Say No to Workplace Bullying: Tips for Empowerment

Workplace Bullying : The Bullies of School Now Have Jobs
By Effat Alsaraj

At school, bullies pick on other kids with verbal or even physical abuse to show dominance, but more deeply to hide their own insecurities. Unfortunately, if these behaviors were not corrected at that age, these school bullies would grow up, find a job, and create what we now know as bullying at the workplace.

Legally, it’s defined as repeated offensive behavior, or a behavior posing the risk of being repeated, that occurs at the workplace, and creates a risk to health and safety. You’ve surely seen examples of employees bullying their coworkers with offensive jokes, teasing, or sarcastic remarks. But it can also be as simple as purposefully alienating a certain individual from team activities.

Perhaps more dangerously, workplace bullying can come from managers, based on their inclination to control their employees using physical or verbal violence. Here we don’t mean managers assigning tasks, making sure their employees adhere to work deadlines, or even reprimanding their employees according to poor performances. Rather it is about how managers can abuse these authorities.

Abuse of authority can be seen in belittling or nitpicking an employee’s work, assigning them too little or too much work, or tasking them with duties below their skill level. Not to mention warnings of docking pay or firing, as well as denying annual or emergency leave requests without good reason. Some managers even use these techniques on an employee they just don’t like in order to force them to resign. They keep pushing them until they have no option but to leave.

In the past, we used to dismiss these actions, but now we realize that these are not just demanding bosses, they are actually bullies. Now we know just how much consequences workplace bullying can have on individuals and on the team as a whole.

Workplace bullying, much like school bullying, is not just fun teasing. It can have very serious consequences. The constant battering of bullies can cause emotional distress, and may leave victims feeling alienated and alone. If these victims are left without help, their self-esteem will be destroyed, and they may fall to depression, or worse. But the whole team suffers as well, tension is always in the air, team spirit is down, and consequently efficiency and productivity will drop.

Despite the laws that seek to rid us of workplace bullying, and create a safe space where employees can focus on their work, we must realize that there will still be incidents of workplace bullying. As an employee, you should know how to protect yourself in these situations. While difficult to do, controlling your fear or anger when face to face with a bully is the best way to beat them. It keeps you in the right, and denies bullies the satisfaction they’re seeking.

When you’re out of that situation, understand that it is not your fault, and know that it is your employer’s responsibility to provide you with a safe work environment. However, you’re the one who has to get the ball rolling. You may prefer to face your bully with facts before taking legal action. If that doesn’t work, you should inform the responsible authorities in order for the investigation to begin. It will be beneficial to have taken record of the incident somehow, which is why it’s very helpful to stay calm when the situation occurs.

Finally, don’t forget how crucial it is to take care of yourself. If you feel you’ve suffered from physical harm or sheer emotional distress, seek medical attention as soon as possible. Do not wait too long, because fixing yourself up at that time will take much longer. So remain calm, understand you have a right, and seek corrective action. Remember, when things are heating up, the bully thinks he’s winning, but in reality, you have the upper hand. Stay calm, let them dig themselves deeper in that hole, use what you can for the investigation after you call out the incident, and you’ll get the last laugh.

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