Monday, October 26, 2009

Contact: Carol Saferin – Mart Saferin and Associates, LLC 440-461-6753

For Release: Immediately

October 26, 2009

What to Do When Your Boss is a Bully

By Timothy A. Dimoff

Akron, Ohio, October 26, 2009....Someone is intimidating and insulting you at the office, criticizing everything you do in a very embarrassing, public manner. Normally, you would tell your supervisor about the problem, but what do you do if your supervisor is the one causing the problem? And what do you do when your workplace policy states that you must tell the person who actually has been doing the bullying and harassing, that there is a problem?

Bullying behaviors include excessive work monitoring and criticism, isolation or intimidation, unrealistic goals, and public humiliation or insults. When these behaviors are exhibited from a co-worker, you tell your supervisor. However; when the problem actually is your boss or immediate superior, it takes on a whole new level of complexity.

More often than most people think, bosses or middle management are actually the ones who are doing the biggest damage. This leads to poor workers and is a hindrance to a good working environment. Employees let it eat away inside until they can no longer perform their jobs and they often report suffering from anger, mental stress, depression, low confidence, and insomnia. In addition to fearing for your job, you are embarrassed and you may honestly believe that there is nothing you can do. That's wrong...there is something you can do.

Even if company policy or corporate culture dictates that they can not "skip" the chain of command or "go to someone higher in the company", the state lawmakers have made sure that they can. No matter how you handle the problem of supervisor bullying, there are some very important considerations to think about.

If you don't want to keep your job, you have the option of walking away and dealing with it through the legal system. Never get angry or fight back. Never use physical force of any kind. If you do want to keep your job, you must document everything. As you travel up the chain of command and possibly even to the state level, you must have proof and documentation to back up your allegations. There are specific steps that need to be taken:

• Keep an accurate record of the events, the dates and times, and note any witnesses.

• Contact the human resources department. They are trained and equipped with policies and procedures to handle these issues. If there is no human resource department or the bullying party is the one who would handle an HR problem, go to the next level up which may be company president or even the owner. If you have a union job, tell your union rep.

• Report the problem to the proper department of the state in which you reside. This may be the EEOC or other department that oversees work related issues.

Your workplace should never be a place of intimidation or humiliation. If you follow the proper steps, you never let the bully win and you never put yourself in danger.

Timothy A. Dimoff is President of SACS Consulting & Investigative Services, Inc., a high-risk security consulting firm headquartered in Akron, Ohio. He is a nationally recognized speaker, author, consultant and trainer, specializing in workplace violence and security issues. His latest book Life Rage is an incisive and illuminating examination of the "rages" prevalent in American society today. Additional information on Timothy Dimoff is available at www.timothydimoff.com or www.sacsconsulting.com.