In a corporate setting, it is essentially the employer’s responsibility to ensure employees feel safe. Then comes the responsibility of the co-workers to make it a better workplace. It is no secret that a hostile work environment is quite prevalent – despite sensitization, it is aggressively increasing.
There are serious instances of harassment and discrimination that still come up – especially against protected characteristics such as color, race, religion, age, national origin, and disability.
Anything that makes an individual or group feel uncomfortable qualifies for a hostile work environment. There’s more – when an individual’s workplace makes it difficult to concentrate on their work, reducing their productivity. It does not just have to be sexual harassment in the workplace.
The following sections will dive into the various elements of a hostile work environment. Looking into the actions to handle a hostile environment.
What is a Hostile Work Environment?
We must first know what constitutes a cordial work environment to define a hostile work environment. A workplace that has emotionally intelligent and work-smart people who make working together easier and a joyful experience. It constitutes a workplace that makes you want to get up in the morning to start your day at work!
A hostile work environment is the opposite of this experience and makes you dread going to work. A hostile work environment is one where you feel extremely uncomfortable. This environment makes you feel disrespected and demotivated to work to your full potential.
When your workplace becomes the place you dread, it can be tough to concentrate on work, even when you’re in a profession you love. In addition, when there’s a lack of support, becoming resilient in the face of such adversity can be impossible.
This harms the individual and the company by encouraging a toxic work environment. A hostile work environment can be detrimental to workplace relationships, which can further impact business results. It does not even have to be the two types of sexual harassment.
It is particularly important to note that people in the corporate sector – or any other workplace – often keep quiet about the experience. This is wrong as it allows discrimination to increase and create a toxic work environment when left unchecked.
Employers must ensure the workplace is suitable for any reasonable employee’s well-being. It should improve their performance and boost their productivity.
Any unwelcome conduct that makes the employee feel unsafe and unhappy is the grounds for a hostile work environment. Let us see which activities make a workplace hostile.
What Comprises a Hostile Work Environment?
A hostile work environment can result from several small, subtle, disrespectful actions or blatant activities discouraging the employee. It almost always starts as a joke that one ignores to avoid appearing uptight.
A hostile work environment does not just have to have legally wrong activities – you can be uncomfortable about a joke, and even that becomes a part of a hostile work environment. Any unwelcome activity that makes people feel unsafe and unhappy may not necessarily flout the law.
Here are some examples of a hostile work environment:
- Gossip about colleagues, their personal lives, or work-related judgment that would make the person in question feel bad. This is detrimental to the employee and the workplace as it shows no action against the harasser.
- Harassment and victimization against people in the workplace, even if it’s not based on protected characteristics – race, caste, gender, etc. Getting away with being disrespectful and making inappropriate comments can encourage that behavior, making severe behavior possible in the future.
- Bullying and passing offensive comments as a “joke” are also harmful behavior that creates a hostile work environment. Your job as a bystander is to intervene and stop it without fearing how the harasser will feel. This is important for the workplace’s well-being and ethically the right thing to do.
There can be so many more examples that show how a hostile work environment has many such underlying jokes and comments. There is always a part of us as humans that wants to be a part of something.
Seeing that we’ve always been a civilization that has worked together, come what may – being part of groups gives us a sense of belonging.
So, is it right to assume that people around the harasser often stay quiet due to the need to fit in? Yes, it will be so. The right thing to do in such settings is to not think about looking cool in the eyes of the perpetrator or being accepted in the group. It is about doing the right thing.
Even if it means you might be the topic of the next comment or judgment they pass, do so that it is highlighted. And they think twice before repeating it. Often, it is seen that because of people’s silence, the harasser keeps repeating their actions. This eventually takes an ugly turn.
Steps to Fight a Hostile Work Environment
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) indicates that even though slight and illegal, annoyances, slights, and isolated incidents are not enough for the victim to seek legal justice.
There is a high chance that the individual will be discouraged from pursuing legal action. Still, when there isn’t any outcome from official actions against the perpetrator, the victim may seek legal action on other grounds and professional legal advice.
Any activity against you that has given you significant stress to the point that you sustain psychological stress/burden gives you enough ground to move court against the perpetrator if actions within the workplace fail to discourage it.
Steps to Fix it!
Here are the steps to fix a hostile work environment – no matter which position you assume in the workplace:
- A hostile work environment that is the creation of one person has the obvious solution of reprimanding that individual or firing (depending on the extremity.)
- Speaking directly to the harasser and telling them off – it usually works but the person may not indulge in such conversations. The next step is to speak to their supervisors, who can help here.
- If it is a team member you supervise, you have a better chance of making the change.
- It is difficult if the person fostering the hostile work environment is the manager, COO, or even the CEO. However, you can either involve HR or speak directly. Speaking directly can help you flag the situation, and you can use data to show how it negatively impacts productivity. It may even be a case of quid pro quo harassment.
But What Do You Do When Confrontation or Official Reporting Does Not Work?
This marks a hostile work environment where a major part of the organization fosters a toxic, hostile work environment. This is concerning as it dictates the lack of respect and basic decency to be good.
This is especially true in cases where the workplace displays hostility towards a particular group of people from the protected characteristics – it may be gender-based or identity-based – quite prevalent in modern workplaces.
It is also important to note that too many people keeping quiet contributes to a hostile work environment. This can lead to cases where the toxicity increases and causes immense damage to the workplace. Here’s what to do in the capacity of an employee – even if you don’t have an “important position”:
Draft Official Policy
Drafting a company policy and organizing POSH training programs can help take care of these incidents where the majority of the organization is involved in creating hostility in the workplace.
Policies are formal documents that list all the activities that fall under the category of harassment and hostility.
These documents also list the actions that will be taken against such behavior – from demotion to termination. There may even be other disciplinary actions that help address the situation.
This shows that the organization is serious about the claims and does not tolerate or promote a work culture where employees are disrespected.
This makes current employees feel secure and safe and highlights the company to other candidates. This helps your future hiring.
Inform Other Senior Management Members Who May be Unaware
Unless, unfortunately, you have the entire senior management playing a part in fostering a hostile work environment, this works! They may be unaware of the situation without involvement in day-to-day work. Explain the situation to them with a complete frequency data report and seek their support.
Encourage an honest discussion with their team and devise a plan to address it (especially if it involves senior management members.)
Open Communication Channels
The next step in acting against a hostile work environment is to get the conversation started. Your employees must know how to trust the organization in such cases and be assured they will receive proper support.
Open communication channels for any sort of barriers that employees face is a sign of a supportive work environment that prioritizes employee well-being.
It also includes providing good advice to employees who face a hostile environment.
It is particularly important that you stay resilient in the face of such barriers. Seeking justice may be hard, but it is possible. It takes perseverance and great support around you to receive it.
It would be helpful to know what is POSH training and how you can make a difference in the workplace. POSH, or prevention of sexual harassment, is an act that mandates organizations to define their sexual harassment policies, prevention systems, and procedures for their employees.
End Note
That was all about the hostile work environment and how it can cause many employee issues. Employers also face the negative consequences of a hostile work environment, including losing good employees.
Their role in such a work environment is important as they must intervene and act against the perpetrators of hostility. Strict action does not always have to be termination, but it should be appropriate and send the message of intolerance against such behavior.
Tell us about your workplace’s culture – are there appropriate policies?
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