Types Of Bullying In The Workplace: Three Common Types

Bullying has remained a concern associated with mental issues, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts throughout the globe. Workplace bullying is the recurred behaviors focused on workers intended to embarrass or ridicule them. 

Acts like this pose a substantial risk to employees' safety and health, and many people usually get confused between bullying and aggression. However, you must note that there is a thin-line distinction between aggression and bullying. While aggression customarily incorporates a particular deed, bullying conduct includes recurred acts against the sufferers, and it is the prevailing pattern of inapt behavior. 

Bullying or harassment in the workplace includes harming people in the office either by associates or high-level managers or misusing the power entrusted to them. Also, humiliating, undermining, and terrifying an employee are acts of bullying that create a sense of vulnerability in the victim.

Traits and Characteristics of Workplace Bullying

In present times, bullying activities and harassment behold a significant surge. Also, such events in the workplace usually get recognized as hateful acts where the people who engage in a bullying attack never respect anyone's feelings. 

In addition, a workplace bully never cares about the feelings of others, never considers them equal, and uses all means to downgrade other people. Moreover, bullies in every workplace publicize common behavioral attributes such as unrest and anxiety. 

Therefore, we can say that in a company where harassment or bullying happens, employees feel depressed, and they might want to leave their jobs soon after joining. Apart from this, morale and productivity are low among workers. Besides physical issues, employees also undergo anxiety and stress. 

Moreover, the creativity of the employees gets subdued due to low self-respect. It influences their capacity to cope with challenging circumstances. The health issues prompted by such harassment activities make employees feel vulnerable and, the employees experience the following:

• Body aches and persistent neck pain
• Headaches
• Uneasiness
• Depression
• Financial issues due to absenteeism
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Phobias
• Digestive issues
• Lack of sleep
• Lack of courage and self-confidence
• Suicidal thoughts

In addition, workplace bullying instances often lead to the below-mentioned issues. 

• Lack of job content among employees
• Low duty to work
• An increased rate of absenteeism in the company
• Risen employee turnover
• Poor work conditions
• Hiring new staff in place of bullied sufferers who left the job
• Incurred charges of investigations and judicial actions

Common Types of Bullying in the Workplace 

Bullying in the workplace forever prevails, unacceptable or abhorrent behavior that makes the firm a toxic place to work. Mentioned below are some prevailing kinds of bullying in the workplace.

1. Physical bullying 

Physical bullying is a universally known example of workplace harassment and bullying. In addition, it can additionally come in the form of brutality, both bodily and to property, and can be intimidating behavior. As physical bullying is extreme, many people usually term this behavior as an assault.

An employee may get physically bullied, such as punching, pushing or slapping, or other kinds of bodily abuse. Apart from this, it can also include damage to property, such as tampering, scratching, breaking, or inflicting losses to a person's property. 

2. Cyberbullying

It is a standard practice in the contemporary workplace to adopt internet-based applications to leverage their benefits and appeal to the young generation of workers. Instantaneous messaging applications frequently get employed for better speed, comfort, and user-friendly network. 

Also, cyberbullying and cloud-based harassment has now evolved as a stifling matter for corporations.

Some of the prevalent actions that bullies use to harass or demean other people online are:

• Share disgracing content relating to the victim using group chat or email
• Publishing false news or rumors about the victim on social media platforms
• Directly posting harassing emails or messages to the victim

3. Psychological bullying

Most of the bullying or harassment conducted in a workplace happens psychologically. Also, in psychological bullying, a victim feels belittled or has to listen to hateful remarks that can affect a person mentally. 

How to Curb and Eliminate Bullying in the Workplace?

Presented hereunder are some of the top approaches to curb and eradicate bullying situations in the workplace. 

• Firstly, companies must keep in mind that workplace bullying is a real issue that harms employees mentally. Next, they must interfere and administer workplace harassment training programs.

• Secondly, workers must understand that they are getting harassed in the workplace. They must discern that they are not the root cause of the concern and that bullying is about control. Likewise, they must know that it has nothing to do with their work performance.

• Employees must begin writing aspects of bullying events such as phone calls and chats. They should also maintain a journal to record the day and time of the events.

• After recording the instances, the person harassed or bullied must report the officials about the bullying demeanor they are facing. Also, to make a solid claim, they must try to collect pieces of evidence and witnesses. 

Subsequently, after receiving a harassment or bullying accusation, the corporations should:

• Conduct abrogating behavior awareness training, stress management training, and workplace engagement. They should further promote healthy communication among employees.

• Encourage their employees to remain informed of their interpersonal contact. It will foster a civilized work atmosphere.

• Establish a precise model for positive behavior and conversation in their workplaces. They must foster a healthy work atmosphere.

• Formulate a policy where the workload remains moderate, and the role gets defined. Treatment should be impartial and fair, and supportive administration should be encouraged.

• Equip administrators with training to warrant a good and supportive approach in the workplace. 

• Foster a positive business culture for a healthy workplace. In addition, it must terminate determinants of bullying such as high workload, low job autonomy, and excess workplace stress.

• Appropriately respond once workplace bullying has occurred and got reported. The administrators need to punish a bully by shifting him to a separate unit or downgrading him. If required, they should terminate him.

• Offer expert counseling for sufferers of workplace bullying. This way, they can address their struggles with a mental wellness expert and learn to cope with bullying.

Also, employees should get training to overlook hostile conduct and not take such action personally. Most importantly, they must help manage their emotions to cope with anxiety.

Final words 

To sum up, we can say that it is the most suitable time that businesses across the globe perceive harassment or bullying in the workplace, the same as the occurrences of sexual harassment. Also, in several circumstances, bullying problems in the workplace dwindle productivity levels and build a mediocre work environment. 

Moreover, it might be wrong to say that when workplace pressure rises, employee confidence declines. It might affect the employees' bodily well-being and their mental health. In addition, when instances of bullying in a reputed company come out in public, the reputation of that company gets ruined. Also, it likewise prevents people from seeking a job in the company. 

Therefore, modern firms can attain countless perks by curbing and eliminating workplace bullying and harassment. In a healthy work atmosphere, there are motivated and productive employees. Hence the ultimate outcome is that workplace bullying is an imperative matter, and firms must carry out conventional harassment prevention education to formulate a friendly and delighted workplace.