Bullying at work

It's not always easy to know if you are being bullied. After all, it can be really difficult to get on with absolutely everyone you work with. You may have colleagues who are bossy or demanding. Supervisors might get angry if you don't meet targets or the necessary standards. However, if the criticism is constant or if it focuses more on you as a person than the work you do, then it may have crossed the line into bullying.

Think, too, about how your workmate's actions are making you feel. Are you being physically injured or emotionally hurt? Are you continually being made to feel stupid or incompetent? Do you get put down, no matter how good a job you do? If so, it could be that you're being targeted by a workplace bully.

You don't have to put up with bullying at work. Sometimes you may be able to talk to the person and ask them to stop especially if they're not aware of how they're making you feel. However, if you're not comfortable with confronting the bully, or you find that talking doesn't make any difference, see 'What next?' for other actions you can take.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• bullying at work
• my boss is a bully
• work
• employer
• trade union
• stress at work
• workplace
• stress
• colleague
• boss
• emotional
• ACAS
• andrea adams trust
• lifetracks
• advice

[bullybehindyou]

These 2 video's are great, you should do more as it really helps victims hear other victims stories, as they are sadly all the same, but need a voice and need exposing.

[Lifetracks]

@bullybehindyou

Thanks very much - we appreciate your comments.

[jia2001]

I just had two guys try to pick on me and trash talking and I said to them that I am not afraid of you and that felt REALLY good to stand up for myself and I told the supervisor about this next time they do something I beat them up

I know that violent doesn't solve problem, but they got to learn to not fuck with other people cause that's the way it suppose to be and wish me luck on my next work day maybe I am going to kick their ass

Everyone DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE BULLIES

[925jdb]

thats assult. call poilce and file assult charges, take notes, dates and time. then get a attorney. i went through my boss bullying me. he grab me, push, yelled at me. this when on for 8 months. the big boss also would bully me. so i took notes, date, time. i was forced to quit my job. so i turned the company into the eeoc, they're investigating them. now i'm takin zoloft and trazodone. it's effected me mentally. i'm not gonna let those bastards get away with it. i want to sue them.

[CharmingLordSausage]

What I've noticed about workplace bullies is that there's always an underlying whiff of incompetence about them. Sure, they may be good at most of their tasks, but at the end of the day if you are leaving work feeling drained with the voice of your boss stuck in your head, it means that you work for an ineffective manager. If someone is bullying you it means that they know that you are aware of their shortcomings. They see you as someone to be neutralized. Buy a pen cam. Tape em - sue em!

[CharmingLordSausage]

@cookiedais

"being undermined and am left out of all conversations etc"

Hey, it sounds like your in a difficult place. What you have to remember is that you haven't done ANYTHING wrong. This situation isn't about you or your performance or your character traits. It is about THEM. They have the problem not you. If you are being victimized it means that you are simply saying NO to being one of their minions. They know that you know they are weak. You are already standing up for yourself.

[cookiedais]

I am suffering a lot at work from colleagues attitudes towards me . I am constantly being undermined and am left out of all conversations etc. and have heard them slagging me off as soon as I leave the room . I work within a small group of 5 people and my manager and it all started when i challenged them on the way the were treating a former colleague who was lucky enough to get another job , now they have started on me . I go home from work most days in tears . It is making me ill .

[PlantaPress]

@kucoru16

Agreed! As soon as I crack doing that, for myself, PlantaPress is going to publish a book on it! Gaslighting is the last bastion of the modern bully - once we figure out how to smoke them out permanently, they have nowhere else to hide!

[PlantaPress]

@gmsyd09

I totally agree lol, and with the overt stuff I would actually take great pleasure in doing that, let alone feel able to haha! It's the covert, gaslighting behaviours that are the problem, because they are effective enough to make a negative impact on the target, but subtle enough to go undetected &difficult to challenge without the target looking/feeling like a fool. Also they're childish behaviours as well, but ignored over time they accumulate & make for a very negative workplace.

[PlantaPress]

(Continued from previous comment) but they were meetings that weren't arranged. Things like that are called Gaslighting, and they are destructive because they are SO bloomin difficult to challenge without looking and feeling like a paranoid idiot. You KNOW there is something negative going on, and they know it as well, but you can't call them out on it as easily. This is what has always stumped me.! It's an equal opportunity tactic too - I've experienced this behaviour from both men and women x

[PlantaPress]

Spot on, I can relate to all of this, especially the second girl. The verbal abuse and the talking about her in the same room, I can deal with because it is overt. SAme with the first girl getting slapped, bless her - that was an assault and she could have got her charged criminally for that. What always got to me was the covert stuff, the first cluster of behaviours that the second girl described around ignoring, whispering in the room, phone calls not received, people turning up for meetings. 

[gmsyd09]

all you do is look the bully in the eye and say very assertivley, '' fuck off cunt and let me do my job!''