What You Need to Know About Workplace Bullying
Bullying is not just a phenomenon of the school playground. Unfortunately, it extends to many spheres of life, making itself quite common in the workplace. While at first glance workplace bullying may look like harmless teasing, it can have a very negative effect on the victim and even the working environment.
What exactly is workplace bullying?
How do you differentiate between joking around (where everyone is having fun) and bullying (where a staff member could experience psychological damage)? Bullying in the workplace can be identified as a recurring pattern of behaviour where the goal is the humiliation, offence and degradation of a particular person or group. Bullying can have a myriad of negative side effects in the workplace and it’s doesn’t just affect the victim of bullying but everyone in the workplace. Some of the workplace problems it can cause include:
- Reduced performance
- Lack of passion
- Low morale
- The need for more supervision
- Potential legal issues
- Increased stress among all employees
There are many deeper negative effects that need to be considered. The biggest one is that victims of bullying can suffer severe trauma and mental health issues as a result of workplace bullying.
Common scenarios
Bullying can occur almost anywhere in the working environment. Whether it is a manager bullying a less senior employee, bullying amongst a team or a minority getting bullied because of their ethnicities, religious views, sexual orientation, it needs to be addressed.
How to stop workplace bullying?
The best way to stop workplace bullying is to prevent it from happening in the first place. A strict anti-bullying policy ensures everyone knows what kind of behaviour isn’t tolerated from the start. Try approaching the bully and make sure they know their behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. If they continue, see your HR department and issue a complaint.
Workplace bullying can have a profound effect on its victims. If you are experiencing workplace stress due to bullying, Contact Psylegal and make an appointment with one of our experienced psychologists today.
Related Tag: Workplace Stress Management Melbourne
