How can you manage stress caused by workplace bullying?

It's important to understand that bullies ultimately want to make someone feel as small and insignificant as someone earlier in their life made them feel - as most bullies were once bullied themselves. The most important thing to do when dealing with a bully is keep yourself safe. Even though we're tempted to stand up for ourselves, not all bullies are worth engaging with. Sometimes you need to establish strong boundaries, while other times you need to be polite and unemotional, as you may be dealing with someone who is more aggressive. It's important to continuously remind yourself that a bully's behavior reflects how they feel about themself, and it has nothing to do with you. Remember that you are valuable and that you have worth.

Bullying is a misunderstood term, especially when describing adult behaviors. Most often it is a pattern of behavior and occurs in multiple relationships between the perpetrator and their colleagues. In management, it often stems from a lack of supervisory skills.

Bullying needs to be identified immediately and this includes insults, passive aggressive comments, criticism, among other forms. These are types of psychological forms of bullying, but there can be physical and verbal as well. Report the harrassment to your HR or Department in the country in which you work per the workplace policies and procedures. There might be more to the bullying outside the workplace scope and it could be something the police might be involved in. Remember to document the bullying in-depth, use self-care, and seek support while you are involved in this. Also remember, this is NOT your fault.

Any form of bullying needs to be addressed immediately. Not only does it completely disrupt productivity and a healthy company culture, it creates stress related symptoms, illnesses, and conditions in the person being bullied. For the person being bullied it's also important to understand that even though it's being done TO you, it's not ABOUT you. Bullying is always about something within the bully needing to be addressed and healed.

There are various ways we can counter bullying, in workplace or elsewhere. The first step is to create safe boundaries. However, bullies always try to breach such boundaries and hence a strong pushback, without the expectation of any other support, especially in your workplace is essential. Bullies win when they get the reaction they crave for. Cut that out and respond, instead of reacting. It is very essential to report such bullies and such actions in general to the concerned personnel and hence keep them informed too! Most importantly, ensure such behaviour does not repeat by clearly marking the boundary lines and highlighting them as professionally as possible.

The organization should deal with a bully swiftly and decisively. How long must a bully have had the run of the place for a level of stress to exist that requires a coping strategy? Leadership needs to run active and deliberate anti-harassment campaigns. It should not be the victims job to stop the bully. Leadership (ie those who run the enabling system) should redesign that system to protect its people, which includes taking a long look at why they allow bullies to get away. Is it because they always make the sales target? or the CEO favours them? Is there sexism or racism inherent in the system? Bullies exist because systems allow and sometimes encourage and enable them to exist.

Seeking support and guidance to manage stress from workplace bullying is extremely important. You may often feel like you cannot confide in colleagues but you should reach out to see if your work place has an EAP program. An EAP program will offer at least six sessions where you can seek help to lessen your stress and develop coping skills in order to work through the emotional stress you are dealing with. Often times, after the six sessions end, you can continue with the therapist for more sessions and this will help you to develop more techniques and empathic listening for you so you can validate your feelings, learn to reach out to your support network, and learn how to use self-care.

I agree with the points here and they're all valid. Bullying comes in various forms. Totally agree that this is something that is enabled by leaders or those who have the final authority to quash the bully. What makes this topic tricky is when the leader (or boss) is the bully. Abusing their role to manipulate or harass colleagues or reportees. This would make the life of the victim unbearable. And how exactly does the person go to HR to complain about being bullied by the CEO / MD/ Founder / or C-Suite exec who has the power to influence you career at that organisation? ' The victim could confront the bully in this case via a meeting that's chaired by HR or an objective person, but this depends on how receptive and ethical the bully is

Bullying should be swiftly dealt with by the organisation. When being bullied as a sensitive person take the blame in some way feeling it is about something we did. It is important to remember the bully is acting from a place of vulnerability and have fears fuelling this behaviour . By tackling the bully and their mindset could be the way to end workplace bulling and stress. No one should be made to feel fearful of going to work. If you do feel bullied seek help to feel supported

One has an option to consider a passive approach or become proactive and seek support. Internalization of one’s feelings is not an effective way as it can be extremely overwhelming. As a professional and a team player I assess and evaluate the problem and schedule consults to address the concerning behavior.

