Workplace bullying turns out to be a serious theme for discussion because of a variety of reasons, and one of them is its impact on people’s mental health. According to Forbes studies, the number of employees who report being bullied at work continues rising and has already achieved 94% in 2019 (Robinson, 2019). Although the forms of bullying vary, including aggressive emails, yelling, and negative gossip, similar outcomes like poor self-evaluation, low job satisfaction, and increased depression or anxiety are observed (Giorgi et al., 2016; Robinson, 2019). Researchers investigated the connection between physical/psychological health and work performance to promote emotional intelligence and self-management and proved that a bully target might lose approximately 200 hours of productivity (Gaille, 2017; Giorgi et al., 2016). Today, it is normal for some companies not to recognize bullying problems because of many personal and organizational issues until changes in the quality of work or mental health become evident.
One should understand that almost any mental health disorder has its triggers, and to receive proper treatment, people must focus on the details. At this moment, about 54% of all bullies have been lasting for about five years (Gaille, 2017). It means that a person could experience bullying at work and not even recognize the problem because of poor awareness or a threat of sabotaging their reputation. As a result, employees’ mental health is challenged, and behavioral changes are hard to control. People are diagnosed with dysphoria, anxiety, stress, depression, insomnia, and apathy and have to spend much money and time on treatment and the correction of shortages at work. Sometimes, employees are not able to cope with mental health consequences that lead to burnout, dismissal, and other work-related problems. Therefore, it is important for companies to identify workplace bullying as a serious cause of mental health disorders and prevent such behaviors.
References
Gaille, B. (2017). 25 important statistics of bullying in the workplace. BrandonGaille. Web.
Giorgi, G., Perminiene, M., Montani, F., Fiz-Perez, J., Mucci, N., & Arcangelo, G. (2016). Detrimental effects of workplace bullying: Impediment of self-management competent via psychological distress. Frontiers in Psychology, 7.
Robinson, B. (2019). New study says workplace bullying on rise: What you can do during national bullying prevention month. Forbes. Web.