How to Stop Office Bullying

The Department of Labor and Industries states that workplace bullying means regular negative actions toward an individual with the intent to cause emotional or physical harm. Office bullies may use intimidation in their interactions with others. Workplace bullying may consist of continued swearing, causing isolation, or invalid criticism and blaming without any justification. While it may seem difficult to combat office bullying, certain techniques will help you diminish the problem, whether you observe the bullying or become the target of it.

• 1

  Keep a diary. The Department of Labor and Industries states that you should keep a diary of when you get bullied and when you observe bullying. Write down the time, date and nature of the bullying. This will give you the necessary information if you need to report it.

• 2

  Identify root causes. Understanding the root of the bullying may help stop it, according to the American Psychological Association. If a certain employee becomes angry with a group of employees because they receive different privileges, communicating about this may cause the bullying to diminish.

• 3

  Obtain harassing paper trails. If other employees bully you or someone else, they may do so in an e-mail. Find every e-mail that contains bullying remarks. According to the Department of Labor and Industries, the bully may make inaccurate statements about you and the negative paper trails will provide a defense.

• 4

  Look at internal violations. Many training books have information about the policy regarding harassment and respect, according to the Workplace Bullying Institute. When you look for specific policies, write down ways that these policies have been violated.

• 5

  Report it to a supervisor. If you observe or receive bullying, your supervisor needs to know about this. Bring all of the evidence. A supervisor likely does not want conflict in her business, but she cannot address it unless you tell her.

• 6

  Teach everyone how to treat one another. The American Psychological Association suggests having the employees rate the negative effect of their behaviors. By doing this, everyone begins to understand how their actions affect one another. Certain bullies may not realize the extent of their negative behavior.