août 12, 2019

10 Tips for Dealing with Workplace Bullies

Dr Bryan Brulotte CD
Dr. Bryan Brulotte KJ CD
PDG et Président, MaxSys

According to a nationwide poll by the Employment Law Alliance:
• 45 percent of workers say they’ve experienced workplace abuse.
• Bullies want to undermine, berate and intimidate the weaker employees in their midst.
• Being a target of a bully not only affects your work life, but can also affect your health.

Ten Tips for Dealing with Being Bullied At Work

  1. Don’t get emotional. Bullies take pleasure in emotionally manipulating people. Stay calm and rational to diffuse the situation.
  2. Don’t blame yourself. Acknowledge that this is not about you; it’s about the bully. Don’t lose your confidence, or think you are incapable or incompetent. They are usually beating you at a mind game, not based on your actual work performance.
  3. Do your best work. The bully’s behavior will seem more justified if you aren’t doing your best work, or if you do things like come to work late, take long lunches, turn in work late, etc.
  4. Build a support network. Instead of allowing the bully to make you retreat into your office, work on building your relationships with your coworkers so that you have support and the bully doesn’t turn them against you as well (although she will try and may even be successful).
  5. Document everything. Keep a journal of what happened when so that if you need to escalate this problem to Human Resources, you have the information you need to make your case. Keep emails and notes.
  6. Seek help.If you think you’re being bullied, it’s time to start talking to others who can help you manage this situation. Try a mentor, advocate, seasoned/experienced friend, even a legal advocate who specializes in bullying and inappropriate or discriminatory behavior in the workplace.
  7. Get counseling. It will help you deal with the stress, especially if the bullying is already affecting your physical and mental health. You have to take care of yourself.
  8. Stay healthy. Maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle outside of work to help you cope. Work out, get a good night’s sleep and eat a healthy diet.
  9. Educate yourself. Learn everything you can about bullying, your company’s policies on inappropriate behavior and occupational law regarding this kind of experience.
  10. Don’t expect to change the bully. Real behavior change is difficult and it takes time.

Forbes, HR Magazine, Wikipedia