Employees Report Feeling Bullied in the Workplace
CHICAGO -- Much has been published and broadcast about bullying in schools, but what about the workplace? It seems to be on the rise: 35% of workers surveyed by CareerBuilder say they've felt bullied at work, up from 27% last year.
In addition, 16% of those who say they've been bullied report suffering from health-related problems as a result, and 17% quit their jobs to escape the situation. But nearly half of workers don't confront their bullies and the majority of incidents go unreported.
Of workers who felt bullied, most pointed to incidents with their bosses (48%) or co-workers (45%), while 31% have been picked on by customers and 26% by someone higher up in the company than their boss. More than half, 54%, said they were bullied by someone older while 29% said the bully was younger.
The most common type of bullying was getting blamed for mistakes they didn't make followed by not being acknowledged and the use of double standards. The full list:
- Falsely accused of mistakes, 42%.
- Ignored, 39%.
- Applied different standards/policies toward me than other workers, 36%.
- Constantly criticized, 33%.
- Someone didn't perform certain duties, which hurt my work, 31.
- Yelled at by boss in front of coworkers (28%)
- Belittling comments were made about my work during meetings, 24%.
- Gossiped about, 26%.
- Someone stole credit for my work, 19%.
- Purposely excluded from projects or meetings, 18%.
- Picked on for personal attributes, 15%.
"How workers define bullying can vary considerably, but it is often tied to patterns of unfair treatment," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. "Bullying can have a significant impact on both individual and company performance. It's important to cite specific incidents when addressing the situation with the bully or a company authority and keep focused on finding a resolution."
Nearly half of victims reported they confronted their bully while 51% did not. Of those who engaged in confrontaton, 50% said the bullying stopped while 11% said it got worse and 38% said nothing changed. Some 27% of those who felt bullied reported it to their human resources department. Of these workers, 43% said action was taken but 57% said nothing was done.
If you're feeling bullied in the workplace, Haefner offers the following tips:
- Keep record of all incidents of bullying, documenting places, times, what happened and who was present.
- Consider talking to the bully, providing examples of how you felt you were treated unfairly. Chances are the bully may be unaware that he is making you feel this way.
- Always focus on resolution. When sharing examples with the bully or a company authority, center the discussions around how to make the working situation better or how things could be handled differently.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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