Employee Emotional Abuse - Essay Example

Employee Emotional Abuse Though it has fairly been unrecognized for quite some time now, the issue of employee emotional abuse, which refers to a situation where colleagues often harass their fellow workmates, is a serious problem that affects a considerable number of employees within the workforce. The only challenge it comes with is that it is difficult to determine and that victims do not always speak about the problems that they go through. I remember the experience that one of my work mates underwent while we were still working as medical representatives for Evolve Pharmaceuticals.

At that time, our team that comprised of nine, used to deal in Antibiotics. We were answerable to our team leader, who was to oversee our weekly duties and assignments. To this date, I have failed to make sense out of the manner in which the whole situation developed. This is because there was one of our team members who used to get unfair treatment from all the remaining seven members of the group except for myself. Things were so bad for this colleague such that she was often excluded from some of the benefits as well as opportunities that she was to receive as a member of our team.

Many a times, those employees who often regarded themselves as seniors intimidated her (Miller 47). It was particularly sad to witness, but on certain occasions, other members of the team deliberately undermined her to the extent that they were even impeding her from performing her functions. Though our team leader was an understanding person, on certain occasions, he would accede to the pressure being leveled against him by the senior members of the group and remove certain responsibilities from the person without any explanation.

The colleague of mine often got it very rough whenever our team leader was on leave. This is majorly because the ones who often acted in the team leader’s capacity changed the working guidelines frequently, a situation that made it extremely difficult for my colleague to bring the best out of herself (Miller 50). During those times, she was given extremely tight guidelines that could not be accomplished by even those who had set them. In attempting to ensure that they got her on the wrong side of the policies of the organization, they provided her with wrong information and on certain occasions withheld some information from her.

In as much as she had her job description clearly outlined for her, they went to the extent of assigning her unreasonable duties. On some occasions, they could refuse to assign her work and this often made her feel useless as a person. In as much as our team leader was aware of these happenings, there was very little he could do to change the situation. This is majorly because other employees who were in a position to make self-decisions majorly propagated the emotional abuse and harassment.

During certain instances nevertheless, he ensured that he provided all the relevant information that the employee needed to know when discharging her duties. He similarly did his best to ensure that the employee received the benefits that came with the job. He spread opportunities equally, in the process ensuring that no team member felt sidelined. The emotional abuse took a toll on the employee; she became totally frustrated with work. She even confessed that she disliked the idea of reporting to work every morning, as it made her panic.

On the occasions when she would make it work, she could not concentrate on her work and this reduced her morale as well as productivity. Sadly enough, even her health was affected. Due to constant stress and anxiety, she lost appetite, had constant sleepless nights. This brought her a lot of headaches and pains. At this stage, I felt the need to take considerable action. The ideal mechanism was to provide her with all the support that she needed. Be it talking as it were, it made her feel relieved.

I encouraged her always to ensure that she did her best in all the assignments that she was tasked to do. It was difficult accomplishing this given that the environment was always harsh. But I often provided her with all the correct information she needed. I advised her that though she knew her worth, resigning and seeking alternative employment would not be the ideal solution, as jobs do not often come easily (Miller 53). There was the option of legal redress and reporting such issues to the management of the organization; I encouraged her though to rise to the occasion and give her best whenever she was called upon to do so.

Life within that environment was a difficult one for her, but she did not let the interference from employees derail her. She did not lift her eyes off the goal, and this made the management recognize her achievements. To reward her, they created a team for her, which she manages until today. Work-cited Miller, Katherine. Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2015. Print.