Bullies in the Workplace Still Lurk in the Shadows Waiting….
As a Government employee, we receive random calls, and surveys via email regarding “Office Bullying” or “Conduct in the Workplace”. It has become an issue over the past years as bullying awareness has been brought to the forefront of work places. Human Resources in large corporations and with Government bodies seem to have created a MOVEMENT to proactively eradicate the “OFFICE BULLY”. This is a major step toward office morale and ensuring that employees have their needs met, when it comes to conflict resolution and the ability to report and disclose if you fall victim to bullies.
As fortunate as we may be to work in the environments where bullying is not tolerated, and resources are offered to us so that we can voice our issues with bullies, there are a few major problems for those are victimized:
- Adults don’t like to TELL- As children, the “Don’t be a tattle tale” stigma sticks with us. We don’t want to be “the one” to come forward to throw a fellow co-worker under the bus for mistreatment toward you. You don’t want to stand out as a “trouble maker”
- We QUESTION if the person is actually, indeed, a BULLY…
