What is Cyberbullying in The Work Place
Cyberbullying doesn’t stop when you walk across your high school stage and accept your diploma, it extends into college and where you work, and due to technology, the ability to bully is easier. According to a joint study by the University of Sheffield and Nottingham University, cyberbullying is as common as traditional bullying in the workplace.
In fact, eight out of ten people surveyed in the study reported that they experienced cyberbullying in the workplace. Based on another study conducted by the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, they discovered that 60.4 million Americans are affected by workplace bullying.
Why Do Cyberbullies Exist in The Workplace?
Similar to the playground, a bully wants power and to intimidate someone to control them. The outcome is the same, one person holds power while the other suffers. A lack of control and insecurities are the main reasons why people bully. In fact, the workplace can often be a bed of insecurities. One difference between workplace bullying and bullying on the playground is that workplace bullying can be more subtle and less noticeable. However, the result of bullying, in any case, can cause the same amount of mental strain and stress.
Think of it in the following scenario. A new coworker is bright, smart, and smarter than another person who is in the same position. When management begins to take notice of the new coworker and their skills, the other might feel threatened that a possible promotion or the place in the company is limited. How do they react? They gossip, find co-workers friends, and make the workplace insufferable for the new co-worker with hopes that they will quit. Other forms of cyberbullying include a coworker indirectly posting about you on social media with the intention of having you see it.
What happens when you end up working for the bully on the playground? Aggressive and belittling leadership can be the problem, too. In cases when managers are bullies or play favorites, they can create email chains that exclude specific co-workers. Alienation is a type of bullying; however, there can be times when cyberbullying from management is in the form of derogatory language spoken around you, retweets, reposts, and more, that can make the workplace seem exclusionary.
All forms of the examples and scenarios listed about allow for intimidation of a coworker, but there are ways to fix, top, and expose cyberbullying in the workplace.
How The Workplace Can Fix Cyberbullying
Do these scenarios sound familiar to your current situation? If so, you might be a victim of workplace bullying. However, You are not powerless. You have a voice, more importantly, you have an HR department. First, it is essential that you learn how to handle bullying in the workplace, and some ways to do that include:
Stop Cyberbullying at Work Today
With cyberbullying, it can often be anonymous. When anonymous bullying occurs, it is vital that you can track the person and prove that it is them. SecureForensics offers cyberbullying services to help unveil the person behind the screen.
Our director of Forensics has decades of experience and can help build a report with evidence that will allow you to end workplace bullying. If you are the victim of cyberbullying in the workplace call us at 1-800-288-1407 for a free phone consultation to see how our services can help make your job a better place to work.
