Workplace Bullying

Workplace Bullying

What happens to elementary school bullies?  In some cases, they grow up to be adult bullies who lurk in offices and workspaces doing what they’ve always done—tormenting their targets.

According to the Workplace Bully Institute (WBI), workplace bullying is defined as “repeated, health-harming mistreatment by one or more employees of an employee; abusive conduct that takes the form of verbal abuse; or behaviors perceived as threatening, intimidating, or humiliating; work sabotage.” 

The WBI also found in a 2021 study that 30% of employees are bullied in the workplace with 43% of remote workers enduring the same experience.  Bullying can result in qualified employees’ high absenteeism, lost productivity, lost revenues, and high turnover.

While harassment at work is illegal, bullying is not because harassment involves mistreatment based on a protected class such as religion, race, national origin, or sex.  

Workplace bullying takes on many forms including but not limited to:

  • Hostile or aggressive written and/or verbal communication
  • Withholding resources
  • Unrelenting criticism
  • Invasion of personal space
  • Non-verbal intimidation 

Often times, the bully is the target’s manager but the behavior can also occur among peers.

If you are bullied at work,

  • Address the situation in the moment
  • Say exactly what he/she is doing to you and why it’s a problem
  • Call the bully by name and use self-assured body language
  • Document all incidents including how you responded
  • Retain all emails, voice mail, and other communications 
  • Present your documentation to human resources.  Your documentation should include suggestions on how you would like to see the issue resolved

Through company culture and policies, this offensive and unacceptable behavior can be eradicated.

In the comments below, let us know if you’ve experienced bullying in the workplace and how you handled it.

Employees Are a Company’s Most Important Asset

Employees Are a Company’s Most Important Asset

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During one of my recent training sessions, several participants were surprised to hear me say that employees, not customers, are a company’s most valued asset.  Customers are second.

When employees understand and champion the corporate mission, vision, and core values, their work will reflect what they believe in.  They will be engaged and motivated…in fact, they’ll give such incredible experiences that customers will want to keep coming back to buy more goods and services.  Employees are the key to creating loyal customers and an endless referral source.

All-Star Customer Service Agents

All-Star Customer Service Agents

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The quality of a company’s customer care program is as good as the people who provide the service which means that customer service training is too important to be relegated to a non-essential category.

Customer service agents are the “go to” experts who answer pressing questions about your organization’s products.  Arming them with tailored training to resolve challenges with pinpoint accuracy will go miles in retaining quality clients.  In addition, on-the-job “refresher” coaching in “live” situations provide excellent teachable moments that can be journaled for future use.  Another option is to assign seasoned agents as mentors to new hires to help them perform their duties with excellence.  Many offices have this type of set up in place.