Thankfully, real life doesn’t really mirror high school flicks, but, and this is a big BUT, It turns out bullying follows us straight into adulthood – it’s just a little less obvious. Despite our desire to believe otherwise, workplace bullying is more commonplace than you’d think.
Sadly, the devastating effects of bullying can plague the bully, the bullied and anyone else in the area.
Workplace bullying can take many forms—it can be directed at specific people or related to certain work activities. Making the matter even murkier is the fact that there is no legal definition for bullying. Experts generally describe bullying as involving negative behaviour targeted at an individual, or individuals, repeatedly and persistently over time. ‘Negative behaviour’ includes:
Ignoring or excluding
Assigning unachievable tasks
Spreading malicious rumours or gossip
Delegating meaningless or unpleasant tasks
Making belittling remarks
Undermining co-worker integrity
Withholding information deliberately
Undervaluing employees’ contributions
Degrading others in public
Bullying can cause psychological health problems, such as depression, and physical health problems such as sleep difficulties or stomach pains.
If you are the victim of bullying or have witnessed it in the workplace, know there are ways to deal with it. Remember that silence enables bullying. Start by speaking to someone you feel comfortable with about your concerns. This could be your manager, a co-worker or a union representative. You could describe the behaviour you have been experiencing and get an opinion about whether it is bullying.
Try to resolve the issue informally. This could involve you, with the support of a colleague or manager, approaching the person whom you believe is mistreating you. Describe the behaviour, explain how it makes you feel, and politely ask the person to stop.
If that does not work, resort to mediation by a neutral third party. After exhausting any other informal procedures, follow our formal complaints procedure.
So, ladies and gents, take a cue and do your best to end bullying when you see it. “There are two kinds of evil people in this world. Those who do evil stuff and those who see evil stuff being done and don’t try to stop it” ~ Janis.
Check out our resource page for other work tips and tricks.
