Workplace Bullying is not OK!

Yes, I know - Long time, no write. I go giving you these job tips promising more, and then disappear, which is terrible! Where have I been?

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I quit my new job. Not because I had another job to go to or anything like that. Simply because I couldn't put up with being bullied by the other girls in the department anymore. So, for the past couple of weeks I've been holed up at home applying for new jobs, going for interviews etc. Today, I've finally pulled it together enough to take some time out and get back to my blog.

Now, the thing is, I'm not exactly the weak little person that runs off when things get difficult. I don't give up, I stay and fight. So how can I let things get to the point where I go out for lunch and refuse to come back? I was beating myself up about it for a little bit, but then I remembered that over the last 6 months, the company had no less than 4 people leave the position I was in. Suddenly, I feel much better - clearly, the problem wasn't me. In fact, I've now decided that the reason I only lasted 4 weeks was because not only do I have alot of respect for myself (and others) in the workplace, I also have a low tolerance threshold for the kind of behaviour I was dealing with, and I have very strict boundaries around how I will let others treat me. Let me give you the situation.

I was working in a 'team' with four other HR 'professionals' - an OHS Officer, two co-ordinators and a HR manager (who left shortly after I arrived). These coordinators are actually at my level, however given that the person previously filling my position took off in such a hurry (I now know why) and wasn't there to train me, the other two HR Coordinators took it up on themselves to train me. This would have been great if they didn't both have different ideas on how my job should be done. So, I suffered through three weeks of being told off every time one of them came to check my work, because I was doing it the way the other had showed me. Regardless of how many times I pointed this out, they never talked to each other and consistently made me the person to blame. In fact, I became the person to blame for any and all issues, even if it had nothing to do with me. With the departure of our manager, we were reporting to a Sydney manager, so eventually I contacted her to discuss my problems. At first, she was very concerned, saying she was going to help out, talk to these girls and get one set procedure for everything, so there could be no such similar issues in future - ie get a proper manual written up for my position. However, this then turned into me discussing these issues with the girls in question. As I had predicted, this made matters worse. I then suffered through them standing over my desk, taking out everything in my in-tray and interrogating me on why it hadn't been done, then berating me for it. Considering the improvements I had made since starting, and the huge backlog I'd reduced, the indignity of this treatment from my 'peers' was the last straw. I went out for lunch and never returned - I had the feeling that one more word from either of them was enough to make me reach out and slap them. Physical violence isn't really my thing, so I called to say I wasn't returning and that was it.

Of course, this is a brief overview of the situation and doesn't really cover half of what I suffered through in those four weeks. I had so much positive feedback on my work from other areas of the organisation that I find it hard to believe my work may actually have been at fault, and trust me I've examined this over and over for the last couple of weeks. I have to say, the fact that I still don't feel any regret about leaving even now, when it looks like I won't be able to pay rent next week, really says alot.

So, what's the point to this post? I really wanted to make this about the rising instances of workplace bullying and harassment, why it's occurring and how to stop it happening to you, as well as how to deal with it when it occurs in your workplace. But really, I'm totally stuck. I mean, why is it occurring? Who knows. What makes someone act so disrespectfully towards their colleagues? What possible excuse could there be for this kind of behaviour? How do you stop it happening? Before I would have said that workplaces should have policies and procedures in place, and that HR departments need to take on the responsibility of ensuring their workplace culture doesn't allow this sort of thing, but no-one cares about policies these days, and it's occurring within HR departments (who really should know better). As for how to deal with it, it should be reported to and dealt with by managers and the HR department, but look how far that got me. Looking back at the companies I've worked for, it's quite clear that managers don't really want to deal with this kind of issue and tend to sweep it under the carpet, or push responsibility back onto the victim (the same thing happens in our schools today).

This is something that greatly concerns me, and is something I intend to do more research into. I don't know yet how I'll go about it or where to start, but I can't let it rest. I'm not going to be one of those people who sweeps it under the rug, I'm going to stand up and be heard. This behaviour is not OK, and I don't care who hears me say it. Hands up who's with me!