5 Efficient Ways to Deal With Bullies at Work
A lot of people imagine that bullying only occurs in schools whereas in reality, bullying can okay anywhere even at work. bullying can occur anywhere even at work. While they might not physically harass you, they can behave in a way that can affect you psychologically. Learn how to deal with bullies at work if you find yourself in this position.
Research shows that more 75 percent of employees have been affected by workplace bullying.
Another survey showed that 65 percent of US employees are bullied at work. Out of this 65 percent, 70 percent are men while 30 percent are women.
Another UNISON survey supports this findings with 60% out of 6000 respondents saying that they have been bullied at work.
As you get older, the consequences of being bullied can be pretty severe. Not only does it negative psychological effects, it can also affect your health.
Someone who is constantly bullied at work would suffer from low self confidence, experience a lot of stress and also be less productive.
Don’t think that it is only someone that holds a position of authority that can do the bullying. Anybody can be bullied, from a manager down to a colleague. I have even seen instances where it is the manager that is getting bullied by some of his staffs.
Bullying is wrong and if you are on the receiving end, it is important that you take necessary steps to protect yourself and put a stop to it. Below are some helpful tips you can use to deal with bullies at work.
1. Access your Actions
Before you take any serious steps to deal with bullying in the work place, it is important that you first do a review of your own actions.
You should do a double check to ensure that you are not contributing to the situation by some of your actions. It could be that you are contributing it to it in some way.
There is a huge chance that you might not be any doing wrong because most bullies engage in the act because of the fun of it, but it would be good to access your actions to make sure that are aren’t making a mistake.
There are certain times that the bullying might just have been a one-off experience. In instances like this, you might decide to just let it go and be the bigger person.
Sometimes moving on and not acting might be a solution.
When the bullying occurs more than once, you know it’s not a one-off experience and then it would be time to take action.
Read more: Do you feel like you are stuck in life? Here is how to get better.
2. Deal with Bullies Immediately Rather than Later.
The reason why most people get bullied for long periods of time is because they are scared to speak up against their bullies.
Sometimes it might not be because you are scared. You might not want to tell others that you are being bullied because of your pride. You could also not want to confront the bully because the person is in a position of power and you might lose your job if you challenge them.
If it is because of your pride or fear of losing your job that made you decide to endure the bully, you would only suffer significant effect in the long run.
Long term bullying can have a significant effect on your mental health and productivity. If you are careful, you might even lose the job you trying to keep because you wouldn’t be able do your job efficiently in a stressful environment.
This is the reason why you must act immediately. You shouldn’t wait till the bullying has gone on for so long that you would no longer be able to control it anymore.
3. Inform your Bosses
Unlike in high school where you would not want to report a bully to a teacher so that you won’t be called a snitch, this is a more different case at work. There are far more stakes involved.
There is much more that your reply at risk. You mental health, career and future could be on the line. When you are being bullied at work, go and report the person(s) to your HR. You can even report to a boss that is superior to the bully if you can have access to them.
4. Don’t take the bullying to heart
This might be easier said than done, but it is something you should try out anyways. Taking bullying personally can have a more serious effect than normal.
You should more understand that most bullies exist predominantly because of their insecurities than the issues you think they might have with you. If you can develop a healthy emotional boundary to these negativity, their bullying would most likely bounce of you.
When bullies see that you are reacting to their actions they would potentially want to do it more. When they see you don’t pay them any attention, they would most likely back off.
5. Document their actions
Since this is happening at work, if you report a bully they might deny it ever happened. Documenting all the instances when it happened might be the best defence on how to deal with bullies at work.
Documenting all the instances of confrontation with the bully would help you remember any information that you might easily forget especially if the matter would have to be dealt with legally.
If you wanted to take this colleague to court, a dispute resolution solicitor would need evidence before they can enforce a legal case on the colleague involved.
Workplace bullying people is a matter that needs more awareness. A lot of people never know that this happens because the sufferers almost never come out and just endure it in silence.
If you are being bullied, standing up for yourself not only puts a stop to it but also gives confidence to those who have been too scared to stand up to their oppressors.
