Harassment and bullying can sometimes be confused; harassment is generally unwanted and offending behaviour usually on a racial or sexual theme. Sexual harassment occurs when the attacks happen based on your gender or sexual orientation. Racial harassment is when the attacks happen because of the colour of your skin, race or cultural background.
Bullying is persistent unwanted behaviour which hurts or threatens a person regardless of sex or race. Harassment is covered by the discrimination act and the protection from harassment act but bullying is not, so clear decisions have to be made to determine whether you are the victim of harassment or being bullied. The main differences between bullying in the workplace and harassment are:
Harassment
Usually has a physical edge to it such as touching, intrusion into your personal space and damage done to your possessions.
Bullying
Is mostly psychological for example criticism about work or stealing work from you to use as their ideas.
Bullying in the workplace can be dealt with the same as any type of bullying; bullies awe secretive cowards whatever their age. The bully in the workplace will lie to achieve their goal and deceive others around them. They are extremely clever but so are you and you can beat the bully. There are certain things you have to remember when dealing with a bully in the workplace, these are:
* Start to gain control back
Recognize what is happening to you and admit that you are being bullied, there is no shame in it and it’s not something you are at fault for. Criticisms about your work are made to put you down and to get you second guessing yourself, don’t give in to these fears, if you know you are producing work of a high standard and the boss has no complaints then don’t worry needlessly .To do this you are playing right into the bully’s hands and giving them the satisfaction they crave.
* You are not alone
It is important to remember that you are not alone in what you are going through, bullying in the workplace is a common occurrence. Many people associate bullying with children in school but it is a wide spread problem which can occur in some shape or form anywhere.
Bullying in the workplace however usually consists of mental cruelty more than physical violence with the bully wanting the attention or credit you get for the work you produce.
It often happens that the bully will steal your ideas for their own, do not let the bully make you feel shame, guilt or fear; this is what the bully relies upon to keep their hold over you. Guilt and fear strategies are the bully’s best friend for this is how all abusers silence their victims.
* Don’t try to handle bullying alone
Bullies pick on those who are afraid to tell others of the problem therefore it is important to remember there is no shame in asking for help, the bully will try hard to make you feel inadequate and belittle their victim making them believe that asking for help and not being able to deal with the problem on your own like an adult is cowardly. If necessary tell a colleague at the very least or preferably the boss, bullying is harassment and most workplaces won’t tolerate harassment.
* Take action against the bully
Keep a written account of the incidents of bullying, write in great detail what happened and where, including times and dates. If the bully has sent memos, emails or text messages be sure to keep copies of them but never reply to them.
It can also be worthwhile purchasing a hand held mini tape recorder or a phone which has recording capabilities and capture the bullies own words.
Talk with other employees very often the bully will not target just one person but several in the workplace, get together with colleagues and make a stand together against the bully. The bully will be very reluctant to continue with the abuse once they realize they have been found out.
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