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If you are unfortunate enough to be working in a hostile work environment then much of this post is sadly all too familiar to you. I too have experienced this more than once. I unfortunately learned that each hostile work environment was different and the actions I took in one did not work as in the previous experience, so I was forced to change my tactics with each instance. In this post, I will highlight the most common instances and show you some guidelines to follow that will work in most every situation.
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Surviving a Hostile Work Environment
Key Points • Speak up but don’t stand out • Block out the negativity and stay on course • Give yourself a deadline for change, then move on If you are unfortunate enough to be working in a hostile environment then much of this post is sadly all too familiar to you. I too have experienced this more than once. I unfortunately learned that each hostile work environment was different and the actions I took in one did not work as in the previous experience, so I was forced to change my tactics with each instance. In this post, I will highlight the most common instances and show you some guidelines to follow that will work in most every situation. Hostile work environments have different characteristics but many people associate it with the literal environment, meaning your office or workplace. Many characterize it as having poor office conditions or even little to no in-‐office perks or privileges. I certainly believe that those are true but let’s, for the sake of the broader audiences, identify behavioral or situational characteristics. Here is why… in larger companies, it is much harder to change the condition of your office and amenities inside, than to change the attitudes and behaviors of its employees. According to the Human Resources section of About.com, they clearly define the legal guidelines around a hostile work environment. I feel that this definition gives the best answer, as it is clear and straightforward. Below is a section straight out of that article.
A hostile work environment is created by a boss or coworker whose actions, communication, or behavior make doing your job impossible. This means that the behavior altered the terms, conditions, and/or reasonable expectations of a comfortable work environment for employees. Additionally, the behavior, actions or communication must be discriminatory in nature.
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So, a coworker who talks loudly, snaps her gum, and leans over your desk when she talks with you, is demonstrating inappropriate, rude, obnoxious behavior, but it does not create a hostile work environment. On the other hand, a coworker who tells sexually explicit jokes and sends around images of nude people is guilty of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. A boss who verbally berates you about your age, your religion, your gender, or your race may be guilty of creating a hostile work environment. This is especially true if you asked the individual to stop and the behavior continues.
1) Speak up but don’t stand out If you are unfortunate to have just identified yourself entering or have unhappily been surviving a hostile work environment and have not spoken up about it, then this section is for you. My advice to you is that you need to take the courage and speak up about the problem. There is a right way and wrong way to speak up.
• The right way: seek out someone in management or in human resources that you trust and speak openly to them about your situation. Ask them for their advice and their support if this does move to a formal complaint. You will need advocates to help you stay on top of the situation and those
advocates will help you also to decide on how to move forward and not risk alienating yourself.
• The wrong way: seek out the advice of your work friends and colleagues and continue to communicate to the workplace that you are upset, that you have been harassed and that you are pointing out people in the public spotlight. This is absolutely the wrong way to do things. All this does is let people know that you are distracted in the workplace and are the victim. This opens you up to scrutiny from management and isolation from your co-‐workers. This also starts a chain a rumors and unwanted judgment on your actions.
2) Block out the negativity and stay on course If you have decided to not speak up about your situation, have decided to power through the problem or have decided to wait for it to work itself out, no matter the reason, then you have made your decision and you need to stick with it. With that said, it’s important to follow 2 key pieces of advice:
• Do what you can to block out the negativity from your workday and don’t succumb to spreading rumors and talking bad about people
• Stay the course and just work hard. If the situation escalates in any way, make sure that you have this accolade working for you. It’s hard for a company to reprimand you when you produce results.
3) Give yourself a deadline for change, then move on If you have painfully lived through a hostile work environment and feel that you just have had enough, it’s important to give yourself a deadline on whether or not to leave the company and move on. Like many other things, it’s easy to procrastinate and continue to give yourself excuses to why you should still stay and so on. The smart choice to say (for example), “ I am giving myself just 2 months and if I don’t see any action, then I am going to move on and put in my 2 weeks.” If you feel that this is the best course of action, then give yourself a deadline and when that day comes and you are still in the fire, get out and move on. Because we have all experienced hostile work environments in our careers, we can easily assume that others will have experienced this too or soon will experience this. Your role as the Business Wingman is to help others in need and be that outlet. Help guide your team to success and never let anyone have to endure what you have had to endure yourself. Visit our blog at http://www.artofthewingman.com.