The Student Room Group

Being bullied at work -- feeling hopeless.

I feel like I am invisible because I am so junior. I am not invited to any big events left out of meetings. There is a manager who snaps at people, *****es about people in the office yet says that I need to be disciplined when I say something relatively trivial around the office. There is another person who flirts with a girl and then makes inappropriate comments and jokes at my expense. There is another person who treats me like his secretary and then berates me to the point where they had to change my line manager. Sending nasty emails about me to another person. There is a another line manager who does nothing and is all hypocritical-- saying that he is supportive and then denying it a couple of months down the line
My manager says continuously that this is not the right team for me and the culture is toxic.

I don’t know what to do anymore..
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 1
Original post by Kasa
I feel like I am invisible because I am so junior. I am not invited to any big events left out of meetings. There is a manager who snaps at people, *****es about people in the office yet says that I need to be disciplined when I say something relatively trivial around the office. There is another person who flirts with a girl and then makes inappropriate comments and jokes at my expense. There is another person who treats me like his secretary and then berates me to the point where they had to change my line manager. Sending nasty emails about me to another person. There is a another line manager who does nothing and is all hypnotical -- saying that he is supportive and then denying it a couple of months down the line
My manager says continuously that this is not the right team for me and the culture is toxic.

I don’t know what to do anymore..


Do you feel offended or intimidated by these comments? If so it could be illegal as bullying in the workplace is - Equality act 2010 - contact Citizens advice by phone and ask for some advice on what you should do next.
Original post by Kasa
I feel like I am invisible because I am so junior. I am not invited to any big events left out of meetings. There is a manager who snaps at people, *****es about people in the office yet says that I need to be disciplined when I say something relatively trivial around the office. There is another person who flirts with a girl and then makes inappropriate comments and jokes at my expense. There is another person who treats me like his secretary and then berates me to the point where they had to change my line manager. Sending nasty emails about me to another person. There is a another line manager who does nothing and is all hypnotical -- saying that he is supportive and then denying it a couple of months down the line
My manager says continuously that this is not the right team for me and the culture is toxic.

I don’t know what to do anymore..


what is the job you do?
Reply 3
Original post by jdddd
Do you feel offended or intimidated by these comments? If so it could be illegal as bullying in the workplace is - Equality act 2010 - contact Citizens advice by phone and ask for some advice on what you should do next.


Offended, perhaps. Intimidated not sure.

But frustrated that this happening to me a lot...
Reply 4
Original post by honestly
what is the job you do?


Office based but not sure in saying what it is online..

How come you ask?
Original post by Kasa
Office based but not sure in saying what it is online..

How come you ask?


Firstly bullying is wrong. in fact vile.

I ask because certain industries are known for it, and it can be hard to challenge, jobs such as; commission (or target) based sales, call centres and SME limited companies such as a timber merchant or something along those line.
Whereas say a law firm, national franchise or "bigger" company with layered management and HR teams are better prepared to investigate and act upon with bullying allegations.

I've worked in sales and call centre. both were rubbish! and *most colleagues in the Sales companies were, well.. crooks!

private message me if you like....:smile:
Reply 6
Original post by honestly
Firstly bullying is wrong. in fact vile.

I ask because certain industries are known for it, and it can be hard to challenge, jobs such as; commission (or target) based sales, call centres and SME limited companies such as a timber merchant or something along those line.
Whereas say a law firm, national franchise or "bigger" company with layered management and HR teams are better prepared to investigate and act upon with bullying allegations.

I've worked in sales and call centre. both were rubbish! and *most colleagues in the Sales companies were, well.. crooks!

private message me if you like....:smile:


Definitely not sales.. But I am going mad.
Any company worth working for will have a strong anti-bullying policy.

Go to your supervisor. If your supervisor is part of the bullying problem (which sounds like the case here) go to your manager's manager. If that's not an option or doesn't get the results you want, go higher up the management chain or go to HR. Or to the person responsible for anti-bullying in your company.

If the inappropriate jokes are sexual in nature, that needs to be reported strongly. Sexual harassment is a particularly big no no.


In the meantime, ensure your timekeeping, attendance, general attitude are squeaky clean.
Reply 8
Original post by Dunnig Kruger
Any company worth working for will have a strong anti-bullying policy.

Go to your supervisor. If your supervisor is part of the bullying problem (which sounds like the case here) go to your manager's manager. If that's not an option or doesn't get the results you want, go higher up the management chain or go to HR. Or to the person responsible for anti-bullying in your company.

If the inappropriate jokes are sexual in nature, that needs to be reported strongly. Sexual harassment is a particularly big no no.


In the meantime, ensure your timekeeping, attendance, general attitude are squeaky clean.


Was thinking of going to HR but this more like a cultural issue and its getting out of hand..
Go to HR with ALL the specific examples you can remember.

If there's too many, restrict it to the ones you have evidence of - eg email trail - and present that to them.


If the bullying has become culturally ingrained that's all the more reason for a properly run company to stamp it out straight away.
HR knows that failure to eliminate the bullying could lead to very damaging legal action further down the road.
Reply 10
Original post by Dunnig Kruger
Go to HR with ALL the specific examples you can remember.

If there's too many, restrict it to the ones you have evidence of - eg email trail - and present that to them.


If the bullying has become culturally ingrained that's all the more reason for a properly run company to stamp it out straight away.
HR knows that failure to eliminate the bullying could lead to very damaging legal action further down the road.


This sort of behaviour is rampant in my organisation though./..
Original post by Kasa
This sort of behaviour is rampant in my organisation though./..


It doesnt make it right though.

You have 3 options here:

1) Do nothing - carry on as you are. Suck it up, so to speak.
2) Report to HR. Better to have evidence as you do so.
3) Find a new job altogether.

Id personally go for 2). BTW, do you have a union of any sort you could talk to?
Original post by Kasa
This sort of behaviour is rampant in my organisation though./..
Yo repeat: all the more reason to report it to HR or appropriate management.

If the bullying becomes so bad that working there becomes untenable, you'll have a lot better case for unfair dismissal / damages if you have evidence of the bullying culture, including your reports on it.

How large is the company that you work for? How many people work for it, in total?
Original post by Dunnig Kruger
Yo repeat: all the more reason to report it to HR or appropriate management.

If the bullying becomes so bad that working there becomes untenable, you'll have a lot better case for unfair dismissal / damages if you have evidence of the bullying culture, including your reports on it.

How large is the company that you work for? How many people work for it, in total?


Very big..

It's so bad..
Reply 14
Original post by Spongebob'sPants
It doesnt make it right though.

You have 3 options here:

1) Do nothing - carry on as you are. Suck it up, so to speak.
2) Report to HR. Better to have evidence as you do so.
3) Find a new job altogether.

Id personally go for 2). BTW, do you have a union of any sort you could talk to?


I should really join a union, but am stingy...
Hey I feel really bad for you I have witnessed this happen once. My college did find a solution though that did prove to be very effective as they never got bullied again!
Reply 16
Original post by Spongebob'sPants
It doesnt make it right though.

You have 3 options here:

1) Do nothing - carry on as you are. Suck it up, so to speak.
2) Report to HR. Better to have evidence as you do so.
3) Find a new job altogether.

Id personally go for 2). BTW, do you have a union of any sort you could talk to?


Original post by Gnarleyharleyhoe
Hey I feel really bad for you I have witnessed this happen once. My college did find a solution though that did prove to be very effective as they never got bullied again!


It's been getting worse.

New people in the team are treating me like **** because they are spoon fed **** by existing members of the team who dont like me!

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