know what it is and what you can do to deal with it
Mobbing at work is an extremely important concept that you should know, so we want to present you with a complete guide on what it is, its types, consequences, and what you can do if you are a victim of harassment.
What is mobbing or workplace harassment and how is it defined?
According to the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), workplace mobbing is defined as any verbal or psychological action that seeks to humiliate, offend or threaten a worker in their workplace.
Basically, it is a type of harassment that occurs between employees of a company and can take many forms. For this very reason, it is often difficult to identify situations that are considered mobbing, and even more difficult to prove them.
For an action to be considered moral harassment, it must be repeated constantly, in such a way that it violates the employee’s dignity.
Importance of addressing workplace bullying
Even though knowledge on this subject has become much more widespread, cases of workplace bullying still occur in many workplaces. A study carried out by the CCOO indicates that workplace bullying is present in at least 15% of companies in Spain.
These are alarming figures, which is why it is a topic of vital interest. If you know someone who is being harassed, or if you are in that situation, it is important that you are prepared to deal with any situation legally.
Types of mobbing
The classification of harassment is based on the levels of hierarchy that the employee has in the company, as indicated in the Monograph: Harassment and violence at work published by the General Union of Workers (UGT). These types of mobbing are established there:
- Vertical mobbing: This is the most common type of bullying and consists of bullying carried out by people with a higher hierarchical level in the company. Vertical downward bullying occurs when bosses use their position of power to intimidate their subordinates.
- Horizontal mobbing: in this case, harassment is considered to occur between workers who have the same level of responsibility. It occurs mainly when a worker seeks to stand out from the rest.
- Upward mobbing: Finally, there is mobbing that is carried out by a subordinate towards his superiors. This is usually uncommon and causes the boss to lose authority over the rest of the workers.
Workplace harassment according to the target
Another way of classifying mobbing or workplace harassment depends on the “objective” that the harasser wants to achieve. Most cases of harassment are caused by a person’s harassing or manipulative personality, and this is known as malicious or perverse harassment.
When harassment comes directly from the company’s management, it is called management harassment. Fear is used as a tool to increase the company’s production at the expense of moral integrity and can be focused on a single person or a group of employees.
When we talk about strategic harassment, we are referring to certain actions that are deliberately carried out to force the worker to resign from his or her job and lose his or her right to compensation.
Finally, disciplinary harassment should be mentioned, in which managers seek to reprimand an employee so that others feel fear about the consequences of their actions. An example of this type of workplace harassment (mobbing) occurs with pregnant women who ask for maternity leave and are reprimanded for it.
Characteristics and signs of mobbing
Identifying that you are a victim of mobbing can be complicated, since not all actions within the workplace are considered harassment. For this reason, it is necessary that you know some fundamental characteristics of workplace mobbing:
- Harassment is considered to be any unsolicited actions that are capable of causing psychological harm to the worker.
- They also qualify actions that attack the dignity or moral integrity of the person or that attempt to violate one of their most essential rights.
Finally, the action must be repeated systematically, for a minimum period of 6 months.
These are the minimum conditions, so to speak, for an action to qualify as workplace harassment or mobbing. However, it should be noted that it is very likely that some situations will be confused with workplace qatar email list stress, so you should be sure before making an accusation of harassment.
How to recognize if you are a victim of mobbing
There are many cases that may occur that indicate that you are 5 newsletter templates that will increase your conversions experiencing a case of workplace harassment, for example, if you whatsapp number receive insults, humiliation, threats, or are the object of ridicule among your colleagues.
It is also considered a type of harassment when you are constantly defamed and false stories are created about your work with the intention of discrediting you. Other cases involve the use of harassment to pressure you to leave your job, generating stress, anxiety or even depression.
There are situations where you are given degrading tasks that only seek to disrupt your daily activities. It is also considered harassment when you are forced to work in unsafe conditions.
Consequences of mobbing
There are many different ways in which the consequences of workplace bullying can manifest themselves in workers, since everything depends on the actions taken against them individually.
The main problems are psychological, as you may start to feel stress, anxiety, constant fatigue, sleep problems and, in some cases, depression and panic attacks. Believe it or not, the combination of these factors can result in serious physical health problems, and you may even suffer from post-traumatic stress.
It is also necessary to consider the decrease in work performance, which can lead to even more harassment situations, especially if we are talking about upward harassment. Everything comes together to create an uncomfortable environment among the staff of a company who do not know how to deal correctly with these situations.
Precisely because of all these consequences, it is important that you speak to a professional on the subject if you are a victim of workplace harassment.
Legal framework and rights against workplace bullying
There are various laws that support employees who suffer from mobbing in Spain, so that if you suffer from any type of harassment, you will have the right tools to assert your rights. Some of these laws are:
- Criminal Code : Article 173 establishes that the punishment for moral harassment may involve six months to two years in prison.
- Workers’ Statute : This article discusses the right of workers to have a healthy, dignified and harassment-free work environment. It also establishes that employers must take action against mobbing or workplace harassment.
- Occupational Risk Prevention Law : also requires companies to protect the health of workers, giving greater importance to their mental health.
- Organic Law 3/2007 : this law cannot be forgotten either, as it addresses the problems related to sexual harassment and specifies the mechanisms you can follow to file a