A few years ago, there was increased media attention on harassment at the workplace and also the sexual harassment many women go through. The era of social media and the internet made it easier to speak up for yourself and join social movements, such as the #metoo hashtag.
Many people would think that this problem is not prevalent within our societies. Yet, many of these issues are not made public. Harassment in the workplace is something real that happens every day and it comes with severe consequences for your mental health.
Even though at the beginning it might not seem much, over time you may start to notice the effects. Anxiety, fear, always thinking about the weekend are just a few of the signs that your mental health is negatively affected. Employers need to be more aware of the harassment that happens at the workplace and find ways to combat it in their companies. How is bullying at the workplace affecting the mental health of employees?
The Importance of Workplace Environment in Employee
Low Power to Focus
Bullying in the workplace can take many forms and it is important to learn how to recognize its signs and work with it. It has many negative effects on your health, but also on your job performance. For example, your power to focus can be lower than before, because your mind is worrying about harassment or how to avoid the bully.
Being unfairly criticized or threatened by a work colleague does not make you feel safe. So, your mind will surely focus on that event, on that colleague that harassed you, instead of focusing on your tasks, say experts from the assignmentholic.co.uk service.
[Related: Mental Health is the Next Big Workplace Issue]
Anxiety
When you are harassed at the workplace, this makes more room for anxiety to appear. There are many anxiety disorders that people can develop through time, and many of them can affect your functioning. You may have constant feelings of fear and anxiety, thoughts that something bad will happen soon, and an inability to work on your tasks because of these thoughts.
Anxiety makes its presence known not only through mental effects and anxious thoughts but also through a wide variety of physical sensations. Stomach aches, insomnia, restlessness, or fatigue are just some of them. It is clear that severe levels of anxiety only affect your functioning and when you feel it every working day, it will only become more and more intense.
Stress
According to experts from Australian Writings who offer an assignment help uk to psychology students, stress is one of the effects of harassment at the workplace. Stress has a bad reputation because nowadays a Zen way of living is promoted. In some cases, stress has an adaptive function and helps you gather all your forces and face them. However, in the case of bullying at the workplace, stress can only become more intense which makes it maladaptive.
Prolonged stressful periods can contribute to the development of heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, and many other illnesses. At the same time, stress has a negative effect on your mental health too. And it can contribute to the development of mental disorders too, such as anxiety and depression.
The Importance of Workplace Environment in Employee Engagement
Sleeping Problems
Harassment in the workplace has only negative effects on your health. All these symptoms intertwine and they potentiate each other. Even though most of these emotions will appear at the workplace, this does not mean that after you go home, they will also go away.
Harassment at the workplace puts a negative toll on your mental and physical health, contributing negatively to the development of many health problems.
Having sleeping problems is one of these issues. It is also one of the symptoms of anxiety and stress, but also of many other mental health issues, such as depression.
Bullying at the workplace is something that should not happen and employers need to keep an eye on it. Having sleeping problems will affect your health, but also your job performance and productivity.
Sleep is often overlooked by many people who do not find it important. But sleep deprivation can have serious effects on your health and well-being. Mood changes, changes in weight, and appetite are just a few of them. You will have trouble focusing because you do not have enough energy to face the day.
Eating Disorders
Eating disorders can also appear as a consequence of sexual harassment because victims lose self-confidence and self-esteem, affecting their whole functioning. Eating disorders appear as a way to hide your feelings and they can have severe effects on your health. It is therefore important to address and resolve the trauma you have gone through and ask for professional help.
At the same time, while speaking about it might not be pleasant, talking with your employer about the harassment and bullying you went through could be another solution. The employer has the responsibility of addressing these problems and making the working environment safe for everyone.
Effective Workplace Stress Management Skills
Ending Note
Harassment in the workplace happens daily, but few victims choose to talk about it. With the surge in popularity of the #metoo hashtag, more and more people chose to speak about the bullying they went through. Sadly, bullying does not happen only in schools or online, but at the workplace too and it has become a prevalent issue in our societies.
Many clinical studies were conducted on the effects of harassment on your health and the results are clear enough. A lot of mental health issues, as well as physical problems, can appear due to harassment in the workplace.
Related Articles:
- The Opposite Of Workplace Depression Is Play
- Three Reasons Why Your Nonprofit Organization Is Losing Top Talent And What To Do About It]
Author Bio
Aziz Nickleson is a journalist with 4 years of experience working at dissertation help service. He is responsible for the buy dissertation online service and also offers Easy Essay (Buy USDT ). He is a professional mini-tennis player and he has written a novel, “His Heart”.