Workplace bullying is an increasingly widespread practice in organizations and its impact on the mental health of the people who suffer from it is significant. For this reason, in this article we want to tell you how to detect it, how to act when a case occurs and what measures can be taken to prevent it.
Table of Contents
Mobbing at work: what is it?
Labor mobbing, also known as workplace harassment, is psychological violence towards one or more people in their workplace in a systematic, repeated and prolonged manner . It can occur between equals, between superiors and subordinates and even from the company itself to the workers.
Some examples of mobbing are the following:
- Threats towards other workers.
- Insult, shout and humiliate the victims.
- Intimidate and control colleagues and/or co-workers.
- Discriminate for reasons of religion, ideology, gender, etc.
- Exclude workers from the group or from their own tasks and/or isolate them.
- Criticize and defame co-workers.
- Having abusive hours, being forced to work overtime and even not being able to enjoy permits or vacations.
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How to detect workplace mobbing?
Sometimes workplace bullying is noticeable by some or all of the people on the team. However, in other cases, their existence may go unnoticed . To be able to detect mobbing in those situations where it is not evident, it is important to look at the following aspects:
- Subtle negative comments towards some workers in front of other colleagues, since it is possible that, behind that interaction, there is a case of harassment.
- If a person is repeatedly being ignored or doesn’t connect with others naturally, they may be being deliberately marginalized.
- Defamatory comments or constant gossip about a person’s life over time are another sign that the victim of such attitudes may be suffering from workplace harassment.
- If the performance and performance of a working person is being affected, especially when their tasks are in a team, one of the underlying causes could be workplace mobbing.
How to act if someone is suffering workplace harassment?
If you have observed any of these behaviors and you suspect that a colleague is experiencing harassment in their workplace, do not hesitate to notify the responsible persons so that they can take action in this regard .
The people in charge of managing the situation should preventively remove the harassing person and the harassed person and initiate a process of investigation and collection of evidence.
Next, an instructor, who will generally be a human resources specialist or someone with training in occupational risk prevention, should be appointed to analyze the facts presented and rule on whether harassment has indeed occurred. In the event that it is shown that mobbing has occurred, the company must sanction the harassing person, and may even reach disciplinary dismissal, and offer help and solutions to the victim by mutual agreement.
Actions to prevent labor mobbing
To prevent mobbing in the workplace, it is necessary to have an action protocol against harassment , as specified by law. It must include both the prevention measures adopted and the procedure to follow in the event of effective harassment.
Among the measures that can be taken to prevent mobbing , are the following:
- Create awareness campaigns for the entire workforce where the negative impact of mobbing is explained so that all workers are aware of the problem that workplace harassment entails.
- It facilitates access for workers to specific training and courses on the detection and prevention of workplace harassment.
- Disseminate conduct manuals and good practices among employees so that they know what type of interactions are allowed and which are not.
- Generates positive behaviors and dynamics of respect among team members so that everyone can take an example.
- Create work environment surveys that allow you to detect potential mobbing situations and act quickly before they materialize.
As we have told you, workplace bullying can be difficult to detect, but having prevention mechanisms and knowing how to act when it occurs is essential to ensure the well-being of victims and reduce the number of cases.
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