Bullying in the Work Place
Bullying in the Work Place
Did you know that bullying doesn’t just happen in the school yard? According to research by Dr. Judy Blando almost 75% of employees surveyed have been affected by workplace bullying; either as a target or a witness. Most victims of workplace bullying aren’t the weakest, newest employees, instead they tend to be the stronger and smarter ones. They are often seen as the office mentor and normally more skilled than their counterparts. Workplace bullying usually falls on the psychological side versus the physical side such as what is present in adolescent bullying.
What is work place bullying?
Workplace bullying happens when actions of one person or even a group single out someone unreasonably. It can happen at any type of work place – offices, shops, warehouses, restaurants and even government agencies. Bullying often involves the abuse and misuse of power. These actions can be verbal, social, psychological and physical abuse. Bullying isn’t normally seen as a single act, but is usually an ongoing behavior over an extended period of time.
How does bullying affect your health?
Your health can been affected physically or mentally. Physically you might have trouble sleeping or feeling overly tired. Weight loss and weight gain are not uncommon. You may also develop high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems such as stroke and heart attacks. Other health complaints can include neck and back discomfort, muscle tension, acute pain and even fibromyalgia. You may suffer from chronic stomach issues such as nausea, heartburn and diarrhea. These are just a few of the physical symptoms that you may experience, but there could be many more.
Mentally you may find yourself overly anxious when you think of work. You could experience panic attacks at the work place or at home. These might manifest in the evenings prior to going to bed as you think of returning to work the next day. Or you might have a panic attack as you get ready for work in the morning or while driving to your work place. Anxiety could control your day, which will likely affect your work quality and work production. This could even develop into post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Your mental status can in turn affect you again physically, for example biting your nails, losing hair (due to stress), starting to smoke, drink, or other unhealthy coping techniques.
While you make every attempt to not miss work when you are experiencing any of these physical and mental issues, there are maybe times you just can’t make it to work because of mental and physical exhaustion. Which means you have to either use your paid time off or even loose pay. All the while you are stressing more at the thought of the work piling up. Your family life might be affected by all of this as well. You may also leash out at home and snap at your family members and loved ones, because you just can no longer deal with your situation. All of the issues mentioned above are warning signs that something in your life isn’t healthy. Pay attention to these signs, as you need to understand you aren’t operating at your best when these symptoms present. Things can easily get worse if you don’t take action to make some changes.
Who’s the Bully?
Now that I have established what bullying is and how it can affect you, lets discuss who could be the bully. In the workplace the bully can be just about anyone you work with. Maybe a counterpart sees you has a threat because you have been selected to complete a special project or recently received praise for completing a project. It could also be someone in a slightly higher position or with more tenure who is upset that the newer employees go to you for questions instead of them. Maybe they feel that the new employees should seek their advice since they are higher on the chain. Maybe someone sees you as a competition for a raise or promotion they been hoping for, and is therefore trying to shine a negative light on you? People with higher authority such as your supervisor can also be the bully. Supervisors who bully often feel weak in their position and may use intimidation tactics to secure their status.
You will find that there are several different personalities of bullies in the work place. There might be the office critic who always tries to undermine a co-worker’s confidence by providing unsolicited criticism; always looking for a flaw. The bully may even consider being untruthful to make someone look bad in the eyes of a supervisor. It might be a co-worker who is friendly to your face, but will throw you under the buss if it benefits them. You may have encountered a bully who seems to be rather loud and obnoxious and who’s behavior means to berate and humiliate others. Many times the bully wants to be the center of attention and is often overly dramatic if they do not received the attention they crave from co-workers. The bully may try to coax personal information from you, only to use it at a later date to benefit themselves. Most often bullies like to take credit for other peoples work and point fingers at others for their own shortcomings.
What does a Bully do?
Next we will take a look at behaviors of the work place bully. The first list of actions can be seen from any level of bully – counterpart, someone slightly higher or more tenured or a supervisor.
Aggressive yelling and shouting
Regular teasing, making someone the brunt of all the jokes or pranks
Interrupting someone unnecessarily or disrupting someone’s work
Repeatedly discounting someone’s comments or contributions at staff meetings
Comparing one person to another unfavorably
Taking credit for someone else’s accomplishments
Blaming a person for problem/issue they didn’t cause
Purposefully excluding or isolating a person from normal work activities
The following list of what you might experience if the bully is a supervisor or higher official within the company:
Employee is given tasks that are above skill level
Employee is often given unrealistic time lines
Deadlines frequently change with very little notice
Employment is denied access to earned paid leave
Employee is often reminded of past failures or mistakes
Rules are inconsistently followed or enforced
Excessive monitoring of an employees work
Employee is ignored or isolated by supervisor
Feedback is given in an insincere or disrespectful manner
Employee is being “corrected” (humiliated) in front of the others, for example during a team meeting
As a group, how do we feel?
As I round out this topic we need to look at one more aspect of workplace bullying. The effect on the workplace itself. Obviously if it’s not healthy for us as employees to endure bullying; our workplace must suffer as well. As a whole our offices, warehouses, restaurants, doctor’s office, etc. all suffer as group when there is bullying behaviors. We spend such a large amount of time with our co-workers each week there isn’t much you can do to avoid the run off that is created.
As a group you may suffer from one or all of the following:
Reduced work production and work quality
Decreased moral and loyalty
Higher absenteeism
A hostile environment
Increased employee turn over
Not trusting one another
Currently there is no law that states bullying is illegal within the work place. If you suspect you are a victim of work place bullying you should research your company’s Human Resources manual regarding this type of behavior. There is a good chance that the bullying if considered harassment, which most work places don’t condone. This can be a breach in company policies and maybe even state laws. Often we are afraid to speak up due to the fear of retaliation. However, without any actions, nothing will change. Make sure you document any incidents you experience or witness. Bullying is unacceptable and nobody should be the victim of such behavior in the workplace, or any other environment. Do not be afraid to advocate for yourself and others. Report bullying if it’s becoming an issue that needs to be addressed.
If you are experiencing issues in the workplace, anxiety therapy or depression therapy can help you learn to deal with these tough situations that leave you feeling drained. Reach out to me so we can talk about how you can address your specific situation.
