There are far too many people I have spoken with during my corporate days that are not able to identify that they are actually being bullied. No harm no foul, isn’t it?
But these people aren’t exactly comfortable with the situation either. In order to take action to curb bullying in your workplace, you must first know that you are being abused.
Here are some, not all of the types of bullying in the workplace. The key is that if you are uncomfortable or find yourself in an uncomfortable situation, speak up.
Discrimination
This is a common type of bullying. You find yourself being the butt of racial or sexist jokes among your coworkers. You’re being teased a lot and not in a nice way. You get missed out on promotions or participation in major projects.
Isolation
You might think that people just don’t like to be with you. It is puzzling if you have many friends outside of your workplace but in your office, you don’t have a single one you can talk to. You don’t get invited to business luncheons or office parties. People whispers when you are around or even walked out of the room, just when you enter. Alienating someone is very real in a workplace and a form of bullying.
Favoritism
Either you’ve been single out as the apple of boss’s eye or one of your teammates is getting favourable extras from the management, both ways are still considered unfair.
Harassment
Many of us thought that harass is only pertaining to any sexual innuendo and the victims are only female. Not true. Harassment can be in form of stalking, deliberate act of private space invasion, not respecting rejection and intrusive probing questions into your personal life.
Even without bodily contact and obvious body language, you can be harassed in your workplace without you even realizing it, only that you felt uncomfortable, not able to put your finger to the weird feeling.
Emotional Blackmail
Yes, this happens mostly during the personal relationship but it can happen in a workplace too. Like taking advantage of using your boss’s love for children to put your child forefront as an excuse for your punctuality all the time. Or pulling the ‘we are a team, right?’ card at your colleagues to clear up the mess you have made in your work.
When Bullying Happens To You, What Can You Do?
First of all, never keep quiet. By keeping silence, you are actually endorsing the bully’s actions and may embolden him or her to do even more, whether towards you or some other victims.
Call it out
Talk to someone. Pursue relentlessly. Go to your superior. Go to your superior’s superiors. Go to HR. Go to Employee Relations. In other words, make some noise.
Meanwhile, stay away from the bully as much as possible. You may consider confronting the bully but always in numbers. Have a couple of colleagues who have your back together with you when you confront the bully.
All Else, Fails
Talk to your union. Approach an abuse help group in your area. Or even your lawyer. If you don’t have a lawyer in mind, you can search ‘best business formation attorney near me‘ online, to find the most trusted attorneys in your area to help. If it’s borderline criminal, go to the police and file a report. Don’t be a victim and let them ruin your life. No matter how severe the case is, bullying is bullying and it should be stopped immediately.
Have you witnessed or been bully before? Please do share your experiences with us so everyone can learn from it.
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Helpful post, and on hot topic
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Thank you so much
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Kally, I’ve nominated you fo the Liebster Award. You can read about it here. :https://wordpress.com/view/walkinghumbly.blog
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Awww!! You’re awesome! Thank you!
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Wonderful write and articulation Kally, workplace bullying is a threat to employee productivity
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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Such a big issue in today’s world.
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So true. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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You know recently one girl at Bangaluru committed suicide after getting bullied in college…Tough, when will we learn?
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That’s Super sad 😢 are we doing enough to protect our future generations?
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Sometimes over doing things, sometimes doing nothing…
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I burst into tears reading this. Way back in 1996, I was a brand newly qualified nurse and started my first job on a medical ward. I was so thrilled and ready to prove myself that what happened to me was like a bolt out of the blue.
On my second day on the ward, I got screamed at in front of all the staff and patients, by the ward’s deputy manager no less. As a ward sister, her job was to support, not to demoralise. This systematic bullying affected me badly.
After several months, I was a different person. I would cry before my shift and not want to go. I wasn’t one of the clique and boy did they make me know it.
I was eventually transferred to a much nicer ward but ended up having a nervous breakdown that saw me off work for almost four months.
Workplace bullying isn’t highlighted enough and I wanted to thank you for this excellent piece of writing.
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Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. It does sound like you had a horrible tough time and it’s no way to start off a newly passionate nurse! Worst of all, medical field is suppose to be a compassionate field! Big hugs. I’m sure the experience made you a tougher person but I wish you hadn’t gone through those awful bullying tactics. Shame on them, shame on the bullies.
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It did make me tougher. I don’t take rubbish from anybody now. I hope my sharing will inspire people to go to to Human Resources and report what they are going through.
