Here’s an example of work bullying: one day, in the office, a co-worker or your boss mocks you in public, or asks for tasks that don’t match your contract; Besides, if those tasks are not fulfilled, he scolds him and ridicules him in front of his peers. Without realizing it, you end up giving in to pressure and agree to do the tasks it requires, as long as it leaves you alone.
And it looks like it’s working for a while. Because there comes a day when even if you do everything your boss asks of you, something else happens and requires something even worse. Or make a bad joke or even yell at him. Then you can’t take it anymore. You are looking for your superior and he proposes no solution but to “hold on”. Why is there nothing about the person who can solve this situation without doing anything?
“If there are no heroes to save you, you must become one. “Denpa Kyoshi-
Workplace harassment occurs in a relationship between the stalker and the harassed person, in a work and organizational environment that can aggravate the situation, although this is a worrying fact, more and more cases with the same problem appear. , although there are several factors for such a situation to occur, we have identified some to outline below.
Thus, the person who commits harassment usually has a very characteristic personality, usually narcissistic, easily irritable and vindictive.
In addition, they are people who usually have low self-esteem and high anxiety, adding to the fact that, if they occupy a higher hierarchical position, a number of facts can aggravate the situation.
“People who love each other don’t hurt others. The more we hate each other, the more we want others to suffer. “Dan Pearce
If this is the case, the stalker can over-monitor, mistrust, and worsen the stalker’s performance at work, making the conflict worse.
To these characteristics is added a series of conditions that occur around work, which perpetuate this situation, in that sense, if there is high demand at work, but existing resources are low, harassment is more likely to occur. responsible superiors play a very important role.
The fact that these superiors are ineffective can influence; their form of leadership as well. Passive and despotic leadership, along with arbitrary decisions, predisposes to harassment. Why? Because these are characteristics of supervisors who generally take a permissive position in relation to aggression and abuse in the workplace.
The fact that an organization allows harassment to exist is very worrying, this lack of respect not only harms the employee who is the victim of violence, but also costs the company and society as a whole, so it is paradoxical that supervisors can end the situation, but do not do so out of indifference , because situations usually don’t go beyond that and because it ends up being very complicated.
Workplace harassment will have a number of impacts on the victim. First, it will affect your psychological health. Symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as feelings of anger and emotional exhaustion, may also cause fatigue and physical discomfort, as well as changes in sleep.
In addition to employee losses, harassment will also have negative consequences for the organization, given the victim’s suffering, usually ends up leaving their jobs, workers who are in the same situation but do not end up increasing their income due to their satisfaction and decrease in commitment to the company; increasing his intention to quit his job.
On the other hand, it can affect other employees who are witnessing the situation. Witnesses at work can develop stress, emotional distress, and a negative attitude in the workplace. These experiences at work can also have repercussions in other areas of our lives, such as the family estate.
Given the high costs associated with work harassment, both health and economic, it needs to be addressed and eliminated; in practical terms, organizations must set aside passive and permissive attitudes to these situations.
As? Promote a positive attitude and eliminate the situational factors that influence it, such as overwork, lack of proper leadership, or unfair injustice.
In this sense, it is good to form team leaders who are fair and supportive, taking advantage of the use of emotional intelligence, so that they know how to act if someone reports harassment.
That is why it is good that they know and know how to easily manage a protocol of action that cuts the problem at the root, unfortunately many companies do not have this protocol and many bosses make hesitant and unrrasonable decisions when they detect such situations.
“Never be mistreated in silence. Never allow yourself to be a victim. Don’t accept that no one defines your life, you define it. “Tim Fields?
In a company, clear compliance policies must be established, leaving any ambiguity and creating clear protocols for reporting and treating work bullying solutions, it is good that there are specialists in the mediation of problems in the workplace, in addition it is good that workers receive courses on how to manage emotions and stress, so that they acquire tools to deal with the different conflict situations that may arise.
Workplace harassment is a real and more common problem than statistics say, because it is very often characterized by silence because few people are willing to talk about it; No one likes to get involved in such scandals and many people, even if they don’t explicitly say it, see this as a “dirty rag” that needs to be solved internally. So, we’re talking about a multi-layered problem.
Given the high psychological, physical and economic costs, not only for the victim, but also for the organization and for society at large, it is necessary to develop policies to address the problem, especially within the company itself.
You can’t have a permissive attitude about it. It is extremely important for the victim to realize that they can do something about it and that the organization is taking action; to avoid a feeling of helplessness and to prevent the problem from getting worse.
Image credits: Breather, Seb and Alejandro Alvarez