Are you being harassed at work?
In the ever-evolving modern workplace, harassment can loom large casting a dark shadow on some workers. Harassment has many forms and can affect employees across diverse dimensions such as race, gender, sexual orientation, disability or more. These are some of the most common types of workplace harassment to be on the lookout for:
Sexual Harassment
From unwelcome and offensive comments to unwanted physical advances and requests for sexual favours, sexual harassment is one of the most common and familiar forms of workplace harassment. Sexual harassment can be verbal or physical, both of which are discriminatory.
Discrimination Harassment
Discrimination of any individual or group who are legally protected is unacceptable, this includes discrimination against anyone disabled, racial harassment, sexual orientation harassment, gender identity harassment, ageism and religious harassment. Discrimination in the workplace is illegal and should never be tolerated. The discrimination could be verbal or take the form of mocking people, excluding people, making offensive jokes, making negative comments or stereotyping people.
Personal Harassment
Personal harassment specifically targets a victim based on the employee’s personality, looks or work. This behaviour may occur both inside or outside the workplace, such as at a work event. Like any type of harassment, this behaviour is unacceptable. Depending on the severity of the incident, one single incident may be enough to consider reporting it to your line Manager or to HR.
Physical Harassment
There are varying degrees of physical harassment but each one of them is detrimental regardless of severity. Even if the harm is not severe, any form of physical harassment is still considered wrong and could even be considered an assault in certain circumstances. Forms of physical harassment include unwanted touching, damage to personal property and threats of physical violence.
Verbal Harassment
Verbal harassment is often harder to pinpoint as it usually occurs when someone is repeatedly rude or disrespectful. It typically consists of offensive gestures, demeaning remarks, unreasonable criticism, insults, slurs, hurtful comments, unwanted jokes, gossiping and starting rumours and body shaming.
Psychological Harassment
Arguably the hardest form of harassment to identify psychological harassment affects victims mentally, nor physically. Mental workplace harassment consists of repeated hostile and unwanted words, actions or behaviours that are painful, hurtful, annoying, humiliating or insulting. Examples of this include being excluded or isolated, belittling and ignoring.
Power Harassment
Power harassment is a type of workplace harassment that involves a superior who uses their power to harass subordinates. Power harassment is not limited to a certain type of harassment and can look like being set impossible work expectations and deadlines, making inappropriate comments to workers and a boss offering promotion or a salary increase in return for personal favours.
Online Harassment
Many organisations have staff who work on a hybrid or remote basis which means their employees are communicating digitally more than ever. Online harassment consists of an action such as posting threats or demeaning comments on a social platform, bullying the victim, often via a fake persona and making false allegations online. But it can also include an offensive statement via work messaging platforms or emails.
Retaliation
Retaliation is also a form of harassment in the workplace that usually occurs when the harasser wants to get revenge for something. It can take the form of discriminatory, verbal or physical harassment. Unfortunately, many employees fear retaliation when reporting workplace issues.
Third-Party Harassment
Third-Party Harassment involves someone from outside of the business, such as a client, supplier or Contractor. This type of behaviour can consist of any type of harassment including discrimination, sexual harassment, cyberbullying and more. Your employer must prioritise employee safety and take action to address and resolve third-party harassment claims.
If you feel you are being harassed at work, you really need to address it as it is not acceptable at all. You should initially report it to your line Manager or the HR Department and allow them to conduct their investigations. However, if you are not happy with what has been done, you should call ACAS – 0300 123 1100 to see what your legal rights are. Whatever you do, do not put up with it, you deserve better.