This week I could not watch "Glee" due to the Bullying and the attempted Sucide, it upset me so much.. I saw this article below on Fox News Business, and thought it was approiate.
Adults who thought their days of dealing with bullies were left behind on the
schoolyard better think again.
A 2011
CareerBuilder study shows that 27% of U.S. workers have felt
bullied in the workplace with the majority not confronting or reporting the
bully.
Workplace bullying is defined as repeated
mistreatment of an individual employee by a person or group that takes the form
of verbal abuse, behavior that is humiliating, threatening, intimidating or
sabotages the targeted person’s work, according to the
Workplace Bullying
Institute (WBI).
Bullying typically involves a misuse of power, leaving the target
defenseless: 11% of respondents say they felt bullied by a coworker, and 14% say
they felt bullied by their immediate supervisor. Another 7% say the bully was
not their boss, but someone higher up in the organization.
Bullying plays out in the workplace in many ways, according to the
survey:
- 43% of workers say their comments were dismissed or not acknowledged
- 40% claim they were falsely accused of mistakes
- 38% say they were harshly criticized
- 38% report they were forced into doing work that really wasn’t their job
- 37% claim standards and policies applied to them were not used on others
A little more than 30% say they were given “mean looks” and 27% report
colleagues gossiped about them. Still others, 24%, say their bosses yelled at
them in front of coworkers.
Gary Namie, WBI co-founder, senior consultant at
Work Doctor Inc. and
author of
The Bully-FreeWorkplace, claims that as many as 72% of bullies
are bosses with a misconception about what it takes to be a good leader.
Experts say “tough” managers are not necessarily bullies if they are
respectful, fair and set high, yet reasonable, work expectations. But, says
Namie, tough and effective can turn into bullying if a manager exhibits a need
to control; repeatedly humiliates through unwarranted criticism rather than
constructively corrects; and levels a mix of verbal and strategic assaults that
affect the employee’s health and prevent him or her from performing well.
Bullying bosses lack vision, says Traciana Graves,
CEO of
Project Bully Free Zone. They hold a “myopic
we-want-to-have-the-best-quarter” mentality without any forethought of what
happens to the employee—
or the corporation—two-or-three years down the road.
For a targeted employee, bullying can cause stress and physical and mental
ailments like high blood pressure, heart disease, post traumatic stress
syndrome, and in its worst-case scenario, violence or suicide. The bullying
also detracts from overall quality of life for the target and his or her
family.
Yet, experts say, there is no easy fix. Namie says
while “
protected status”
classes are safeguarded by Federal civil liberties and harassment laws, only 20%
of workplace mistreatment incidents involve such illegal discrimination that
enables victims to sue.
Namie says while 58% of targets are women compared to 42% of men, same-gender
bullying is prevalent with 80% of women perpetrators bullying other women.
“Same gender, same race. There’s the rub, says Namie. “If you complain about
misconduct that is “technically legal,” you are most likely to be labeled
thin-skinned or a trouble maker.”
In fact, according to the CareerBuilder survey, 28% of employees took their
concerns to a higher authority and reported the bully to their human resources
department. While 38% of those workers say measures were taken to investigate
and reach resolution, 62% say no action was taken.
Without protocols or consequential actions in place, HR becomes complicit and
unaccountable for bad behavior, Graves says. This is not only harmful to
employees, but also to corporations in which the diminished productivity of
targeted individuals, their increased absenteeism and decreased employee
retention affects the bottom line.
Still, targets often remain under a bully’s control for as long as 22 months,
according to Namie in
Expert tips to help employees cope:
- Don’t be ashamed. Don’t keep your targeted status a “dirty secret,”
says Graves. Derive sanity from people you can trust, and the naming stems your
own self-doubt.
- Keep a written record. Start a your-eyes-only journal to blow off
steam, and keep a log of all incidents. The log will be a helpful tool if you
should decide to fight back.
- Stay centered amid repeated attacks. Adopt a mantra like
“ignore the anger” and concentrate on the most humorous aspect of the bully’s
physical appearance while under an attack. Or, use your own wit and sarcasm to
create protective resistance in a safe and unspoken way, Namie says.
- Get a second opinion. Speak to a trusted friend or work ally
to evaluate a bully’s constant criticism. Identify useful points and also what’s
incorrect.
- Resist lowering yourself into a nasty fight. Personalized, emotional
speak will be discounted and discredited, Namie says. Ask “Why are you
talking to or treating me this way?”
- Take time off. Sick leave or short-term disability will allow you to
assess and restore your physical and mental health; you can regain well-being
and develop strength to plan for your next job.
Since 2003, law professor
David
Yamada’s
Healthy Workplace
Bill has been proposed in 16 states, and 11 states have adopted variations
of the bill, yet no bill has been written into law.
Namie says 64% of bullied targets lose their jobs whether they do or don’t
launch a counterattack.
At some point, you may decide to fight back. “Be forewarned, says Namie. “The
fight is uphill.”
