Generational differences in retail workplace safety
Workplace safety
Employees can find themselves the target of bullying or harassment by a colleague or supervisor in any workplace setting. While the abusive actions of a bully or harasser can often look similar, there are important differences. The Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) defines bullying as unwelcome and repeated behavior intent on harming someone who feels powerless […]
Employees can find themselves the target of bullying or harassment by a colleague or supervisor in any workplace setting. While the abusive actions of a bully or harasser can often look similar, there are important differences.
The Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) defines bullying as unwelcome and repeated behavior intent on harming someone who feels powerless to respond. Bullying behavior can include teasing, insults, threats, withholding work-related information, purposely leaving someone out of a meeting, sabotaging projects, blocking promotions, publicly reprimanding someone and requesting unnecessary work.
According to the WBI, 20% of workplace bullying incidents cross the line and become harassment – an illegal form of discrimination based on protected characteristics, including race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, color, age, disability, pregnancy and generic information. Harassing behaviors interfere with an individual’s job performance or create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment and can include unsolicited written and verbal comments, gestures, displaying offensive images, unwelcome physical contact or assault.
Abusive actions by bullies and harassers can lead to increased employee absenteeism and turnover, lower morale, reduced productivity and litigation. In addition to having a no-tolerance policy for bullying and harassment, organizations that provide employee and manager training on how to recognize, report and prevent such misconduct foster a positive work culture based on inclusion and respect.
Differences between workplace bullying and harassment
Understanding the ways bullying and harassment differ is an important step in deciding what actions to take to stop it.
Victims of bullying or harassment should contact human resources when they have either tried unsuccessfully to address the situation with their supervisor or feel unable to do so due to fears of retaliation. It’s important to have clear documentation of the incidents, including dates, times, and places.
Traliant Insight
Bullying and harassing behaviors aren’t conducive to creating a positive or productive workplace, so organizations have a vested interest in rooting it out. Awareness training to ensure employees and managers know how to identify, address and report different types of misconduct without a fear of reprisal is essential to creating a healthy work culture.