Bullying at Work

Bullying in the work environment is not something that should be ignored. Your job is something you rely upon and may even enjoy, but with the addition of a bully, your time at work can be difficult, tedious, or downright impossible. Also, dealing with a bully can take a toll on you mentally and emotionally, so working in an emotionally toxic environment can be damaging to your health and job performance making it difficult for you to get work done in a timely manner, or even enjoying your work almost impossible.

Who can be bullying you at work?

• your managers
• your subordinates
• your customers/clients
• your peers
• your organisation

Bullying happens in the workplace environment partially due to the way most offices run the chain of command. Most workplace bullies are also in positions of authority, such as bosses or managers. A boss who is also a bully takes advantage of the fact that he or she already has some control over your life and uses it in mean, hurtful ways. He or she may insist that you work extra hours or take on more work for no apparent reason.

How do they bully?

• face-to-face
• online
• through others
• through poor processes
• through workload
• through fear
• by taking away
  • your sense of belonging
  • your feeling of safety
  • your being valued
  • your control

You may find yourself trying to meet unreasonable deadlines which may be changed at a moment's notice. The bully will go out of his or her way to find arbitrary faults with you or your work, and criticise you in front of others. He or she may also force you to do things by threatening to fire you or cancel holidays you have booked off. This can also include firing you if you must go pick up your child because of an emergency at school, or if there is an issue at home by not permitting you leave thus causing you to have to choose between work and your family.

While the workplace bully often is already in a position of authority, this is not always the case. Sometimes a bully can take the form of a co-worker. This form of bullying may be more recognizable, since it is not disguised by the workplace chain of command. Leaving you out of making decisions or providing input, stealing your work and presenting it as his or her own, discrediting you so that they may gain the upper hand, or constantly undermining your authority are very common ways in which a co-worker can bully you.

It is difficult to deal with co-worker bullying because he or she may be someone you have to interact with on a daily basis, and even more so if your boss is not sensitive to the situation, or if he or she is part of the problem. Bullies in the workplace can even include clients or customers. This is especially true if you run your own business since you are directly in charge of making decisions about what services or products you offer or your office polices. Clients are difficult when they are bullies because they are the ones paying you.

Often in customer service, we are taught that the client is never wrong meaning we should have to let them get away with anything that they want, but that is not true. The client may be right about some things, but there is a fine line between an obsessive client and a bully trying to take advantage of you. If this situation is present, then you may wish to, if possible, hand off this client to another employee. However, if this is not possible suggest to your bully or client to find another place to take their business to.

A less drastic version of this is to politely and professionally stand up for yourself and explain that you cannot provide them with what they want and that you find their behaviour offensive. If you are a manger at your company or run your own business and your employees are bullying you, you may have the option to fire them. If this is not your style or simply not within your power, you may wish to take them aside and discuss why they are treating you this way.

If there is a reason you may be able to come to a compromise and if not, you have at least stated that you do not like the way they are treating you for future reference. The last way a bully can harm you in a work environment is if you are part of an organization and the company as a whole is taking advantage of you. When part of an organizational bully, the real bullies are higher up, thus granting them more control, and if they are large enough there is less of a chance anyone will question their tactics. It is important to remember, if the situation gets too severe, that most areas have some form of laws against harassment at work, and labour unions may also be able to provide resources to help.

Bullies in the workplace have varying tactics they can use to get the most satisfaction out of hurting you in an emotional or physical manner. One of the more common ways a bully in the workplace may choose to harass you is face to face. Face to face means saying anything negative to you in person such as “you are not worthy to work on this project” or using other negative sayings to bring you down to an emotional level where the bully has more control then you do. A face to face encounter in the workplace could also take place in a meeting where your bully may leave you out in front of the company or make you appear to be inadequate.

If a bully knows you will not defend yourself, it gives them the full advantage over you to take control of the conversations and ultimately get you into a lot of trouble. A bully at work has the ability to make you feel unvalued such as a boss who will give you more work than others with no intent of give you a raise, or your boss may promote someone who is less qualified then you.

This can also include setting unreachable goals or changing due dates for projects, knowing that you will not be able to complete them. This feeling of failing at work may make you feel as though you are causing the problem, but you are not. The bully likes being in control and making you feel worthless and powerless is how they manipulate you in to doing whatever it is they need, want, or just do not feel like doing.

If your boss is, in fact, bullying you then you may also find that the conflicts do not always come from your bully but through others. This is not uncommon because if your bully is higher up in the business others will follow for fear that if they do not follow the bully they may become the next target.

A bully controls you through fear. Not everyone in your workplace is against you, even though it may feel that way. If you can, talk with other employees outside of the workplace you probably will find that this is true the bully is just using them and controlling them with fear and you are the unlucky target that the bully has decided to target his or her anger towards.

The most important thing to remember is that there is power in numbers, and if other employees are feeling the same way that you are there is a better chance to stop the bullying because there are more of you to stand up against them. When there is a bully in the workplace, you may be afraid of losing your job. If this is, in fact, an issue you should document the offenses against you so if you are indeed fired by your bully you may be able to take them to court and receive some sort of compensation.

In many places, you may be able to take legal action without them firing you first. These offenc es can vary but a good example is poor processes. A bully in the workplace can decide to forget to turn in the hours you worked that week so that you do not get paid on time, or a bully could shorten your personal time off, giving other employees more time off then you or punishing you for taking a sick day even thought there was no way around it.

As we enter into the twenty-first century, we also enter into a new age of technology, and along with this shift we encounter social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. They open a new way for bullies in the workplace environment to attack you. A bully can now take away your safety by coming into your home though not physically.

When looking for a job, employers use Internet searches as part of a background check so anything you say on a networking site probably is going to be seen by your current or future employers. This is also a new frontier for bullies because now they can attack you anytime and anywhere from a safe distance. Remember that you do not deserve to be bullied.