Just a couple weeks into the school year, I heard that the first years at my tiny, all-women’s college were suffering a huge bullying problem. At first, I was shocked. I heard there were discriminating writings on the white boards outside certain girls’ rooms and that there were girls ganging up on one girl at a time for idiotic and shallow reasons. I was disgusted. However, I remembered that during my first year of college, we had similar issues in our dorm, and though I had never witnessed it first-hand, I felt it around me. I remember that sense of insecurity I felt with thinking about being here for the next four years.
Though apparently my first year wasn’t as problematic on the surface as this current one, there is still more and more I hear from people my age and older about bullying in their upperclassmen years of college and in the workplace.
In my communication class we discussed the experiences some girls had with being discriminated against in the workplace — mostly based on skin color or being a woman. We also read in our textbooks about how there are many cases of supervisors who act as bullies and who work to decrease the self-esteem of their employees. So I wondered, "Does bullying really continue into the workplace?"
I did some research on the subject, and the answer was a definite and absolute yes. Research that was published on Forbes.com, conducted by man named David Maxfield, a co-author of the book Crucial Conversations and Influencer, found that 96% of American employees experience bullying in the workplace today. The study showed that a lot of the people who have been affected by a bully have been affected for a long time. 89% of bullying lasts over a year and 54% was reported to have lasted over five years. Also, these bullies are able to bully multiple people at a time — 80% of bullies are able to reach more than five victims at a time.
The nature of the bullying is obviously no longer “fisticuffs” as Maxfield said, but it has shifted to cyber attacks and for that reason it continues to go unnoticed. A shocking 7% of those questioned had ever seen anyone actually use their company's policy against bullying. And, therefore, the bullying usually ends with the victim leaving the job instead of the perpetrator.
The research suggests that companies are creating an environment where bullies can flourish. Instead of having positions of superiority given to those with the best interpersonal skills and temperament, the workforce has transformed into a system that relies on education and degrees. This causes an issue because then there are people who are not good supervisors trying to control the inferior employees and this is what usually leads to the horribly offensive jokes and/or yelling. Either way, the self-esteem and happiness of those underneath is greatly affected.
Bullying doesn’t end in high school and even worse, it is incredibly prevalent through college and into the real world. Not only do grade schools and colleges need to better assist victims and prevent the perpetrator attacks, but companies and employers need to as well. There is a sever lack of supportive information given to employees about bullying; only 51% of the questioned workers knew about their company's system in place to deal with bullying. There must be a way to better supervise the bullies in every one of these institutions from grade school on so that those who are making the lives around them miserable don’t continue to move up while the victims are left behind and suffer more.
