Saying No to the Culture of Death

One may wonder why I choose to dabble with a subject that is borderline with matters relating to psychology. Perhaps this is just my way of bringing these issues to the surface of my mind, so that I can help others learn by my own mistakes. I freely admit that I am not the most perfect employee. I can be argumentative. I have a temper, and even worse I am easily upset so that I end up crying. This makes me an easy target for someone who loves to pick on someone who is perceived to be weaker.

It would not matter if the environment is the schoolroom, schoolyard or the workplace, because the outcome is the same: the bullies will always pick on those they think of as being weaker than themselves. Bullying is only one of many causes of stress within the workplace. The bully can be one who is in authority - such as a teacher, or a member of senior management - or it can be a co-worker who prefers to use underhanded snide tactics to get at his or her victims.  For at least the last 30 years, men have been blamed for bullying within the workplace, yet, this is not necessarily the case. People tend to associate workplace harrassment with sexual harrassment, but again what lies underneath the surface in the corporate world, as well as in government offices is an entirely different kettle of fish. Most of the bullies in the workplace are female. What I have described already about my own experiences only scratches at the surface of what really goes on within corporate Australia.

Over the years I have read books that cover dealing with difficult people in the workplace. These books outline the various personality types and the authors offer advice on how to deal with such people as "the sad sack", "the wet blanket", "the backstabber" and "the bitch". Sometimes the advice is good, and sometimes is hard to implement the advice that has been given because the American workplace experience does not always match the Australian situation. A real part of the problem is the characterization of people and placing them in these special molds so that their behaviours are divorced from the very heart of the people concerned. People tend to play out the roles that are assigned to them in the minds of others, but how different it might be if the ones who are doing all the pigeonholing just took a step backwards for even a few moments to see what it is that they are creating within the dynamics of the workgroup with these characterizations. Some stressors could be avoided within the management team if they for once remembered that at one time they also occupied the more lowly positions in the workplace. Just as "the bitch" can create havoc amongst fellow workers, so can the management team that delights in throwing a spanner in the works, or who fails to support the victim by favouring the bully.

There are more important matters within the workplace environment than just the amount one is paid every week, fortnight or month. How we deal with people on a day to day basis is much more important. There is a rule that personal home issues are not to be discussed at work. The rule is fair enough, but we are all human beings and we have concerns about parents, children and other family members. Sometimes those concerns are very serious and it is not possible to divorce oneself from those concerns during the day. What if the person is going through a messy separation and divorce? To keep such concerns totally hidden in the workplace is extremely difficult for even the most stoic individual. Also more harm is done by having to keep totally quiet than when the particular concern is shared. One does not have to be a misery guts, who complains about the home front every day but if the person is fretting about a personal issue then there will be little in the way of productivity so long as the problem remains simmering below the surface.

Our relationship with others in the workplace is often more important than any pay packet.  If there is unexpected conflict with other employees, then that conflict will also cause inner stress. It is those stressors that can be so very damaging. Also, if the employer has unrealistic expectations about what the employees are expected to achieve then an added source of stress is created. For example, there are collections roles where the employees are expected to make up to and over 100 calls in a day. Such an expectation almost literally chains the employee to the desk. The situation is made worse when the supervisor is a micro-manager who is constantly interfering in the task of making contact with the customers. 

Employees should not be forced to work more than 8 hours in a day. Unrealistic employer expectations have placed a heavy burden upon those who remain in the workforce. The end result of these demands happens to be the once mild employee who becomes like a driven automaton who is trying to reach impossibly high targets. Whilst budgets are necessary for company health, the setting of unrealistic targets is not necessary and it is not healthy for the company as a whole. People do not like failure, and the failure to meet a target is often met with criticism and censure. An unrealistic target is also self-defeating because the feeling of failure has the detrimental effect of making the person feel inadequate for the task at hand. It is normal that deadlines are made, but it can be impossible to meet a deadline if others are not co-operating with the person. Employees are a part of the team and if one team member is not providing the necessary information. Two-faced attitudes by managers send the wrong message to employees. All employees have the right to their own leisure time, and an employee who becomes totally devoted to work ends up not being able to produce, and could be in danger of seeing a marriage or relationship fall apart as a result of workaholism. In the long term it is not worth being so driven that one is a workaholic. No one appreciates the driven person who puts work above everything else in life. There must be a balance if the effects of stress are to be avoided. 

 

What then are the long term effects of stress? Alcoholism, workaholism, drug addiction, the taking of unnecessary risks, gambling, heart attacks, strokes and mental illness can all be attributed in some way to unhealthy workplaces.  One might it strange that I have included drug addiction in this mix, but from my experience, drug taking can start in an unhealthy workplace, and this can escalate rapidly into addiction, especially if the person has an addictive personality in the first place. The fast food outlets are places that I would target as being a nest for drug taking habits to start and then get out of hand. I have not personally been addicted to recreational drugs, and have never taken recreational drugs, but I do know of people who have been affected in this way. It is a situation that is rampant amongst young people in their teens and early twenties. It only takes one other employee to introduce drugs of addiction into the workplace. 

There are many reasons for a heart attack and stroke, or even cancer, and one common reason for these diseases is the way in which stress is handled in the workplace. A person who internalizes work conflict is more likely to have a heart attack or a stroke than someone who is able to let out the emotions. The internalizing of conflict can lead to complications such as high blood pressure, and eventually it can also contribute to someone having a nervous breakdown. Conflict in the workplace can also lead to the unstable to commit suicide, especially when the person seems to feel that he or she is losing control over the situation. This is an unhappy consequence of workplace stress, and the culpable are those who are backbiters and backstabbers, who delight in bringing others down to their own level.