Job fight: Handle office foes with professionalism, confidence, even help

Much as a childhood bully can knock a child off the slide, a workplace bully can knock an employee off the corporate ladder.

Bullying is repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more people by one or more perpetrators, according to the Workplace Bullying Institute Web site. Such behavior can come in multiple forms, including verbal abuse, threatening, humiliating or offensive behavior/actions, work interference or sabotage that prevents work from getting done.

Since 2003, 13 states have introduced 29 versions of the anti-bullying Healthy Workplace Bill.

As far as the prevalence of bullying in the workplace, it depends on the organization, according to Evelyn Canabal, principal owner of Professional Development Services in West Chicago.

"Because a lot of companies are moving towards operations that are high performance, you may not see the bullying as much," Canabal said. "When working in a team environment, companies teach their employees how to communicate better and manage conflict. However, there are many organizations that are not there yet, and you will see a lot of bullying at these companies."

There are some telltale signs that you can look for if you think you are being bullied at work, according to Norma Gaffin, director of content for the job search Web site Monster.com.

"While all people manifest their feelings differently, good indicators that someone may be suffering from the torment of a workplace bully may include such feelings as apprehension about going to work and agitation and anxiety while on the job," Gaffin said. "Other signs may include agenda-less meetings where the victim is humiliated, constant hovering of a manger while working on a project and false accusations of incompetence."

Sometimes the perception of bullying is in the eye of the beholder, Canabal said.

"It really deals with the person that the action is being taken against and how they feel about it," Canabal said. "It could be as simple as someone very assertive dealing with someone who is more mild mannered. Some of the things they do could be taken the wrong way."

As far as confronting a workplace bully, Gaffin said victims should do it calmly and professionally.

"They should remain strong and avoid allowing the bully to see any weakness, as this will likely result in continued abuse," she said. "By displaying confidence in their work and self-worth when approaching the offender, the victim will gain the upper hand."

Gaffin added if nothing is resolved by confronting the bully, the best plan of action is to involve a human resources representative, a higher manager or an outside advocate such as a consultant or lawyer.

"Victims should refrain from confiding in anyone close to the bully as it could make matters worse," Gaffin said. "All abusive behaviors should be clearly documented."

Most companies take these complaints very seriously, because they don't want to be involved in any type of harassment issues, Canabal said.

"It is critical that leadership teams recognize when these issues come up," she said. "Harassment will always end up coming back to the company."

Canabal said the line from bullying into harassment is crossed when an employee is feeling threatened and they feel so bad that it is disrupting to their daily work life.

"When your work life becomes so jointed that you can't concentrate, then there is a serious problem," she stated. "Any type of behavior involving pushing, an open threat, touching that makes you feel uncomfortable, bargaining that bends the rule of what is considered professional versus non-professional, that needs to be brought to the attention of the leadership team right away."

Dealing with the stress of a bully in the workplace effects the company culture and employee satisfaction, said Gaffin.

"Workplace harassment and general bullying has a negative effect on team morale within the workplace," she said. "Like a disease, it spreads despair, anger and depression, which ultimately results in lackluster work, absenteeism and turnover."