What is Workplace bullying?

What is workplace bullying?

It is any repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed at you or a group at your Workplace. It can take various forms, such as verbal abuse, humiliation, intimidation, or sabotage. The effects of workplace bullying can be significant and detrimental to your overall psychological well-being.

Who are these workplace bullies?

These bullies are usually trash people who got lucky with their jobs or had a callous time getting the position they are in; hence, they do not want anyone else to have it easy.

Of course, they are intimidated as they do not have the skills.

These people constantly fear being replaced by a better and healthier-minded person and are intimidated by anybody else who looks like they can do better than they can.

They are insensitive and insecure people. I can think of thousands of other words, but let’s stick to these two.

How to recognize these bullies?

They are easy to recognize as they never appreciate anyone, add no value to their roles, play mind games at work, take credit for what you do, never let your work shine, question your performance, never offer help to do better, threaten to put you in performance improvement plans, and rarely have anyone promoted under their team.

The other bullies are the ones who work with you. Yes, your peers. They do this tactfully to people who are more solid and confident than them. They are simply jealous and have zero brains.

They will do whatever they can to tarnish your image and character. They leak your personal information to make you look like a fool and appear weak. It’s a systematic demeaning. You will see people looking at you differently at work. Soon you will see these bullies receive special or extra attention and get promoted to “leadership” roles.

The worst bullying is when your management and peers form a gang against you to target you. These bullies are what they call bruisers in the work environment. They roam in groups, always looking for opportunities to harass the loner.

Types of Workplace Bullies

There are four types of Bullies in the Workplace.

1. Screamer: These are people with whom it feels like walking on eggshells. Don’t react to them; stand on your ground.

2. Schemer: These people lie, make stories, Gossip behind your back. Don’t participate; work ethically & honourably, document them. Most importantly, never meet them one on one.

3. Freezer: They try to freeze you out with their authority, play favours with it: Be Kind, be professional & document your interactions, and involve other people in the team.

4. Belittler:  These are the ones who pass tiny comments, Gossip, or talk behind your back to make you feel small. Be Calm around them.

How does bullying affect you at work?

1. You constantly think you must do something other than work or show up. It increases short and long-term absence.

2. You love what you do, but the constant fear of being targeted makes you nervous, anxious and sick. You start believing you are incompetent and do not feel like putting in the same effort as before.

3. You do not want to check your emails as you don’t want to know what awaits you in the inbox.

4. You stop responding or reacting to messages on office chats.

5. You feel sick, and you cry easily.

6. You are excluded but very subtly. You feel singled out and targeted.

7. No matter what you do. Your immediate supervisor never appreciates you.

8. Your confidence is at an all-time low, and you are told not to overthink.

9. You are demotivated and do not know where your career is heading in this bullying environment.

10. You are depressed and have no excitement about any new projects you are involved in.

I know you read this till the end as you can relate to most of the above points and I know how you feel at the moment. I want you to know you are not alone, I have been there too. The only way to overcome this challenge at workplace is to understand it and educate yourself on it. Understanding how Workplace bullying can affect you and why you should know that with right knowledge you will overcome it with Grace.

Love

G