Surviving A Workplace Run By Bullies
A Reader Asks This Question:
I have always been the guy who lives his life with honesty, and tries to treat others with decency and respect. I have carried this over into the workplace.
Unfortunately, I have discovered that corporate life is not conducive to working on the straight and narrow. Not only do unethical and hostile people make more money and get promoted faster, they actually target those who are honest and respectful.
It’s not a matter of me going around and shaking my finger at them and lecturing them either. I just mind my own business and do my thing, which seems to aggravate them even more.
At my current company, the gossip and drama and backstabbing is so vicious, that my department has the highest turnover in the entire corporation of 10,000. I am looking to get out, too, and am actively interviewing. In the meantime, what are the best survival tips for this situation? Should I push back on the bullies and start bad-mouthing them? I’d hate to think that I have to stoop to their level, but I may have no choice.
Please keep in mind that management in this department openly encourages the cattiness and two-faced behavior, so it does not make sense to report the bullying to them. Furthermore, anymore in this department who goes to the ombudsman or HR is met with greater bullying, and is denied raises and promotions because they are viewed as a “tattler”.
View the answer(s) below…
3 Responses to Surviving A Workplace Run By Bullies
Leave a Reply
1) Keep looking for work and get out as soon as you can. Don’t quit before you have a job. Not in this economy.
2) Get out the employee manual and start reading. Pay special attention to company policies. I commented on another post about this same thing. Here’s my comment.
3) Document, document, document. Write down all of their bullying activities. Who, what, where, when, etc. But don’t do this at work. Do it at home. Isolated bullying by itself isn’t anything, but by documenting all of it of the course of time, you establish a pattern of it and attorneys and juries love that stuff. The reason you want to document is so you have proof in the event they try to oust you.
4) Download a copy of Work Laws Exposed and find out how you can legal position yourself into one of more protected classes and yourself a bullet-proof employee.
I’ve been there before as well. When you’re part of an environment such as this one, the best thing for you to do is keep your head down, keep actively seeking employment elsewhere, and wait for that perfect moment when you tell them to kiss your you know what. That’s what I did at my previous employer…except for telling them to kiss my you know what.
It’s tough being part of an environment where you don’t feel comfortable and you can’t be yourself. It’s definitely time to move on my friend. I hope you find a job that is much better.
Be careful not to paint all workplaces with the brush of one experience, or even a few experiences. Each company has its own inner society with its own lifestyle and personality. I have worked in completely unprofessional environments and environments that were too political and worried about behavior – thankfully I’ve also seen the in-between which is my favorite.
If you aren’t happy with your environment and don’t think it will change, leave. Don’t try to change it, don’t complain about it, but don’t participate in what you don’t like about it. Just make a decision to leave and then do it. And while intervieiwng for your next job keep an eye on the environment you’re going to be going into next.
Just remember – people don’t change. Work isn’t family, its work. And while that truth may be cold, the big up side to work compared with family is you can easily leave.