Listen to this article
Many employees get bullied at work but unfortunately, some of them just think ignoring it will help, when in fact, it will make it worse. Many companies have toxic work environments and toxic employees/managers.
Some toxic environments have clear signs, while others have hidden ones. A toxic work environment will include emotional abuse. Many employees struggle from being emotionally abused at work without even knowing, they just think they can’t fit in well, or their qualifications are lower than their colleagues.
Today we will tell you what emotional abuse at work is and how to know you’re being abused.
What Is Emotional Abuse?
Emotional abuse is the act of criticism, embarrassment, and other manipulative behavior in order to control the other person. Emotional abuse in the workplace was first introduced by Dr. Heinz Leymann in Sweden.
People who emotionally abuse other employees do it in order to have control over them. This control happens when the one who is getting abused is affected. Emotional abuse affects the employee’s self-esteem and well-being.
Dr. Leymann created the concept of “Mobbing”, which means the collective bullying of someone at work. He also asserted the danger of emotional abuse at work because it is undetected and can be hidden within simple feedback. Dr. Leymann also stated that “Mobbing” is a psychological terror because it is hostile and unethical.
Sings You’re Being Emotionally Abused At Work
Emotional Abuse doesn’t just happen in personal relationships, you can be emotionally abused at work without even knowing it.
As we have mentioned earlier, emotional abuse can go unnoticed, only the victim can feel it and be affected. If your boss or a colleague makes you feel uncomfortable and makes you doubt your work and your effort, then they might be emotionally abusing you.
Here are some signs that can tell you you’re being emotionally abused.
Silent Treatment
Whether it’s a manager or a colleague, you will find them avoiding you yet constantly giving you glares of anger or dissatisfaction.
Giving the silent treatment is one of the worst ways to manipulate someone’s feelings. Some managers or colleagues intend to do that to certain employees just to manipulate their emotions. The silent treatment makes the employee think they’ve made a mistake yet, they don’t know what it is, which causes them to be anxious, stressed, and confused, and hence affects their performance and productivity.
This is a huge sign that the work environment is toxic.
Gaslighting
This is one of the most manipulative ways to make employees doubt their own reality.
A gaslighter make makes you believe that your version of reality is neither true nor objective, which makes you doubt the whole situation. This can come in the form of a manager or a colleague accusing you of doing or saying certain things that you didn’t, and they insist on it until you reach a point where you start questioning yourself if you did this or not.
A gaslighter also denies or minimizes your observations, which happens when you realize something strange happening in the office, they either tell you it’s nothing or tell you nothing is going on.
Feeling Out of Place
One of the signs that you’re being emotionally abused is when you feel you’re being excluded from activities.
Many employees go through this situation where their colleagues avoid them or keep them out of any activities they do together. You would find they either already planned everything without including you or have already done the activity without telling you about it.
Unfortunately, there are some employees who do this on purpose, especially if there is a new member.
This can leave the victim feeling unwanted and excluded.
Doubting Your Ideas
The emotional abuser will constantly reject ideas and turn them down just to trigger the employee’s self-doubt.
There are many employees who struggle with their managers or supervisors to convince them of their ideas. The rejection here is not based on actual evaluation of the idea but on personal grudges and preferences.
The constant rejection will make the employees doubt their skills and ideas, which will affect their self-esteem as they will think they’re not good enough.
Starting Arguments
An Emotional abuser will always start arguments just for the sake of argument not more and not less.
Arguments cause a huge hassle especially if they’re pointless and won’t change anything but affect the overall atmosphere of the company. Arguments cause huge negative energy and can drain the employees of energy as well. Some even argue just to bother the employee and affect their mood and productivity.
You need to be aware of how you’re being treated at your company and how it is affecting your mental health. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with you, it’s the place you work at, and it won’t help you flourish.
Have you ever been emotionally abused at work?
