Types of Bullies in the Workplace
Most people think of bullying as occurring between children in school. While this type of bullying is the most common, it is possible, however, for bullying to occur between adults in the work place. Just like in the schoolyard, there are many different reasons why adults bully each other and many different types of bullies.
Sometimes an adult bully will act out because they are under stress. They may not even intend to target others at first, but because of stress in the work place they begin targeting others to take their stress out on. These types of adult bully will usually realize what they are doing and stop after the stress subsides although they may continue targeting others.
Many times, an adult bully will target a person who is in a position of authority. Sometimes employees will target their boss, or in some cases employees will be bullied by the people they are serving, this most commonly occurs in nursing and in schools. Patients and students will relentlessly target the people trying to help them for a variety of reasons, and the professionals will have no idea how to handle it as there are strict rules of conduct they must follow.
A true adult bully will continually bully others, even to the point of having them fired. The bully will appear calm and confident and deny any charges made by the victim to a boss or human resources officer. Many times the victim will not have any proof that they are being bullied and will either resign or get fired if their work performance is affected. Then the adult bully will move on to another target and continue the cycle of bullying. This is the most common way adult bullying occurs and is why it is hard to stop.
Just as with kids, sometimes bullies will only act in conjunction with others. If someone realizes that another employee is bulling others, they may join the bully instead of standing up for the victim because it is easier. People who bully others will often act together as they act as support for each other. Bullies working together can include pairs or even groups.
Often employees who have formed a friendship or are involved together will work together to intimidate other employees for their gain. Often one adult bully will be very subtle and the other will be more obvious making the bullying more effective. Sometimes a larger group of employees will gang up on and single out another employee to undermine his work or force him to quit. These groups of bullies will usually pick a person that is different from them or that they all dislike. They will act together to intimidate and target the employee for ridicule.
Even though many people don't realize that there is such a thing as an adult bully, there are many work places that have them. Dealing with an adult bully can be challenging and co workers that are being bullied may have no choice other than to quit.
What is Workplace Bullying?
Although bullying is considered something that happens between children at school, it can also happen between adults in the workplace. Workplace bullying is when one employee, or a group of employees, targets another person for ridicule, criticism, and threats. Workplace bullying is more common than many people think and can take on different forms. Many times the person who is being bullied will not try to peruse their bully, because they are unsure what to do.
Workplace bullying, like the bullying that takes place between children, is meant to damage another person either physically or emotionally; in the adult world it is usually emotionally. Victims of workplace bullying are constantly criticized for trivial things and their accomplishments are belittled or overlooked. Victims of workplace bullying are also undermined by the bully at every chance they get. Victims are often the target of false accusations and doubts as well. Even though these accusations and doubts are untrue, a workplace bully uses them to control their victim.
Another form of workplace bullying is exclusion from groups or denial of information about what is going on in the workplace. Workplace bullying victims are often left out of the loop by their bullies and denied access to resources and projects. This occurs because a bully is trying to undermine their victim and make their own work seem better than it is. Victims of workplace bullying are also treated differently than everyone else by the bully, and are subject to stricter rules and different standards. This is done to make it easier for them to fail and seem inadequate.
Workplace bullying can also include shouting, humiliating, and teasing the victim. Workplace bullies will do this to try to damage their victims confidence and make their work suffer. Workplace bullies often set higher standards and unrealistic goals and deadlines for their victims to make them look bad. Workplace bullying victims can also be given excessive work or forced to work an excessive amount of hours under threat of dismissal.
Another common form of workplace bullying is having work stolen. A workplace bully will take the work of their victim and then pass it off as their own to their boss or manager. The victim will usually have no proof that the work is actually theirs and will have no recourse. Workplace bullying victims are also commonly denied of requests they make for time off, even if they are entitled to them. Workplace bullying victims are made to think that they are at fault even though it is the bully who is wrong. Workplace bullies will do whatever it takes to eliminate their perceived threats.
It can be hard to identify workplace bullying and even harder to stop it, keeping a record of bullying interactions and remaining calm is the best way to deal with workplace bullying. Sometimes it will be necessary to take your problems to your superiors, even if you skip over a direct supervisor. Do not accept workplace bullying and do your best to try and stop it.
