Are You Treated Fairly in the Workplace? Tell-Tale Signs You’re Not!

If you wonder whether you are treated fairly in your workplace, there is a very good chance that your instincts are letting you know you’re not. Bullying and unfair treatment in the workplace are now all too common, with as many as 25% of employees affected.

Contrary to popular understanding, unfair treatment at work is not always obvious; in many cases, such treatment is concealed, subtle and gradual.
 
 

Support Is Available if You Are Being or Have Been Mistreated

No one should have to tolerate unfair treatment in the workplace, but it’s helpful to know that you can do something and engage the help of professionals if you are mistreated in a professional context. There are specialist law firms, such as Patinos Personal Lawyers, that are skilled, knowledgeable and experienced in supporting those who have been bullied or mistreated at work to achieve compensation for the situations faced. These professionals know and understand the impacts of unfair treatment in the workplace and can help you recognise patterns of unfair treatment that have occurred over an extended period of time.

What Are the Signs of Mistreatment at Work?

Bullying is a widespread and profoundly harmful problem in many work situations. Evidence shows that bullying is harmful to human health and wellbeing and comes in a range of guises, from verbal abuse and offensive behaviour that threatens, humiliates or intimidates to professional interference and sabotage that can be a hindrance to work being completed.

Acts of bullying can be obvious or subtle and include the control of others on psychological and/or emotional levels. Perpetrators of bullying seek to control others, typically in an effort to fulfil their own needs or selfish motives, and in some cases try to conceal their bullying behaviours with a friendly, pleasant façade.

Although they are sometimes difficult to identify, some of the signs of unfair treatment in the form of bullying in the workplace include:

– Lies and deceit: If you are repeatedly lied to or deceived by others in the course of your work, or if you are promised something that is never delivered, you are mistreated at work.
– Intimidation: If you are subjected to obvious or hidden threats, or are communicated to in a way that makes you fearful, you are probably being subjected to intimidating treatment.
– Being ignored, isolated or excluded: Unfair treatment at work can take the form of others ignoring, excluding or isolating you. Sometimes, these behaviours are completely deliberate and involve others avoiding or failing to pay attention to you, or excluding you from a group, decisions, discussions and events that are work related.
– Minimising concerns: If you have tried to raise concerns about your treatment at work and how this makes you feel, only to find that your concerns are discounted or inadequately responded to, this is a form of unfair treatment.
– A target of shame and guilt: An employee may be told and made to feel that they are the cause of problems in the workplace. With little or no basis to these claims, this is also an example of unfair treatment.

Unfair treatment in the workplace is damaging, hurtful and inappropriate. While some of the more subtle forms of unfair treatment have been discussed here, there are of course other more obvious and aggressive forms of workplace mistreatment that have far-reaching negative impacts. If you are experiencing unfair treatment at work, it is wise to seek the support and advice of professionals to help you negotiate the situation and work towards an appropriate solution.