Office Harassment
Hello everyone, sorry for not posting for a long, long time. Been very very busy for the past almost one year. But I’m back and had heard lots of happenings from friends, colleagues, relatives etc on Office Politics.
Let me share with all of you on the first case that I had heard recently from a college friend. Let’s call her “Sweet” as she is really a sweet and shy gal. “Sweet” found a vacation job in a MNC for a couple of months before going back to school. Her job scopes include some simple typing, filing and secretarial supports to the Senior Manager at times.
She was really happy with her job until one day…
“Sweet” was called to the Senior Manager’s room. The Senior Manager is a Mid-40 years old man with a short and boxed beard. He asked her to take a seat and make herself comfortable. He started out by asking her on the job performance and how was she coping with the new job. Then he started to talk about himself, how long he had been working in the company and finally, he started to mention about his life, his family etc. The Senior Manager even told her that he is a very lonely old man with his kids all growing up and his wife has a life on her own and does not communicate much with him. He starts to feel so lonely on his own especially during the weekends & at night. He did not have much things to do and he wanted some companies so badly. Then, he asked “Sweet” whether she’s free after work as he likes to send her home. Well, I know some people would say that the Senior Manager just wants someone to talk to but would you believe that after what he had told her on the above.
Guess what, I would have thought “Sweet” will be too scare to reject him or even to say a word but to my surprise, this gal just told him calmly that her boyfriend is picking her up after work to have dinner with the family and she thanks him for the open conversation. She would like to get back to work and “Sweet” just walked out of his room. The Senior Manager still continued to try to get her to come to his room for long conversations or to drive her home after work. “Sweet” will always reject or end the conversations politely with the excuses to get back to her works.
The Senior Manager tried again during the company’s annual dinner and dance. The Senior Manager came alone without his wife and he saw “Sweet”. He told her that she must dance with him later and she better don’t try to escape. But “Sweet” just couldn’t bother with him, she left the annual dinner and dance before he could find her.
After that incident, the Senior Manager started to give lot of works to “Sweet” and made her work overtime so that he can find excuses to stay behind with her. In the end, She had no choice but to resign. As she had told me, she rather resigned than waited till something bad or drastic to happen. Most importantly, she does not want other co-workers to see her as the Senior Manager’s pet or having some intimate relations with the Senior Manager.
The above incidents might not be consider as Office Politics to some people but more of sexual harassment. But trust me, there are some people out there who make use of such behaviors to their advantages towards their fellow co-workers, staffs or bosses to create Office Politics. I had ever heard about one case where the lady staff was so close & intimate with the male boss that the lady staff will use the male boss’s authority to bully, create troubles & even get other co-workers fired.
Below are some tips for all my working pals to take note and follow if yr fellow co-workers, staffs or bosses are trying to take advantage of you base on the above similar situations.
1)Staffs should not continue to suffer in silent or be threatened. They should speak up if certain jokes, conversations or even behaviors are inappropriate.
2)Staffs should try to get evidences of such incidents and then report to the immediate supervisor or HR department.
3)If being cornered or harassed, reject or tell the other party off calmly. Never break down in tears or show fears. Otherwise, the other party will still try to threaten or scare you. If situation turns worse, don’t try to handle on your own or bear with it. It will affect your job performance. End of the day, these bullies might even use yr poor job performance to get rid of you. If require, bring the matter up to the higher management or even to the police with all the evidences collected.
Remember everyone has their right to work in a safe environment and should not be threaten or harass by the office bullies.
