BEI Blog

As technology has evolved, so have our capabilities of using it. While this has led to great improvements in how we can live our lives, it has also made it much easier for us to torment and harass one another. This is a huge problem, and growing, so it is important to know how to take a stand against it - both at home, and in the workplace.

The Cybersmile Foundation was formed on June 17th, 2012, to help spread awareness of this problem and promote online inclusivity over toxic harassment and abuse. Unfortunately, their efforts are very much needed, as cyberbullying is still a pervasive problem.

What is a Cyberbully?

A cyberbully is pretty much what it sounds like: they are someone who torments others, causing them pain and angst, over a digital medium. Common media for a cyberbully to leverage include social media, online forums, and even texting and instant messaging. Since this form of harassment doesn’t require the bully and their target to be in the same place, there is a much greater timeframe of opportunity for this kind of bullying to take place. While many cyberbullies work alone, it isn’t uncommon for groups of people to engage in such activities cooperatively. Not only can this kind of bullying be very public, it can more insidiously be kept private, and many cyberbullies act anonymously to protect their own identities. Even worse, a total stranger may be the one to target someone as a victim of their attacks.

What possibly makes cyberbullying so insidious, is the fact that the target may not even be aware that it is going on. If, for instance, nasty things are being said on a social media platform or profile that the target cannot access, the only way they will find out is if someone says something - which doesn’t always happen.

Workplace Cyberbullying

While it may be known best as something that kids and adolescents have to contend with, cyberbullying has been seen among all age groups. This has only become more true in an increasingly digital workplace, where tools like email, instant messaging, and social media are leveraged for their productivity benefits. Considering this increase, it comes as no surprise that the workplace is becoming prime hunting grounds for cyberbullies. A study that polled almost 3,000 people found that 96 percent - yes, 96 - had been on the receiving end of workplace bullying.

Whether this cyberbullying takes the shape of gossip over instant messages between conspiring coworkers or a manager that sends abusive and unpleasant emails at intentionally inconvenient times, it creates a hostile work environment that erodes motivation and engagement and makes collaboration effectively impossible.

What Can Be Done

There are actions that both the recipient of cyberbullying and their employer can take to discourage this kind of unprofessional and hurtful behavior from occurring.

First, if the recipient of this kind of abuse is aware of the situation, they need to keep a cooler head and speak up for themselves. Calmly, rationally, and politely, the recipient should inform the perpetrating coworker that the behavior is to stop. Taking the high road, as it is with most interpersonal confrontations, is the best option when harassment is involved.

The receiving employee should also start collecting evidence. This will help them support their position if the time should come that they need to lodge a formal complaint. Keeping emails, social media posts, and other instances that they feel constitute abusive and hurtful behavior will give them what they need. Furthermore, they should also educate themselves on their rights as they pertain to their personal information. If some has been shared by the cyberbully, there could have been some laws broken. Neither defamation nor data protection are laughing matters.

An employer should want to create a working environment that runs smoothly, making it more likely to be productive. Harassment and cyberbullying throw a wrench in operations, so it only makes sense that an employer would want it to stop. Furthermore, the employer needs to make it clear to their employees that cyberbullying will not be tolerated. To do this, there should be a policy prepared that informs their employees what conduct will (and what conduct will not) be tolerated between employees, inside and outside of the office and work hours. This policy should be introduced during a new employee orientation, and if the issue was widespread enough, reviewed among the staff after an instance of workplace cyberbullying.

For more information about cyberbullying and additional resources, visit the official Stop Cyberbullying Day website. Technology is meant to help us grow as businesses, as people, and ultimately, as a society - not to tear each other down. Together, we can work to make that more the case.

While the hope is that the office will be a haven of productivity and collaboration, it is also a prime breeding ground for huge amounts of stress. While different people may react differently to stress, it ultimately will hold a business back if left unchecked. In this blog, we’ll explore different kinds of stress, and how you can reduce it in your business.

Why We Feel Stress
Stress is the body’s natural response to unideal situations, its way of preparing to either fight or take flight. During the times of our development, this instinct undoubtedly saved many of our ancestors, but in modern times, this survival tool is somewhat mismatched with the office environment. What’s worse, experts now acknowledge a third response to stress that is particularly detrimental to success in a productivity-focused work environment. This third response is called dysregulation, but more commonly known as freezing up.

