If one or more of your Missouri coworkers has targeted you for bullying, you know how distressful and humiliating this behavior can be. It can make your workplace almost unbearable. Unfortunately, bullying has become all too common throughout the American workforce.
WorkplaceBullying.org defines on-the-job bullying as “health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators” that includes the following:
- Intimidating, threatening and/or humiliating treatment
- Treatment that negatively impacts your work and your production
- The use of verbally abusive language
- Repetitive negative behaviors that continue over time
The bully’s motivation
The bully seeks to control you at work, pure and simple. (S)he can use a variety of methods to do this, such as constant criticism of your job performance, your work habits, your appearance, etc. Or (s)he might pretend to be your friend, but take every opportunity to stab you in the back. The precise methodologies (s)he uses depend only on his or her imagination and what (s)he can get away with.
Bullying by any other name
Since bullying per se seldom, if ever, results in any type of physical violence, many people view it as simply a harmless, disrespective type of workplace behavior. Experts, however, say differently. They say bullying represents all of the following:
- Workplace psychological violence
- Workplace emotional abuse
- Workplace psychological harassment
Should you become the victim of workplace bullying, report it at once to your supervisor or the person your company designates to investigate and process complaints about coworkers. In addition, you should keep a running written record of the dates, times and places where the bullying occurs, its nature, the way it makes you feel, and the negative impact it has on your performance and production.
This is general educational information and not intended to provide legal advice.