26th Mar 2008
Bully in the Next Cubicle
When the bully sits in the next cubicle is an overview of workplace bullying. Interesting tidbits:
In a survey released last fall, 37 percent of American workers said they had experienced bullying on the job.
- This month, researchers at the University of Manitoba reported that the emotional toll of workplace bullying is more severe than that of sexual harassment.
- Surveys also suggest that victims of office bullies call in sick more often — although it’s not clear whether they really are sick or just avoiding the abusive environment at work.
- A large share of the problem involves women victimizing women.
Here’s a full list of bullying behaviors (and read the comments on that post. Wow.) Although it may be possible to attempt some behavior modification with a bully, I think it is far more prudent to look for a new position immediately.
Wow. I’ve experienced work place bullying, and it can definitely make you start cracking, mentally and physically. But it wasn’t so bad for me as for most of those commenters (sheesh!) - or for coworkers I had. Eight hours a day is too much time to be spending with a bully who is in charge of your paycheck. It’s like being in a really awful marriage. I still don’t understand the mentality behind some bosses who have seemingly set out to make some of their direct reports’ lives a living hell. An incompetent boss is bad - you can almost laugh at them; but a mean or vindictive, petty, and viciously insecure boss (or coworker) is intolerable.
What’s interesting to me is that many, if not the majority, of workplace bullying factors listed in the post itself seem oversensitive.
Working with people who don’t have social skills does not make you a victim of bullying.
At the same time, the comments told stories of clear and obvious bullying that was ignored.
What an interesting link!
CC
I think, CC, that each of the behaviors has the potential for sounding really small when taken in isolation, but it’s really insidious and damaging as a whole.