Medusalem Jairus 

One thing I’ve picked up recently is that there’s not much difference between the school and a workplace setting. Maturity cannot even draw a line between the two in terms of behavioural development among most individuals in the two settings. 

Thus, in this piece, I will confer on verbal bullying at workplaces, which I refer to as industrial bullying. This is more common in workplaces with a considerable large number of employees, such as processing plants or factories. 

Industrial bullying has now turned out to be a concern among employees at workplaces, with new recruits being the most victims or targets, although it can extend as far as old employees. However, based on my observation and as per other people’s encounters, old employees have a tendency of being comfortable with verbal bullying towards new recruits. It is an act which is ostensibly seen as normal, and there is not much one can do about it when they are new at a workplace. 

Old employees or the veterans, as they are occasionally referred to, customarily take advantage of the new employees in various ways. For instance, they mark territories at certain places around the workplace. As a new recruit, one is not allowed to be in such places, which in actual fact are for all employees, old or new. New recruits are being provoked verbally, and being threatened to be taken to the higher office should they react in certain ways. Additionally, new employees are being accused of breaking the rules, and being framed for misconduct they did not commit. The question is, how do we lessen, if not eliminate, such habits? 

I am fully aware that in workplaces of such magnitude, management infrequently meets with all the employees to take up complaints and resolve issues of this kind. Such meetings would take all day if they were to be held. Instead, there are employees’ representative committees, whose responsibilities are to take in such complaints and get them to the management. However, such committees seem to exist only as formalities. If they were to be effective, we would not have people complaining about being tormented at workplaces and veteran employees getting away with it. 

I, therefore, call for an intervention to curb the spread of this habit further at workplaces. Company policies should perhaps be revised, and awareness campaigns should be launched across industries to ensure that new employees live in healthy workplaces. A reduction or total elimination of industrial bullying would mean more productivity, would mean comfortability and improved work ethics, and it would also mean less people resigning from work due to bullying-related issues, such as being framed for misconduct. It is so dismaying that people who are on the forefront of industrial bullying are older employees, who in my opinion have to set good examples to the juveniles. 

So, let’s take a stand and fight against this habit as it creates toxic working milieus at our workplaces. If you are finding yourself in an administrative position today, ask yourself if your company provides a safe working atmosphere to all employees, including the incoming ones, or do you perhaps need to do more to ensure it? Well, let’s get to work on it as we return from the holidays this year. Happy new year. 

- jairusmedusalem@gmail.com 

* Medusalem Jairus is a BSc (Hons) degree holder in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, and a freelance author. The opinions expressed herein are entirely his own.