How to Deal With Bullying at Work!
If the office feels like a some what sort of torture chamber, and your boss or colleagues are constantly singling you out, you could be a victim of workplace bullying. Here’s how to identify harassment at work and what to do if you’re being bullied.
Did you know:
23% of British employees say they have been bullied at work
25% have been made to feel left out in the workplace
Acas claims that bullying at work costs the UK economy £18 billion a year
What is the definition of Bullying in the Workplace
Managers are permitted to call up team members for poor performance or disciplinary problems, making sure it is done in the corrct way following correct procedures, and it is ok for colleagues to have their diferences of opinion. However, when disagreements become a pattern and behaviour seems persistently unreasonable, it is time to ask yourself if it has crossed the line into bullying.
Bullying can take many different forms, from a boss constantly putting you down or exploding with rage to a colleague who is perpetually stealing your bright ideas or spreading cruel rumours about you. But what really defines it?
bullying is generally perceived as offensive, intimidating, humiliating, rude, malicious or insulting behaviour, and abuse of power. So, what accounts for bullying at work? It might include constant criticism, setting unmanageable targets, spreading spiteful rumours, ridicule, unfair treatment, deliberate blocking of promotion, overbearing supervision, exclusion or threats about job security.
Identifying if You Are Being Bullied
Here are some signs of workplace bullying:
Withholding information
Inexplicable refusal to give information, or even worse by giving false information, that is necessary to performing your role.
Removing responsibility and blocking promotion
Permission for training and promotions maybe blocked or refused. While job responsibilities are removed or changed without real reason.
Minimising
Discounting or failing to address someone’s legitimate concerns, or making excuses for behaving badly
Micromanagement
Excessive supervision and extreme micromanagement are unnecessary and intimidating, creating daily paranoia that you don’t have to put up with.
Verbal abuse
Shouting and yelling are unprofessional behaviours and create a hostile environment, especially if habitual and directed at particular people.
Social alienation
Not invited to lunch, after work drinks or meetings? If deliberate and baseless, purposefully ignoring someone to make them feel intentionally excluded is unacceptable.
Impossible workload
The goal posts change
Making last-minute changes to the schedule, inconsistent expectations and putting unreasonable roadblocks is the classic work of an office bully.
Different standards
Unfair treatment at work notices when you and your colleagues are held to obviously different standards.
Constant criticism
Your boss seemingly has a file of all your historical mistakes that they delight in referring to, and they find fault in all your work, no matter how good your latest report.
How Should you Deal with Bullying at Work?
Trying to resolve the sittuation informally is a good a start but remember that not all bullying is deliberate and can simply reflect their own weakness.
Stand up for youself and do it at the moment of being bullied. Do not wait unitl after. Timing is cruicial and must be presented when things are still fresh so that the bully can reflect on the remarks they have just used. This will also make it clear that you know how to handle yourself, even under pressure.
Speak to your co-worker so you can release the tension you are feeling and relieve some of that stress. Make sure you speak formally and not angrily. Also be careful on the words you use.
Keep a log book of all incidents with times, dates, witnesses and what happened.
If it happens again, talk to your superior, another manager (particularly if your own manager is the problem) or someone from HR.
In case nothing improves, raise a formal complaint via the formal grievance procedure. If all else fails, you can escalate your case to an employment tribunal.
At the end of the day. It is all about the intent of the action. Bullying is 100% a no no and should be delt with 0 tollerence to it! If you are dealing with bullying i hope this blog has helped you! Just make sure you take control, not of the situation but of yourelf. Try not to take it personally because the problem does not lie with you but with the bully!
Further Reading:
Employers & Employees: Friendly Workplace to increase Performances
