Notes

Office Bullying Is Damaging Workers beyond All Demographics


Many people perhaps consider bullies as permanently angry teens insisting lunch money and carrying swirlies. However playgrounds and school hallways aren't the lone places where violent behavior, threats, gossip, and rejection are used to oppress people and affirm power. Warning! Bullying is very damaging than we may know says, Westhill Consulting Career and Employment, Australia. This holds true by a study from CareerBuilder shows that bullying is alive and well in offices across America.

The study, which incorporated more than 3,300 employees thru industries and company sizes, demonstrates that 28 percent of employees answer they've felt bullied at the office at some time in their career, and of those employees, 19 percent said the bullying initiated them to leave their job.

Who are the victims and why aren’t they filling complaints?
In general, women are more expected to have felt bullied, with 34 percent stating they've been victim to workplace bullying at some stage in their career matched to 22 percent of men.

Furthermore, 30 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers testified being the victims of bullying at work, while there are 44 percent of physically disabled workers.

The study furthermore discovered that 27 percent of African American workers and 25 percent of Hispanic workers have suffered from bullying on the job, as compare to 24 percent of Caucasian males. Not counting workers from Asian countries such as KL Malaysia, Jakarta Indonesia, Beijing China and many more.

"One of the most surprising takeaways from the study was that bullying impacts workers of all backgrounds regardless of race, education, income and level of authority within an organization," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder.

Bullying, past and present
Despite the fact run-ins with their bully are in the bygone for several of these workers, 24 percent of those who testified feeling bullied at work claim that it is presently occurring in their present job, and 19 percent put an end by giving up their job because of bullying.

The study moreover ended the numbers down further, taking a keener look at workers who held they are at present being bullied by job level, educational attainment and salary level, according to CareerBuilder:

Job level
• Management (manager, director, team leader, vice president and above) – 27 percent
• Professional and technical – 21 percent
• Entry-level/administrative and clerical – 26 percent

Highest level of education attained
• High school graduate – 28 percent
• Associate's degree – 21 percent
• Bachelor's degree or higher – 23 percent

Compensation level
• Earning less than $50,000 – 28 percent
• Earning $50,000 or more – 19 percent

Who are the bullies?
Forty-five percent of bullied workers claimed the boss was the chief offender, while 25 percent blamed someone upper in the organization, yet not the boss, and 46 percent alleged they were bullied by a co-worker.

Fifty-three percent stated the bully was someone older than them, while 25 percent held their bully was younger than them.

Workplace bullying frequently happens in one-on-one circumstances, however 19 percent of bullied workers said the incidents occurs in group settings with numerous people joining in.

Kinds of bullying
Bullying in the office can appear extremely dissimilar from bullying on the playground. Whereas physical violence or name-calling isn’t as predominant, the most usual habits people testified being bullied at work include, according to CareerBuilder:

• Falsely accused of mistakes he/she didn't make – 43 percent
• Comments were ignored, dismissed or not acknowledged – 41 percent
• A different set of standards or policies was used for the worker – 37 percent
• Gossip was spread about the worker – 34 percent
• Constantly criticized by the boss or co-workers – 32 percent
• Belittling comments were made about the person's work during meetings – 29 percent
• Yelled at by the boss in front of co-workers – 27 percent
• Purposely excluded from projects or meetings – 20 percent
• Credit for his/her work was stolen – 20 percent
• Picked on for personal attributes (race, gender, appearance, etc.) – 20 percent


Confrontation
Exactly like on the playground, the finest counsel for facing a bully is 48 percent of workers who have been bullied described confronting the bully themselves, according to reviews. Of this group, 45 percent believed the confrontation was effective in discontinuing the bullying, while 44 percent thought it made no difference, and 11 percent said the situation aggravated.

Thirty two percent claimed they reported the bullying to their Human Resources department, nonetheless more than half of those who did (58 percent) alleged no action done.

Haefner stressed that taking no action and allowing a bully to continue can, in some cases, just make the problem worse. "Many of the workers who have experienced this don't confront the bully or elect not to report the incidents, which can prolong a negative work experience that leads some to leave their jobs."

Advices for dealing with a bully
Intended for workers who are feeling bullied by someone at their office, Haefner offers the following tips to deal with the situation:

• Keep records of all incidents of bullying, documenting places, times, what happened and who was present.
• Consider talking to the bully, providing specific examples of how you were treated unfairly. Chances are the bully may not be aware that he/she is making you feel this way.
• Always focus on the resolution. When sharing examples with the bully or a company authority, center the discussions on how to make the working situation better or how things could be handled differently.