When you are snubbed socially, the impulse is to regain your position in another way: if you are laughed at, you prove social worth by over-indexing on utility value (you increase your productivity) to compensate. 

This operational and social alignment means if someone wants you to work harder, they leverage social exclusion: the more they snub you, the harder you work.

The clever manager or bully only pushes so far, then allows a taste of the good life before resubmerging you.