adminTaurai Musakaruka People Issues
Abuse in the workplace is a common phenomenon everywhere. However, it sometimes goes unnoticed by the majority of people in a company.
In such instances employees tend to ignore abuse because it either does not influence them or affect them in the long term.For many employees abuse is so rife to the extent that it becomes a normal or common phenomenon. For the victim abuse tends to sap all their energy and zeal to work to the extent of taking sick days and vacation time just to recover from the psychological effects of working in a place where they are being victimised.
Workplace bullying can negatively affect an employee’s work performance. The majority of bullies in the workplace are bosses. What constitutes an abusive manager, and what can employees who are abused do to counter these harmful working conditions?
Workplace bullying, like childhood bullying, is the tendency of individuals or groups to use persistent aggressive or unreasonable behaviour against a co-worker or subordinate. Workplace bullying can include such tactics as verbal, non-verbal, psychological, physical abuse and humiliation.
This type of aggression is particularly difficult because, unlike the typical forms of school bullying, workplace bullies often operate within the established rules and policies of their organisation and their society.
According to the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI-1997) slightly more than half of all bullies (58 percent) are women. Half of all bullying is among women. Women comprise 80 percent of targets. The vast majority of bullies (71 percent) are the so-called managers (bosses). Difficult supervisors vary in personality from being a little pushy or rude, all the way to being downright abusive.
Gerri Willis stated that there are all kinds of abusive bosses and he put them in different categories as follows a) Constant critics, who use put-downs, insults and name-calling. They also may use aggressive eye contact to intimidate. b) Two-headed snakes, who pretend to be nice while trying to sabotage you. c) Gatekeepers – control freaks who allocate time, money and staffing to ensure their target’s failure and ultimately want to control your ability to network in the company or to let your star shine and d) the screaming mimis, who are emotionally out of control and explosive.
We can also add two more categories to the above list: flip-flops and ghosts. Flip-flops are inconsistent in their direction and management style. When working for a flip-flop you never know how to proceed with an assignment. For example, one moment you are directed to proceed on your own and the time next you are asked why you did so. Flip-flops foster a “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” environment that stifles initiative, creativity and productivity.
Ghosts are supervisors who are seen so seldom that workers wonder if they really exist.
You know the type. You leave messages and send e-mails requesting a meeting and never get a response or sometimes you will get “I’ll catch up with you next week”, which turns into months. Ghosts may totally ignore employees’ questions and concerns or put them off by being too busy to get around to dealing with them. Yes, managers have to prioritise and allocate time and resources, but meeting and communicating with those who report to them should be a priority. Which category does your boss fall into?
How to deal with workplace abuse?
Respond to the treatment in a professional manner. For example, if you find that your boss is bad-mouthing you to senior management in the company, confront him or her directly and professionally. It’s advisable, though difficult to get evidence in writing from your source if you can and before confronting your boss to find out what is causing him or her to do this.
You might say, “I’ve been hearing from others that you are not happy with my performance. You and I know this isn’t true, and I’d like to talk about how we can fix this.”
Documentation is recommended for two main reasons. First, you might not even realise the extent of the problem and whether events are isolated or part of an ongoing pattern. Second, if you decide to go to your boss’ superior or human resources manager or take legal action, you may need the information.
Know when it’s too much. Bosses may exhibit bad behaviour sometimes. Hey, no one is perfect, not even bosses. However, if your boss is abusing you, that’s a problem. The problem takes on greater urgency if the abuse starts to make you feel bad, if you chronically suffer high blood pressure that started only when you began working for your boss or you feel nauseous the night before the start of the working week.
When the bullying has had a prolonged effect on your health or your life outside of work, it’s time to get out. It’s also time to leave if your confidence or your usual exemplary performance has been undermined. Ironically, targets of abusive bosses tend to be high achievers, perfectionists, and workaholics.
Bully bosses try to mask their own insecurities by striking out. Jobs might be harder to find these days, but you don’t have to endure abuse just to keep your pay. That kind of behaviour should never be tolerated. You can stop it just by learning what your rights are as an employee and getting those rights enforced. You can be assisted by your HR department, National Employment Council, officers from the Ministry of Labour (Labour Relations Division), trade union or workers’ committee.
Workplace abuse is a very real issue that often goes unnoticed by senior management, because it is a quiet offence. Usually the spots are carefully chosen to reduce the ability of people to see what is happening or it is so subtle that very few will pick up on it except for the abuser and the victim. The abuse may be as simple as spreading rumours. There are many ways abuse can occur and it does not need to be overt. This is why discovering work place abuse can be very difficult for senior management. It can be more difficult when the abuser is a senior manager or a person with actual power within the organisation, who can and will stand in the way of any investigation of abuse.
The clarion call then to management is that the company probably has clear HR policies on abuse in the work place, and ensure that all employees concerned are aware of it.
Grapevine feedback is a great way to find out what is happening in the workplace. Management has to be able to step in and in direct cost and survival of the company or department, be able to spot the warning signs, and then have the courage to act on the information and behaviours noted.
Of all the times for management to send a direct clear message, stamping out work place abuse is the best place to start because it has a well known and associated direct cost.
Many companies are drug free workplaces with clearly defined rules that all employees must follow while at work. The same attention to detail about work force abuse should be followed and codified into the company, and when applicable, careful hiring and judicious firing of abusive co-workers or even management needs to take place.
Disclaimer: I do not accept any liability for any damages or losses suffered as a result of actions taken based on information contained herein. The information contained herein does not serve as alternative to legal advice.
Taurai Musakaruka is a human resources practitioner. Feedback: e-mail to [email protected]
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