Stress stimulates the fight or flight response. This impairs judgment, decision making and lends itself to self referential thinking. It’s wise to use a method of relaxation to gain an expanded self and social awareness prior to choosing a course of action. Relaxation brings clarity, reduces bias and promotes innovation or creative problem solving areas of the brain to be accessible. Relax, get clarity, reduce bias, find a solution using all of your brain! 🧠

Bullies need to be told in their eyes that what they are doing is not correct and the company policies does not support bullies They need to understand that what ever you are doing is known to be against the policy of the company This my assist to would be offenders

I have found helpful to reclaim my power by setting boundaries in the workplace when seeing or experiencing workplace bullying by documenting the behavior of the person's actions, comments, or offensive tactics. This includes dates and times these occurred. When having to interact with the bully, I set boundaries by firmly expressing to the person what I am willing and not willing to do that is within my job scope, using complete confidence. I will not respond to anything unreasonable. If the bullying continues and you have given it a specific time frame to alleviate on its' own (which I would suggest for your own mental health), then I would report it per your workplace policies and procedures. Also, practice a lot of self-care.

The first step to setting boundaries is understanding what type of stress response you have to workplace bullying - is it flight, fight, freeze, or fawn? We all understand flight or fight, but freeze and fawn are newer on the spectrum of trauma informed self-care and wellness. Freeze is when you move toward shut down, not quite dissociation, but you clearly recognize that you are becoming "smaller" and your voice is not valued or heard. You don't feel seen and you begin to reflect it in your behaviors. This often precedes or proceeds fawning, or people pleasing (known as please and appease). Once you identify your default stress response, reach out to a a therapist who can help you identify strategies for boundary setting.

Learn to say NO! One of the most important things to deal with workplace bullying is to set boundaries. Another thing might I suggest is to learn how to deal with conflict. To avoid conflict can work in the short term but not in the long run. Work in your own self esteem is also important.

Solicitar feedbacks é crucial durante a nossa vida profissional, nos ajuda a entender onde precisamos estar investindo mais e assim reduzir o estresse gerado por possíveis pessoas que venham lhe fazer um assédio moral.

Wissen über Mobbing ist für Betroffene entscheidend, um die Situation zu verstehen und zu reagieren. Dieses Verständnis hilft, effektive Gegenmaßnahmen zu ergreifen und eigene Rechte zu kennen. Es kann durch Fachliteratur, Online-Ressourcen und Workshops erlangt werden. Gleichzeitig ist es wichtig, Unterstützung zu suchen, sei es durch Gespräche mit Vertrauenspersonen, Kollegen oder Fachleuten. Der Austausch mit anderen bietet emotionale Entlastung und neue Sichtweisen. Professionelle Beratung oder psychologische Unterstützung kann entscheidend sein, um die psychischen Auswirkungen zu bewältigen und Strategien zu entwickeln. Informiertsein und Unterstützung suchen stärkt das Selbstvertrauen und die Fähigkeit, Mobbing effektiv zu begegnen.

Feedback and follow up with employees and staff is a very important step for an organization. Validation is the key after the report is being filed- Follow up meetings between management and staff establish a sense of safety and respect. Constructive criticism and yearly or quarterly goals and evaluation is a key to provide feedback and receive feedback from the employees. Definitely training courses, Inservice and webinars are helpful tool for awareness.

Seeking feedback and creative ideas will guide and direct you for improving your knowledge and competency skills and identifying your weaknesses to rectify them.

First, I'd suggest a person try regular HR policies and procedures to combat the bullying behaviour. If the behaviour stops or reduces, the person may then be in a position to explore healing solutions. Carl Jung, an early transpersonal psychology pioneer said, "Spiritus contra spiritum". This essentially means high spirit conquers low spirit. By taking a metaphysical (high spirit) approach e.g., examining the bullying behaviour as a source of lessons their soul can learn from, it reduces judgement of 'good and bad behaviour' to 'this is an opportunity for me to learn how to cope with it.' Learning to focus on the lessons, rather than the pain they've endured, can help the person to heal and ultimately become more resilient.

