Amongst the many reasons people have for starting to work from home or launching their own business is to get away from some of the more troublesome aspects of traditional workplaces. Unfortunately, you don’t have to share a workspace with someone to have to deal with the less pleasant sides of their personalities, as even remote workers can be the victims of bullying over emails, phone calls, video conferencing or via instant messaging.
Whether you’re the victim of this kind of treatment, a witness to it, or the person with the responsibility to deal with it, and no matter whether it happened in person or remotely, there are ways to stop bullying from undermining confidence and affecting productivity.
When you’re the victim
Bullying is always upsetting and hurtful, whether it’s happening in person or not, so it’s important if you feel that it is happening to you that you are able to discuss it with somebody. Burying the emotions away allows them to fester and can lead to you feeling ashamed of them, when the only person who should be feeling shame is the bully. So it’s crucial that you talk about what is happening, whether to a friend, family member or someone you work with who you can trust to have your back.
If you can, it can also help to be quick to stand up for yourself to the bully. Research shows that if you let the situation develop and become more stressed about it, this only makes it more likely that you will continue to be the victim of it. That said, why not speak to them about their behavior and how it is making you feel?
If that doesn’t feel possible or is unproductive, you may need to consider taking things to the next level by raising a complaint. If your business has an anti-bullying policy, see if there is anything in there that relates to what you have experienced as this will help prove your case. You will also need to gather any supporting evidence you can, including chat logs or emails that display the treatment you have been on the receiving end of.
When you’re a witness
Witnessing bullying behavior can happen even if you are working from home, as it can occur within a video conference or on a company-wide instant messaging platform. Being physically removed from the incident can make you feel like it isn’t your responsibility to do anything about it, but this can just encourage a bullying culture to set in. If you feel comfortable calling the behavior out, it is your responsibility to do so.
This can also take the form of reporting it to a manager or talking it through with colleagues to get them on board with opposing that kind of treatment towards a co-worker. Stepping up can also mean checking in with that bullied colleague to be supportive of them, even if you can’t be physically with them.
When you’re the boss
Running your own business means having to deal with many uncomfortable situations and these can be even more so when done remotely rather than face-to-face. Having to mediate when there is an accusation of bullying is one such situation. This isn’t an excuse to let the issue fester though, as that can lead to irreparable damage, and taking a laissez faire approach has been proven to lead to bullying taking place.
So you need to be responsible for sorting out the situation by calling a virtual meeting with the person accused to discuss what has been claimed. In a workplace, this would include someone from HR, but if you don’t have someone in this position, recording the video meeting would be an important way to document what is said in case it is needed further down the line or if there is a dispute raised about your actions.
To avoid a situation like that, you need to deal with the accusation in line with your own anti-bullying policy. If there isn’t one in existence, you need to create one and ensure that clear and consistent consequences are laid out in it that match up with how you are dealing with this incident to set a precedent for the future. These need to be sent to all of your staff members to set out expected behaviors and the kind of consequences that will result from those not being met.
Bullying can happen in any workplace, even a remote one, so you need to be alert to it and ready to take action. These tips should help you know how to deal with it.
