There are causes of discomfort in our workspace, and one of them is a hostile work environment. It is sure everyone does not want to work in such circumstances but little do they know to what extent a working environment is called as a hostile one. Therefore, in this article, you can learn about what hostile work setting is, including what situation that may create a hostile work environment.
So, what is a hostile work environment? In United States law of labor, hostile work environment can be described as a condition in which a workplace creates an environment difficult for the workers to work in. Many of them can be caused by an illegal discrimination.
What makes a hostile working environment? Turns out it is not the boss that may cause the environment to be hostile. Both bosses and coworkers can define hostile work environment—it can be the actions, behaviors, and the way of communication that may cause someone to impossibly do a certain job. Hostile workplace can also be defined as a workplace in which it causes the person working in it to quit due to a certain condition.
Some examples of hostile acts can be seen in this list below:
- Intimidating acts – Not only from supervisors, but intimidating acts can also come from coworkers.
- Cutting wages – It can be annoying for someone to get a cut from his/her wage, especially if the act is done in such an unreasonable way.
- Transferring the employee to a distant location – If this is done after a certain employee complained about the right thing, this can be an alarming thing that something off is happening. Of course, it is a hostile act towards the person.
What Define a Hostile Working Environment?
To define what is creating a hostile work environment, it can require pages after pages. To summarize it, hostile workplace is defined a workplace that triggers you to quit for the cause of behavior, way of communication, and other acts that are done by supervisors or the fellow colleagues. One thing for sure, hostile acts in workplace is not limited to those aforementioned examples.
What to Do with Hostile Work Environment?
If you are faced with such circumstances, then the first thing you can do is by trying to have the proof. It can be hard to gather proof since such acts are intangible. Kindly refer to the labor law which corresponds to the situation. You can also ask for help from professionals like, attorney for example—if you think the problem has become so big.
Hostile work environment should not be continuously be something you endure. If it feels too much that makes you wanting to quit, especially when your colleagues can testify for it, then it is surely a good thing to leave, and to report about the condition to the relevant person in charge by bringing in some supporting evidences.
Knowing what kind of acts are leading to hostile environment, you should learn about it yourself since most offices won’t put an eye on it and doesn’t let it to be a part of orientation. Not only knowing what acts are included as hostile acts, you should as well know how to deal with it.