Bullied at work? How are you coping with the ‘mean kids’ in your office?

According to the 2010 WBI U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey 35% of the U.S. workforce (an est. 53.5 million Americans) report being bullied at work; an additional 15% witness it. Half of all Americans have directly experienced it. Simultaneously, 50% report neither experiencing nor witnessing bullying." Even worse, the Institute reported that 54.6% of employers did nothing after receiving complaints from victims of bullying, and 28.2% of bullies were actually promoted or otherwise rewarded in the face of such complaints. Even though, the data may not be totally accurate, bullying seems to have growth as a "silent epidemic".

Bullying is present behind all forms of harassment, discrimination, prejudice, abuse, persecution, conflict and violence. When the bullying has a focus (e.g. race or gender) it is expressed as racial prejudice or harassment, or sexual discrimination and harassment, and so on. When the bullying lacks a focus (or the bully is aware of the Federal and State laws), it comes out as pure bullying; this is an opportunity to understand the behaviors which underlie almost all reprehensible behavior.

There is a bias to think that the bullied at work are uneducated or unskilled workers that do not know how to interact effectively at the work environment.

The truth is far from the above. According to a WBI 2003 online survey the five top reasons individuals are targeted for bullying, in rank order, were: (1) refusal to be subservient (being independent), (2) being more technically skilled than the bully, (3) being liked by co-workers/customers (being the go-to expert), (4) being ethical and honest, and (5) not being sufficiently political.

But what can you do about it?

1. Break your silence. Tell co-workers, friends, and family. Ask for help. Put your health first. There is a lot of data that shows how harmful to your health is the continuous exposure to stress from bullying.

2. Expose the bully You've got to go as high up as you can. Talk to HR and your manager. Try to keep proofs that bullying is actually happening. Facts talk by themselves. Look for outside legal counseling, if needed, to understand your rights if the work environment does not offer you a way-out. The Workplace Bullying Institute estimates that only 20% of bullying is legally actionable, but that estimate may be low. Laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, race or other protected status may prohibit bullying, and state common laws frequently prohibit bullying behavior like harassment, infliction of emotional distress and interference in business relationships. It can be expensive to defend a lawsuit based on bullying, and the damages awarded to injured employees can be significant.

3. Keep your Brand intact. Your professionalism will be the one you’ll take with you, either you stay or leave. Record your performance goals, achievements, success stories and proofs you are the one doing what is right.

4. Be informed on what bullying means, so then you can do something about it.
Bullyonline.org offers a great chart to distinguish between harassment and bullying. Even though, the Country and State regulations’ differences, this table offers you a glimpse on what may be actually happening to you or someone you know at work.
Harassment has a strong physical component, e.g. contact and touch in all its forms, intrusion into personal space and possessions, damage to possessions including a person's work, etc.

Workplace bullying is almost exclusively psychological (e.g. criticism), may become physical later, especially with male bullies, but almost never with female bullies.

Harassment tends to focus on the individual because of what they are (e.g. female, latino, disabled, etc).
Workplace bullying: Anyone will do, especially if they are competent, popular and vulnerable

Harassment may consist of a single incident or a few incidents or many incidents.
Bullying is rarely a single incident and tends to be an accumulation of many small incidents, each of which, when taken in isolation and out of context, seems trivial.

Often the harassment is for peer approval, bravado, macho image etc while Workplace bullying tends to be secret behind closed doors with no witnesses.

5. Share best practice. Research on what other organizations have done to prevent and stop bullying. Feel free to offer proactive data on potential savings (e.g. absenteeism rate) achieved when the right measures are placed.

Bullying is far from over when we end our school years. It is a phenomenon happening to many everywhere. There is no sense to turn your head to the other side when it is very likely you’ll be subject to this situation at one point or another throughout your career.

Be smart, proactive and ready to face it if happening to you!
Recommended Sources:
http://www.workplacebullying.org/research/WBI-NatlSurvey2010.html
http://www.bullyonline.org/
Best Success,

Your coach,
Mariela
www.linkedin.com/in/marielatinoco
+20 positive public referrals at your service.