Have you ever felt bullied at work? If you answered yes, you're not alone. A recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive and sponsored by CareerBuilder found more than one out of three (35 percent) workers said they felt bullied at work, a 30 percent increase in the past year. Sixteen percent of those said they even suffered health-related problems as a result of bullying and 17 percent decided to quit their jobs just to escape the situation.
The study also found nearly half of workers don't confront their bullies and the majority of incidents go unreported. In most cases, this is the exact opposite of what you should do.
Who are These Bullies?
Apparently, they're everywhere, on the trading floor, in the c-suites, in operations. According to the survey, most bullying incidents (48 percent) were between bosses and subordinates, followed by co-workers (45 percent), clients or customers (31 percent) and by someone higher up in the company than the immediate boss (26 percent). More than half (54 percent) said they were bullied by someone older than they were, while 29 percent said the bully was younger.
How the Bullies Bully
The most common way workers reported being bullied was getting blamed for mistakes they didn't make (42 percent), followed by not being acknowledged (39 percent) and the use of double standards (36 percent). Other types of bullying include:
What You Can Do About Bullying
If you're feeling bullied in the workplace, here are some tips on how to deal with it.
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