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Claim your Basic Employee Rights, Issue #03 June 05, 2009 |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Employee Rights News You Can Use ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello, Welcome to this issue of Your Basic Employee Rights eNews! Either you recently signed up for a subscription at www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com or it was sent to you by a friend. If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter or have a change of address, please use the convenient links at the bottom of this email. Our overall policy is to deliver ONLY key Basic Employee Rights info that you NEED. We do all the research gathering what's important. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Filtering software may prevent you from receiving your issue of Your Basic Employee Rights eNews! To ensure that you never miss an email from us, please add us to your whitelist. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Date June 5, 2009 Issue #03 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Article Are you tired of the bully in your workplace? I asked myself that question several years ago when I walked into my workplace which at the time was a minefield jungle of bullying, harassment, intimidation and hostile work environment all rolled into one! My particular bully was also the one assigned to train me. For the next 6-9 months I was exposed to being ignored, comments questioning my competence, training designed for failure, verbal abuse including cursing and all with management’s full knowledge.
Bullies in the workplace come in all shapes and sizes. Research shows that men cause about 60% of all bullying on the job and women account for the other 40%. According to the Workplace Bully Institute, the majority of victims of bullying are women. The study found that men tend to be equal opportunity bullies while 70% of women are bullied by other women! Why are women targeted the most? Gary Namie, the research director of the Workplace Bully Institute says, "...it is probably because the target women are less likely to respond to aggression with aggression." Other reasons could be women like people of diversity are under represented at the top corporate levels of business and therefore face more hostility from their male counterparts. The logic follows that fewer women means more competition for fewer opportunities. Even though women account for about 50% of manager positions only 15 % of those are at the executive level. According to Penny Hersher CEO of FirstRain, "If you are experiencing sabotage or bullying from other women you can change the culture of the group you are in. One way to do this is to get the women in your organization together to acknowledge that you are a group, you are within the same culture, dealing with stereotype and subtle discrimination issues." A workplace bully can be a co-worker, supervisor, manager or owner. If your employer is aware of bullying in the workplace and does nothing to correct it, that's when it becomes "corporate or institutional bullying". Its bad news for everyone involved when bullying is accepted as a part of the workplace culture. I have personally experienced another insidious aspect of workplace bullying called "mobbing". This happened to me in a staff meeting when I asked a very relevant question concerning my department. I was promptly personally attacked by three co-workers who didn't address the business aspect of my question. Their focus was demeaning my personal character in front of a large group. The director of the whole IT (Information Technology) unit whom my question was directed to, just stood there at the podium gleefully taking it all in. This response emboldened the "mobbers" even more. What is mobbing? "In a mobbing situation, the ringleader incites supporters, cohorts, copycats and unenlightened, inexperienced, immature or emotionally needy individuals with poor values to engage in adversarial interaction with the selected target." The ringleader, or chief bully, gains gratification from encouraging others to engage in adversarial interaction with the target. Many people use the word "mobbing" to describe this pack attack by many on one individual. Once mobbing is underway the chief bully foments the mobbing into mutually assured destruction, from which the chief bully gains intense gratification. What can an employee do about bullying? Unless bullying involves harassment associated with gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual preference, marital status, retaliation or whistleblowing it is usually not illegal in America. But, there are some things we as employees can do.
Be proactive in asserting your rights by documenting everything associated with the bullying behavior;
Another way to help yourself is to learn more about it. https://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/Bully If your employer has no workplace bullying prevention program in place you and your co-workers could become victims of violence in the workplace. https://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/Violence Finally, contacting your states human rights commission, the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) or consulting with an attorney specializing in employment may assist in determining if the bully is in violation of any state or federal discrimination employment law. Several states are considering passing laws to protect employees from bullying. But, until laws are passed it's up to us to take action and get the bullies off our backs! All the Best, Yancey ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Top Tips! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ How important is saying Thank You! Always send a thank you letter or note within 24 hours after a job interview. Research shows less than 10% of all career seekers perform this simple courtesy. Studies also reveal job applicants sending thank you letters or notes get the job most often. Want to learn more about interview thank you letters?
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ALSO FOR MORE RIGHT NOW INFO ON YOUR BASIC EMPLOYEE RIGHTS FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER AT http://twitter.com/yvoncey or http://twitter.com/employeerights1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONTACT US Email: newsletter@you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLISHING SCHEDULE Your Basic Employee Rights eNews is published the first week of the month, 12 weeks per year. From time to time we will publish special features that affect employees in the workplace. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DISCLAIMER Note: Any and all information provided within this Newsletter/Ezine is for educational and general information purposes only. It is NOT INTENDED as legal advice. Please review this specific disclaimer; www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/disclaimer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Written by Yancey Thomas Jr. Owner, you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com (c)copyright 2009 you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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