Those who thought they left bullies behind in grade school or high school often get a rude surprise when they find work as adults. A new study from CareerBuilder shows that 27 percent of workers have felt bullied in the workplace at some point in their career.
Women were most likely to experience bullying on the job with 34 percent saying they had been a target compared to 22 percent of men.
The most likely offenders on the job were bosses. Fourteen percent named an immediate supervisor as someone that bullied them followed by a co-worker (11 percent), someone higher in the company but not their boss (seven), and a customer (seven percent.)
"Bullying is a serious offense that can disrupt the work environment, impact morale and lower productivity," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources, CareerBuilder. "If you are feeling bullied, keep track of what was said or done and who was present. The more specifics you can provide, the stronger the case you can make for yourself when confronting the bully head on or reporting the bully to a company authority."
Bullying in the workplace
doesn't usually include physical intimidation, but it does come in many forms,
according to CareerBuilder's research. These include dealing with:
- Comments dismissed (43 percent);
- Being falsely accused of mistakes (40 percent);
- Harsh criticism (38 percent);
- Being forced to doing work not in the job description (38 percent);
- Different standards and policies being applied for other workers (37 percent);
- Mean looks (31 percent);
- Gossip (27 percent);
- Being yelled at in front of co-workers (24 percent);
- Belittling comments about personal performance during meetings (23 percent);
- Others stealing credit for work they didn't do (21 percent).
While bullies may be intimidating, most targets tackled the situation head on. Forty-seven percent said they confronted bullies directly about their behavior. Of these, 43 percent said the bullying came to an end. Of the balance, 13 percent said the situation worsened while 44 percent said it was unchanged.
Going over the bully's head was another course of action taken with 28 percent going to human resources for action. Unfortunately, 62 percent said no action was taken as a result of their complaints.
According to a 2007 survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute and Zogby, 45 percent of individuals targeted by bullies suffer stress-related health issues.