“Who told you that?” She uttered in complete surprise, as a work colleague told her about a rumour being circulated about her amongst their colleagues. “That never happened!” She responded in surprise. All the time wondering what could have possessed someone to say such a thing. It took her a while to react to this recent incident, as there have been a few negative comments and acts of unsavoury behaviour directed towards her for several months now. She was beginning to feel the effects of the onslaught.
Before this, work had been a pleasant place. She had worked with other staff well, enjoyed the environment and the workload. Part of her own work ethic, had always been to do her work without causing angst to anyone. So, after following this ethic for 20 plus years, it became a real shock to the system to be faced with the unpleasantness that surrounded becoming a target for bullying in the place that she enjoyed working.
Her first reaction was to laugh it off. Faced with silly and untrue rumours being circulated about her and unsavoury actions from colleagues, she quickly deemed it as just being childish behaviour. But after several months of listening to negative comments and actions directed at her, the constant use of derogatory words and actions began to wear her down. She no longer enjoyed being at work and working with the people around her, some of which she had regarded as friends.
What is bullying?
Can you identify with this situation? In fact, it can sometimes be difficult to pinpoint what constitutes bullying behaviour. This is because many actions taken by bullies, can be quite subtle and hard to nail down.
An article located in the British Journal of Medical Practitioners, entitled “Bullying: a Growing Workplace Menace 2009 https://www.bjmp.org/content/bullying-growing-workplace-menace written by Misty et al” catalogues the types of behaviour in the workplace that can be seen as bullying.
So if this is an area that you feel may affect you, please take a look at the list of actions a work colleague may employ that is termed as bullying behaviour. It can help you to recognize that you are, in fact, a victim. Actions range from spreading rumours about a colleague to having your work being intentionally undermined.
It can sometimes take a while to realise the seriousness of your colleagues' behaviour, until you begin to feel the damage to your emotional and physical health.
In the same article (above), Misty et al goes on to describe the emotional effects of this type of behaviour on the victim. In it, he lists some of the more noticeable effects of bullying. Such as a person experiencing Anxiety, Loss of Confidence, Panic Attacks and Depression.
So, if you are experiencing any negative physical and emotional effects due to bullying, ensure you give the article contained in this Blog a read. It really helps to be aware and identify the type of behaviour that is capable of damaging someone at work.
Being bullied can leave you feeling helpless, as you lose sight of your usual self confidence and which may in turn, make you become unsure of how to stop it from happening. But the good news is that there are things that you can do to stop bullying from happening to you.
In the next instalment of this blog, we will look at what you can do once you have identified that you are in fact, the target of bullying behaviour at work. We will also look at some of the strategies, resources and actions you can employ to ensure that bullying does not contaminate your Mental and Physical Health.
Article written by Alberta Gibbs
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