One Shouldn’t Overlook Someone Being Bullied
Dailycsr.com – 25 August 2015 – The innate bully in us has been intimidating innumerable people in many ways without our knowledge. In order to highlight the issue of bullying a person, almost “2000 employees” kept vigil to identify various traits of bullying an individual, whereby they came to the conclusion that the act of bullying can take these listed forms like:
“...shouting, shoving, intimidation and threatening behaviour”.
Almost over twenty five percent of subjects interrogated mentioned that they “witnessed a colleague being deliberately humiliated by a bully”. Moreover, every one person in ten had been subject to “racist insults”, while “one in six” saw “inappropriate sexual remarks” being passed at a co-worker.
The tragedy is that although the most people being subject to bully or witnessing such scenarios, more than fifty percent of them couldn’t summon their courage to react to the situation”. In fact, one third of them even “felt too awkward to confront the issue”, whereas another quarter accepted it as a part and parcel of “the organisation's culture”. However, twenty percent of the subjects even feared that they themselves may become the next target in case they “spoke out”. Furthermore, every one person in ten chose to remain quiet lest they lose their job.
As per the statistical data, it is quite an eye opener to see the percentage of people who witnessed bullies deliberately sabotaging the work of an individual, while there many instances of physical violence were also observed. The result of the research revealed that fifty percent of the time the act of bullying is disguised as “workplace banter” while in other instances people tried subtle methods of bullying like “not inviting a colleague” for lunches, meetings and drinks while everybody else involved formed part of it, resulting in some victims to shed tears.
The one third of the bullied victims felt they were being “humiliated in front of their co-workers”. Some were shouted at, while others were “deliberately excluded from social events”. In fact, almost every one person in twenty victims recounted that objects were hurled at them. The report informed that the root cause of the problem came from various occasions like:
“...tight deadlines, personality clashes and office politics”.
In Claire Dawson’s words:
“Bullying in the workplace is all too common and comes in many forms. The majority takes the shape of verbal abuse or intimidation. This is often dismissed as ‘banter’ between colleagues but the workplace shouldn’t be a place where people are insulted. The idea that employees can be subjected to physical violence while at work is quite alarming. This can have a devastating impact on the person who is being bullied and can result in depression and anxiety.
“The research shows that most people who witness bullying prefer to do nothing about it. They are concerned for their own positions and aren’t willing to put their necks on the line, especially when they don’t know how an employer will respond.
“Our advice to anybody being bullied would be to stand up and take action. You have to confront the bully, either directly or through HR or a manager, to let them know that what they are doing is unacceptable.”
The general secretary of TUC, Frances O’Grady feels:
“Office bullies must be banished from the workplace. The stress and anxiety felt by victims can make them physically ill, lose all self-confidence and mean that they dread coming into work. No one should be put in this position.
“Employers who fail to tackle bullying will pay a price too. Staff who are bullied are more likely to take time off because of the stress caused by their harassment and will be less productive at work”.
On a concluding note O’Grady stressed that
“Every employer should ensure that there is zero-tolerance of bullying either by line managers or workmates”.
Source(s):http://www.healthandsafetyatwork.com/hsw/stress-bullying/bullying-survey-slater-gordon-tuc
“...shouting, shoving, intimidation and threatening behaviour”.
Almost over twenty five percent of subjects interrogated mentioned that they “witnessed a colleague being deliberately humiliated by a bully”. Moreover, every one person in ten had been subject to “racist insults”, while “one in six” saw “inappropriate sexual remarks” being passed at a co-worker.
The tragedy is that although the most people being subject to bully or witnessing such scenarios, more than fifty percent of them couldn’t summon their courage to react to the situation”. In fact, one third of them even “felt too awkward to confront the issue”, whereas another quarter accepted it as a part and parcel of “the organisation's culture”. However, twenty percent of the subjects even feared that they themselves may become the next target in case they “spoke out”. Furthermore, every one person in ten chose to remain quiet lest they lose their job.
As per the statistical data, it is quite an eye opener to see the percentage of people who witnessed bullies deliberately sabotaging the work of an individual, while there many instances of physical violence were also observed. The result of the research revealed that fifty percent of the time the act of bullying is disguised as “workplace banter” while in other instances people tried subtle methods of bullying like “not inviting a colleague” for lunches, meetings and drinks while everybody else involved formed part of it, resulting in some victims to shed tears.
The one third of the bullied victims felt they were being “humiliated in front of their co-workers”. Some were shouted at, while others were “deliberately excluded from social events”. In fact, almost every one person in twenty victims recounted that objects were hurled at them. The report informed that the root cause of the problem came from various occasions like:
“...tight deadlines, personality clashes and office politics”.
In Claire Dawson’s words:
“Bullying in the workplace is all too common and comes in many forms. The majority takes the shape of verbal abuse or intimidation. This is often dismissed as ‘banter’ between colleagues but the workplace shouldn’t be a place where people are insulted. The idea that employees can be subjected to physical violence while at work is quite alarming. This can have a devastating impact on the person who is being bullied and can result in depression and anxiety.
“The research shows that most people who witness bullying prefer to do nothing about it. They are concerned for their own positions and aren’t willing to put their necks on the line, especially when they don’t know how an employer will respond.
“Our advice to anybody being bullied would be to stand up and take action. You have to confront the bully, either directly or through HR or a manager, to let them know that what they are doing is unacceptable.”
The general secretary of TUC, Frances O’Grady feels:
“Office bullies must be banished from the workplace. The stress and anxiety felt by victims can make them physically ill, lose all self-confidence and mean that they dread coming into work. No one should be put in this position.
“Employers who fail to tackle bullying will pay a price too. Staff who are bullied are more likely to take time off because of the stress caused by their harassment and will be less productive at work”.
On a concluding note O’Grady stressed that
“Every employer should ensure that there is zero-tolerance of bullying either by line managers or workmates”.
Source(s):http://www.healthandsafetyatwork.com/hsw/stress-bullying/bullying-survey-slater-gordon-tuc
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