Harassment At Work: A Silent Reality

One day at work, a colleague or your boss laughs at you in public. Or ask you for things that are not your responsibility under your contract. Also, if you don’t perform them, they argue and ridicule you in front of your coworkers. Without realizing it, you give in to the pressure and do the things they ask of you so that they leave you alone.

And it seems to be working. For a while. For there comes a beautiful day when, even though you do whatever they ask you to do, they take it a step further and order you to do something even more disparaging. Or make an even more humiliating joke. Or get to a point where they yell at you. And you can’t take it anymore. You go to his / her superior and he / she offers you nothing other than to put up with the situation. But, why put up with this? Why isn’t the one who could solve your problem doing anything about it? That’s enough !

“If there are no heroes who save you, you become to become a hero yourself.”

-Denpa Kyoshi-

Causes of workplace harassment

Harassment at work takes place in a relationship between the harasser and the harassed person, in a professional and organizational environment that can make the situation better or worse. This is a worrying fact, and there are more and more cases. Even though there are many factors, we are going to make a list of the most common ones, which we are going to outline for you in this article.

Thus, the person who perpetuates the harassment often has a rather characteristic personality. In general, they are narcissistic, irritable and resentful people. In addition, these are people who have low self-esteem and high anxiety. We can add to this the fact that if they occupy a hierarchically high position, the situation will probably worsen further.

“People who love themselves don’t hurt other people. The more we hate ourselves, the more we love others to suffer. ”

-Dan Pearce-

If this is the situation, the harasser may be exercising abusive supervision, not trusting him / her and worsening his / her professional performance. But not only: he has a tendency to take away his responsibilities or to exchange his functions for more unpleasant ones. Thus, the conflict gets worse and worse.

The harasser also undergoes, in his professional circle, a series of conditions which cause this situation to persist. If at work there are high demands but low resources, harassment is much more likely to occur. In addition, the characteristics of superiors who give orders also play an important role.

If superiors are ineffective, that also influences. The way to lead too. If it is passive and despotic, if one takes arbitrary decisions, harassment is much more likely. Why ? Because they are supervisors who tend to adopt a permissive position in relation to aggression and harassment in the professional environment.

Consequences of workplace harassment

The fact that workplace harassment is allowed in the organization is of great concern. This lack of respect not only harms the worker who suffers from it, but also involves costs for the company and for society in general. For all these reasons, it is paradoxical that the supervisors who can put an end to this situation do not do it, out of “I don’t care”, because the situations often end up degenerating.

Harassment at work will have a series of repercussions for the victim. First of all, it will affect his psychological health. Symptoms of anxiety and depression may appear, as well as feelings of anger and emotional exhaustion. But it also produces fatigue and physical discomfort, in addition to impaired sleep.

Besides the harm to the worker, harassment also has negative consequences for the organization. Given the suffering suffered by the victim, she often finds herself on sick leave. The workers who are in this situation and do not stop have a lower professional performance, because their satisfaction and their commitment in the company necessarily decrease, increasing their desire to resign.

On the other hand, it can affect other workers who feel the situation. Witnesses to harassment at work can also develop a form of stress, emotional wear and tear and a negative attitude towards their professional environment. These conflicting experiences at work can spill over into other areas of our lives, such as family.

How to prevent harassment at work?

Given the high costs of harassment at work, both in the health environment and in the economy, it is necessary to confront it and put a stop to it. More concretely, companies must put aside passive and permissive attitudes to these situations. How? ‘Or’ What ? By adopting a positive attitude and eliminating the situational factors that influence it, such as overwork, lack of suitable leadership or perceived injustice.

Thus, it is important to train team leaders to be fair and supportive, by motivating them to use their emotional intelligence, so that they know how to react if someone denounces a problem. bullying. It is important that they know and know how to easily manage a protocol of action, which kills the problem in the bud. Unfortunately, many companies do not train in this protocol and many managers make wobbly and ill-considered decisions when they detect this type of situation.

“Never be mistreated in silence. Never allow yourself to be a victim. Don’t let anyone define your life, define yourself. ”

-Tim Fields-

In the company, we must establish clear policies on harassment, to banish ambiguity and build specific protocols to report and address harassment situations at work. It is important that mediation specialists come to the workplace regularly. In addition, it is positive that workers receive courses in emotional regulation and stress management, so that they have the tools to deal with any conflictual situations that may arise.

Harassment at work is a real problem and more frequent than what the statistics say. It is also characterized by the fact of being often overlooked. No company likes to be trapped in such a scandal and many people consider, even if they do not say so explicitly, that these are “dirty rags” that must be washed in internal. We are therefore talking about a problem that is often hidden so that it does not explode in broad daylight.

Given the high psychological, physical and economic costs for the victim, but also for the company and society in general, it is necessary to develop policies to deal with them, especially within the company itself.

You cannot adopt a permissive attitude towards harassment at work. It is extremely important that the victim knows that they can do something about it and that their company helps them to do it, to prevent them from situations of vulnerability and much more serious problems.

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Images by Breather, Seb y Alejandro Álvarez