If it's continue even after trying to solve, need not to allow it to continue seek other alternatives like transfer, New job, starting your own business build up your emotional intelligence and practice self-care, self -love .

Exploring alternative solutions is definitely an option which may lead to high turnover rate due to employee dissatisfaction. Consider pros and cons of either staying at the same work place VS finding another job.

Always equipped with alternate solutions and hope for better outcomes by providing and showing your ability, positive attitude, skills for the work.

There pain becomes others pain sometimes a little guidance build those bridges! Open mind open heart! Let them know their actions are not and will not be accepted!

Reporting the bully will depend on the position of the bully in the Organization, What if it is the boss? Deliver high quality job. Be on top of your game. Get evidence of bullying. Report to higher authority. On a personal level, understand that the bully has a problem not you. Do not personalize the behaviour. Have a strong social support system. You can discuss and laugh about the behaviour depending. Ensure an optimum state of mental and physical well-being by ensuring adequate sleep, healthy nutrition, routine exercise, proper hydration, an occasional interaction with nature etc. These increase your resilience and better equip you to deal with the behaviour. If the bullying is from the top, have an exit plan.

Observe que o indicado é fazer uma denúncia formal ao setor responsável da instituição. Recolher provas e testemunhas é crucial para potencializar a sua denúncia. Busque apoio de outros profissionais próximo. Lembre-se o problema é do potencial agressor e não seu, busque conversar sempre com outras pessoas para poder ampliar estratégias de como agir diante de tal assédio.

Find new ways to manage stress that you may never have tried before, including spiritual practices. Managing life with workplace bullying can feel lonely, even with support. Take time to access a “higher force”. Also, get back to basics with your self care. Move your body, nourish with good nutrition and focus on sleep hygiene. This is the time to double, triple, quadruple taking care of yourself.

One effective strategy I've employed is practicing mindful reflection. When faced with workplace bullying, I take a moment to step back and mindfully observe my thoughts and emotions without judgment. This practice helps in gaining clarity and managing reactions. By acknowledging my feelings in a non-reactive way, I'm able to respond more thoughtfully and less impulsively, creating a space for calm and rational decision-making in a stressful environment. This approach has not only helped in dealing with the immediate stress but also in understanding my own boundaries and resilience.

Take time to reflect on the instances when you were bullied. Recognise how are you contributing to bullying behaviour. for example your body language could be conveying fear or less confidence. Your silence could be misunderstood as, you are weak to confront. Think about what are some new ways you can start responding ? What are some things you should stop doing for the bully to continue? Do you recognise a pattern as to when, where, how and for what you are getting bullied for? Think and practise ways to respond and deal with such behaviours. If need be talk to a trusted mentor or coach to identify strategies to deal with such behaviours. Breathing exercises are highly recommended to deal with the stress caused by bullying.

It's estimated by neuroscientists that 95% of our thoughts, feelings, actions are unconscious. Bullying behaviour, and how we respond to it, then, mostly results from unresolved issues in our shadow (our unconscious). To become more conscious of our bullying actions and responses, we may need extra support e.g, psychotherapy. We could, for example, have been bullied as a child/youth and unconsciously continue the pattern. Or a person reminds us of a former bully and we unconsciously project our past feelings of inadequacy onto a new person to compensate for previous pain, our poor self-esteem etc. Whether we are the person doing the bullying, or we are the bully victim, we can all benefit from knowing our true selves on a deeper level.

Don't let the bully see they are affecting you. Bullies are often looking to get an emotional response from their victims. If you feel yourself getting stress remove yourself from the situation and reduce your stress levels, to reduce stress we need to move our body from the sympathetic response to the parasympathetic, Your parasympathetic nervous system runs your body when you are not in the fight or flight state. Breathing techniques such as box breathing can help to trigger the relaxation response allowing your  parasympathetic nervous system to take over and moving you out of fight or flight.