While each of these responses had their use at one point, none of them will help the stressed individual today remove themselves from the cause of their stress (or their stressor). Furthermore, the brain sees stress as stress, no matter what causes it. Therefore, physical stress can easily have adverse effects on one’s mental state, and emotional stress can seem physically exhausting.

The Types of Stress, and Where They Come From
The workplace is often notorious for being a stress-filled environment for assorted reasons. The company culture, the workload, and the experience of being in the office itself can compound with the personality and tendencies of each employee to generate stress in different ways. There are plenty of different stressors that can be mixed, as well. They include:

• Physical Stressors - As their name suggests, these are environmental conditions that cause some physical duress, in this way generating stress. Some examples include irritating noises, the presence of an unpleasant or hazardous substance, or even uncomfortable ergonomics.
• Social Stressors - These stressors come from any interpersonal concerns that can cause friction, especially when spending extended periods of time in each other’s company or from an abuse of one’s actual or perceived authority over another. This can be caused by a supervisor abusing their influence, a coworker overstepping boundaries, harassment taking place, or even a client or customer acting poorly.
• Traumatic Stressors - As their name suggests, these stressors are those caused by some event that created mental, emotional, and quite possibly physical pain. Disastrous events are often the root cause of these, but a work-related disaster can have the same effect.
• Career Stressors - Careers are generally stressful things, with no shortage of circumstances that can create a negative experience for a worker. These include a perceived lack of job security, a sense of self-underachievement, or simply a lack of opportunity in their given role. Other stressors can also be tied closely to career influences.
  • Task Stressors - The responsibilities a worker has can contribute to their stress, whether they are being pressured to complete them, simply have too many on their plate, are frequently pulled away to do other things, or are either overqualified or underqualified to do them.
  • Role Stressors - An employee’s given role is often a source of some stress. If their professional role and their role at home clash, they can be stressed, as they can if their role in the office isn’t explicitly clear.
  • Schedule Stressors - Inconsistent and variable work hours, extended and uninterrupted sessions, and long hours spent working overtime are all notorious sources of work-related stress due to scheduling.
  • Organizational Change Stressors - Change isn’t always a welcome thing, especially when there was some sense of comfort before the changes were made. Therefore, when new technology is introduced, companies begin to merge, or there are whispers of downsizing, the workplace can become much more stressful - and this additional stress can bleed into the other kinds of work-related stressors, exacerbating them.

One or more of these stressors could very likely be causing each member of your business some degree of distress, likely affecting their well-being, general wellness, and performance in a negative way. However, there are things that you can do within your company to help reduce the stress generated by work procedures, increasing employee happiness and maintaining their productivity.

Mitigating Stresses
Fortunately, relieving your office of some of its tension doesn’t require huge projects and grand, sweeping changes. Just encouraging your employees to move around more can create noticeable benefits, as their pent-up stress has an outlet to be worked out through, so support them in walking around during breaks. In addition to the exercise, you may find that your employees may grow closer to their coworkers.

Communicating more clearly with your team about goals and expectations will help to ease tension as well. Plus, by shaping your messages to your staff to be more positively charged and empowering, you not only encourage them to complete their tasks, but also to take pride in what they produce.

You shouldn’t be afraid to have a little fun in the office, either. Showing appreciation by hosting company lunches and allowing your employees to bring in their pets on certain days eases up on some of the tension in the office. Even something as small as switching entirely to decaf coffee in the break room after lunch can make people less stressed and stimulated in the afternoon.

However, some stress may need some major changes made to effectively remedy it - but you may find that these changes can also benefit your business in other ways. For example, reexamine the meetings that are being held, as well as who is sitting in as an attendee. Are there employees spending valuable time on repetitive, ultimately redundant meetings instead of accomplishing the goals you have established for them? Eliminating these meetings and providing your employees with the tools they need to successfully reach the goals you’ve set for them will keep productivity moving forward, as well as streamline communications to take place among those who need to be in-the-know.

Of course, we also did mention how stress can be caused by the introduction of new technology, but that is mostly if this technology is introduced without warning. Introducing new technology can also help relieve the stress that outdated systems and problematic “solutions” create.

That’s where we come in. At BEI, one of our specialties is to equip businesses like yours with solutions that make their responsibilities easier to fulfill. Want to find out more about what we can do for you and your employees? Call (844) BIZ-EDGE today.