Bullying In The Workplace: Recognize & Deal With The Problem

18 March 2015
 Categories: , Blog

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Bullying does not only occur in elementary or middle schools. Bullying may, sadly, show up in your workplace. The following guide will bring workplace bullying to the light and help you with your next steps.

Signs Of Workplace Bullying

Workplace bullying is quite common. In fact, experts believe that most people have a hard time recognizing bullying because it is so common. One of the first things you need to do is to confirm your suspicions. You can call lawyers like the Ogle & Worm Law Offices PLLP to help you get to the bottom of your intuition. And you can use the following signs as well: 

  • Your supervisor taking his or her job too seriously. Your supervisor should expect work out of you, but he or she cannot belittle you or make you feel incompetent in order to get you to work better. 
  • Systematic negative behavior toward you, like your co-worker constantly getting angry with you.
  • A bully may instigate rumors about you, making you feel unsupported and uncomfortable at work.
  • Sabotage is also an example of bullying. This could be something as little as making sure you get bad shifts or taking credit for your work.
  • You may experience a bully constantly observing your work. This could be because he or she wants to catch you doing something incorrectly. 
  • Your co-worker (s) constantly ignores or does not invite you to work-related functions
  • The supervisor tries to make games and encourage competition just to highlight the losers. 
  • Your supervisor changing his or her expectations of your work. He or she may expect different things from you at inconsistent times, giving you almost no time to adjust. 

The aforementioned are just some signs that you can look out for. Talk to your personal injury lawyer about any other work-related incidents that you believe could be a form of bullying. 

What To Do Next?

The following are a few steps that you can take:

  1. Talking to someone above the person committing the bullying may help.
  2. Confronting the bully directly and informing him or her that their behavior is making you uncomfortable. Ask for copies of any formal complaints placed.
  3. Get testimonies from anyone in your workplace that agrees with you. You can record a conversation as long as one of the persons recorded has been informed and agrees. Just remember that laws pertaining recordings vary from state to state, so make sure you contact your personal injury lawyer for more information.
  4. Call your personal injury lawyer. 

As you can see, recognizing bullying in the workplace may prepare you to deal with the problem better.