One of the biggest mental health issues affecting our social, career and even personality relationships, is bullying. Psychologists and counselors not only provide counseling and therapy; they offer empowerment to the victims of bullying. They show ways to cope with a bully including how to seek legal recourse if necessary.
Bullies will cause unrest, havoc, and mental and physical stress upon their co-workers. It is important for people to take back their power and stop bullying from happening. Sometimes, they will get help from management, while other times, they will have to deal with the issues that arise; alone. Furthermore, victims of bullying in the workforce may form a proactive group of co-workers to curb the behavior of the bullies who are intimidating them. Many victims of bullies must seek help from mental health professionals just so that they can get through each day.
How prevalent are bullies in the workforce?
According to statistics approximately 54 million Americans have been victims of bullies at work.
Who are the bullies?
Bullies can be co-workers, supervisors, managers, and owners. Bullies, yell, scream, demean you, make you feel stupid, or embarrassed. They steal your work, do not give you credit for work well done, talk over you in meetings, spreads vicious lies about you and so on.
The Zogby study found that:
Most bullies are bosses and most bullies in the workforce are men.
Bullies target females more often than males.
Most employers (62 percent) rarely do anything when they receive a complaint about bullying.
Forty percent of employees never tell anyone that they are being bullied.
How to deal with a bully
Dealing with a bully requires courage, especially since a workforce bully will not go away if you do not do anything about it. We teach people how to treat us simply by our own behavior. If you do nothing about it, you are sending the message that their behavior towards you is acceptable.
If your bully is calling you names,yelling, swearing, throwing papers around the room, or any other inappropriate behavior, tell the bully, in no uncertain terms, that you do not have to put up with that kind of treatment and leave the room. If you are on the phone with a bully, hang up. If you work side by side with the bully, stop taking to him or her. Ignore bullies completely. Turn your back away from them or change your seating arrangement if you can.
Some of these suggestions are obviously easier to do than others. Therefore, if you are afraid to confront your bully there are other options available:
Document the bullying behavior
Record all situations, telephone calls, and emails. If the situation occurred in a public place, name all witnesses, and in every situation, record all times and dates. You will need this information if you are making an official complaint to Human Resources.
Compile a case against bullying with your co-workers
If co-workers are also victims of the same bully, have them document all their bullying experiences as well. The more co-workers that come forward, the more successful you become at building a solid case.
Document situations where other people have been bullied
Work with your co-workers, and have them document cases where they have seen other people being bullied There may be some people who are afraid to speak up for fear of being singled out by the bully, or afraid of losing their job or status within the company. If other people document what they have observed, this may take the fear of retaliation away from them.
Even though only about 3 percent of employees take their complaints beyond the company to the government agencies, you may consider doing so, especially if you have a group of co-workers (approximately 5 co-workers) who are willing to go that route with you. The more people involved, the more chances for government intervention and compensation where applicable for time off due to stress or loss of employment.
Dealing with a bully takes courage. Nevertheless, it is worth it; to get the situation under control.
How to deal with other types of difficult people
Dealing with other types of difficult people may not be as hard. For example, saying you do not lend money out, will stop a co-worker from asking for money. Asking co-workers who normally speak loudly to lower their voice, because it interrupts your ability to work effectively, may be all it takes to get them to quiet down. People who are constantly butting in to your private conversations with your buddy in the lunchroom, may need to be told that even though you sitting in a public place, this is the only time you have to talk privately with your friend.
Whenever possible, try to reason with the annoying person and settle the situation as amicably as possible. Not all people realize they are difficult or annoying.
Sources
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200609/dealing-difficult-people
http://www.albernstein.com/id21.htm
http://www.workforce.com/section/hr-management/feature/stamping-out-workplace-bullies/index.html
http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/faq.htm
http://humanresources.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi;=1&sdn;=humanresources&cdn;=money&tm;=491&f;=20&tt;=13&bt;=1&bts;=1&zu;=http%3A//www.workplacebullying.org/research/WBI-Zogby2007Survey.html