How to Deal With a Bully in the Workplace
Many people are unaware that adult bullying occurs, and chances are if you are being bullied at work you have no idea how to handle it. It can be hard to deal with an adult bully because workplace bullying is not widely known or understood. Often times the bully is a person of authority, making it even harder to deal with an adult bully. There are not set rules for dealing with an adult bullies there are harassment laws, so stopping an adult bully can be especially challenging. If you or someone you know needs help dealing with an adult bully, these tips can help.
The first thing you should do to deal with an adult bully is to keep a detailed written account of each instance of bullying. Being able to prove that you are constantly singled out for no reason and are the target of frequent attacks will go a long way to deal with an adult bully. Keep your records in a safe place, not at work where the bully can find them. You should also keep copies of all written interactions from the bully including memos, notes, and emails that prove you are being treated unfairly. Make a list of every instance of unfair treatment by the bully.
If you are criticized or accused of wrongdoing by a bully and the claims are not true, ask for substantiated evidence of these claims and record in writing what the bully says. Many times the bully will not have a response or have evidence that is untrue. Their lack of answer or untrue answer will further prove your case and help to deal with an adult bully. You can even point out to the bully that making false accusations is a form of harassment and that you will seek out the proper recourse.
If you are not the only one being bullied, find other employees that have the same experiences and see if they want to pursue the bully together. Sometimes other employees that are having similar problems will be unwilling to cooperate, but sometimes they will be grateful for the help. More than one employee who have the same experiences with a bully will have better chances of dealing with an adult bully together. It will help that you are not the only one experiencing the problem and give validation to your claims.
If your occupation has a union or other professional organization, contact them about your bullying problem. Not all unions or organizations will help employees deal with an adult bully but many will or will have information you can use. You can also take your bullying problems to your manager or supervisor, unless they are the one doing the bullying. It is not usually a good idea to skip the proper chain of command, but if a supervisor of manager is the one bullying you, it may be a good idea to speak with their higher-up. If you are the victim of workplace bullying your should get a copy of your company's harassment and bullying policies so you knew what your rights are within the company.
Bad Habits in the Workplace
Everyone suffers when someone on the job has bad habits in the workplace. Bad habits can make for an environment that is unfriendly, unproductive, or even unsafe. You can only correct your bad habits in the workplace if you recognize them.
One of the most noticeable bad habits in the workplace is tardiness. Some people just have a habit of being late to everything. They are late to arrive, late back from break, and late back from lunch. This not only puts them in jeopardy of losing their jobs. It can affect the productivity of the whole crew or office.
Absenteeism is another bad habit that people can fall into easily. A new trend is to make all accumulated days off the same. Sick days, personal days, and vacation days are lumped together. You just have a set number of days off and it is up to you how you take them.
The trouble with this system is that too many people have bad habits about using the days off. They get used to taking off whenever they feel like it. Before they know it, all their days off are gone. Then, when they really have an emergency or illness, they have to miss work without pay. In the meantime, their workload is being handled by someone else.
People often have bad habits in the workplace when it comes to paperwork. They do not do proper accounting on their expense reports. They do not keep the receipts that are needed by their company. They fail to keep mileage records on their company cars accurately. This makes the company's accounting department have to work harder.
Many workers have an aversion to doing paperwork at all. They have bad habits of not filling out jobsite reports as needed. If they do special business reports as requested, they may have bad habits about not turning them in on time.
Clean work spaces can help people get more work done. However, many people have bad habits when it comes to keeping their desks and offices neat. They may have a certain kind of organization if they have stacks of papers on their desks. Yet, if their desk is full of half empty pop cans and crumpled up fast food bags, it cannot help anything.
People often get into the bad habit of losing things. They may lose important paperwork. The paperwork may be critical contracts for a major deal the company is involved with. If your bad habits take over, you can cost the company everything.
People in other kinds of jobs can get into the habit of losing tools. They do not pay enough attention when they lay down their tools. When they get ready to clean up for the day, they have no recollection of where they put a particular tool, if they remember using it at all. This is a bad habit that amounts to laziness in thinking.
If you want to make an impression at work, get a grip on your bad habits. The way you work will be a result of the habits you bring to the table. It is the good habits that make you succeed.