Workplace harassment involves harassing a worker.
Workplace harassment is a situation that occurs when a worker is harassed by another employee or his or her boss . It is expected that, in the workplace , each person acts responsibly, fulfilling their obligations and performing as a team with their colleagues, but that does not always happen.
Before moving forward with the meaning of the concept, it is essential to determine the etymological origin of the two words that give it shape. In that sense, both derive from Latin: harassment comes from cursus , which can be translated as "career" ; labor , as it emanates from the sum of the noun labor (which is synonymous with "work" ) and the suffix -al (which means "relative to" ).
Workplace harassment and mobbing
The English language uses the concept of mobbing to refer to the excessive pressure and symbolic violence that is exercised within the work environment. The person who suffers this harassment may be tormented with malicious comments or repeatedly hear exaggerated criticism about their performance or ability. Generally, the harasser's intention is for the victim to resign from employment or modify their behavior, since this is contrary to their interests.
The harasser, therefore, can use mobbing against someone who appears to be competition or who could unseat him or her from a place of power . Workplace harassment can also appear when the harasser tries to extort money from a worker .
The victim of workplace harassment suffers discrimination, receiving treatment that harms them.
Some indicators
There are many and varied signs that may indicate that a person is being a victim of workplace harassment at work. Specifically, among the most frequent are the following:
- He receives totally different treatment from the alleged harasser, whether due to indifference or exclusion, compared to the rest of the employees.
- He is the object of all kinds of insults, screams and other verbal attacks.
- The harasser does not hesitate to spread rumors and falsehoods about the victim, to undermine their image and reputation.
- The victim is forced to face a significant volume of work by the order of the harasser, who also gives him a minimum time to complete it, making it impossible for him to complete it.
- Whoever commits workplace harassment does not hesitate to prevent his victim from being transferred to another department or being promoted. That is, it restricts all your movements.
- The person who suffers from this problem sees how they are continually ridiculed by the aggressor, who also hides information from them so that they cannot do their job correctly and can then accuse them of negligence.
Difference between workplace bullying and normal pressure
It is important to differentiate between the normal pressure that a boss can put on an employee and workplace bullying. If the person in charge of a company is not satisfied with the performance of a worker, they have the right to let them know and even sanction them. However, if the authority lacks respect (whether in private or public), requires the fulfillment of goals that are impossible to achieve or places obstacles in the way of the employee so that he cannot efficiently carry out daily tasks, it can be referred to as workplace harassment.
It should be noted that the victim of workplace bullying can suffer from nervous disorders (such as depression or stress ) to psychosomatic illnesses . Given the impossibility of reporting the harasser when he is the person in charge of the company and you want to keep your job, experts recommend adopting assertive behavior that allows you to respond to grievances but avoiding confrontation.