-loved the person might be.

Bullies might improve in the short-term but will almost always revert back to their bullying behaviors. It’s who they are.

Workers need time to heal following the removal of a bully. With good leadership, the work environment can recover and become productive and positive.