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Your sharing will help a lot! Especially to those who are reading this and still on the fence whether to say or do something about it. What about writing a guest post about your bullied experience and I can publish it here with links back to your blog? If you like the idea, please drop me an email at Kally@MiddleMe.net
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I have emailed you.x
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Gotcha!
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Hi Kally. Finished article is in your inbox. I hope it’s ok for you.
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Big hugs. You’re awesome.
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I don’t feel awesome. I’m just me.x
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Thank you for sharing this out !
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Your write ups are always relevant. You’re doing a really good job!
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Thank you so much for your encouragement
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That is quite an interesting post. You have focussed on what emoployees face in today’s corporate world.
I am relatively new to blogging and love it when I come across such post like that of your.
I am 3 posts old, working on a series right now. Would be pleased if you could drop by.
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Definitely popping by your blog right now. Thank you for visiting and welcome to MiddleMe!!
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Reblogged this on Alessandria today.
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I like your blogs! So I nominated you for the liebster award.
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Awww… thank you for your generous nomination!! You’re awesome 👏
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You are always welcome Kally! You too are awesome!
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Great post. Looking back, maybe I was bullied a lot more than I realized.
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Thank you. A big hug for all the bullying you had to endure in silence. I realised many are being bullied without realizing it, this post is to help to throw some light so everyone can protect themselves in one way or another.
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My Dear Friend in Christ,
Long retired now, I spent much of my life in Retail Management.
I was always irked by signs of Clickish groups. [BUT failed to even try do anything about them] and with your clear definitions; looking back I was Bullied at times too; and recall one insistence where I WAS the Bully.
So from my own experience, upon reflection; those that do not come to the aid of other employees [for fear, political or personal reasons], share as do I, a serious level of guilt.
We are all God’s Children; and we need to see that potential, that promise in everyone we meet; in every one that passes our life path.
There is a Better way; and it starts with US.
Thank you and continued Blessings,
Patrick
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Thank you, Patrick for sharing your experiences and wonderful thoughts. Yes, we do carry some form of guilt when we don’t stand up to bullies and allow the weak to be walked over. Good point is saying that all change starts from us.
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It’s been, thankfully, a long time since I’ve experienced bullying at work. I do recognize several of the situations you describe. All of them have to be annoying and debilitating. All can be confronted.
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Hope awareness cease workplace bullying totally. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. And yes, all kinds of bullying have to be confronted.
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I can safely point out favoritism in my organization as the only example. Many senior managers, and in some cases, even head of departments endorse favoritism. Though when being questioned, they always deny it which makes the situation even worse.
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That’s so irritating! Favouritism to me is one of the most unfair practices and you’ll never get promoted no matter how good your work is and you are being blocked by this person who’s heart is so narrow and view is so tiny that he or she has to pick only one person to like.
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A couple of techniques I have seen used effectively in large organisations which enable addressing such situations to some extent:
1. Give everyone access to a layer above the immediate boss
2. Run what is called “Skip level” meetings where a senior person occasionally interacts directly with people two or more levels below
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Thank you for sharing useful information and solutions. The company I previously worked has an anonymous hotline where one can actually report another and a discreet investigation will take place by a dedicated team.
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Thank you everyone gets bullied and theres not still enough awareness still and no is doing as much as we need them to be. More sercerty everywhere would be nice in work places cameras, or even instead of those work meetings how about bully meeting on not to do is bully. I so agree with your post great one..
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Thank you so much for your support. Yes, I totally agree with you that awareness is not enough in workplace. More should be done to protect employees.
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ich finde, so mancher freut sich über diesen Blog, alles gut, wünsche einen schönen Sonntag und einen guten Start in die neue Woche, Klaus
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Thank you so much. I hope you had a wonderful weekend too!
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diese Woche gehört dem Winter, dann kommt der Frühling, Klaus
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Great tips! The workplace can be cruel
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Thank you so much! I’m Glad you like the post.
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Pestenj k&an onder geen enkele omstandigheid goed gekeurd worden.
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Very good post, Kally. You are right that it is necessary to take some form of action.
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Thank you! And I know this post is close to your heart due to your experiences. Hopefully, more awareness is raised and less victims are abused.
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Very nice post! i loved it. Thanks for sharing such good posts!
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Thank you so much, Ravi Singh.
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You are welcome,Kally!
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It wasn’t until i read an article a few years ago about work place bullying, that I understood that this was happening to me and was the cause of me becoming ill. Thamk you for positing this.
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Thank you for sharing your experiences!! Wonderful to have you here.
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