Colleagues should always treat each other with kindness and respect. But sadly, that’s not always how things go. A lot of people behave like childhood bullies in the workplace, acting kind to someone’s face while being cruel behind their back. Here are some signs that can help you recognize such unfair behavior.
Ignoring Your Emails
It can be super frustrating when your emails go unanswered while other colleagues receive prompt replies. This behavior may suggest that your communications aren’t valued by your coworkers, impacting your ability to perform your job effectively and stay informed. Sadly, this is often done intentionally as a childish act of exclusion, so be the bigger person and send a follow-up email demanding professionalism.
Not Being Invited to Key Meetings
It’s never a good sign if you’re not being invited to important meetings that you know you should be a part of. This can leave you feeling out of the loop, which, unfortunately, could be exactly what your colleagues want, so it’s important to make an active effort to catch up. Unfortunately, though, it’s all likely a sign that your presence and opinions are undervalued by your colleagues.
Taking Credit for Your Ideas
Perhaps the worst sign that your colleagues are treating you poorly without you realizing it is if they claim your ideas as their own, which is shockingly common despite being universally known as foul treatment. It shows that they don’t care about crediting you for your hard work, and they’ll happily steal your thunder, which is incredibly cruel and selfish.
Exclusion from Informal Gatherings
Employees will often meet up during or outside of work for informal gatherings, serving as essential team-building and camaraderie activities. Unfortunately, some people get left out of these in the act of workplace bullying, which is cruel. So, if you find yourself consistently left out of casual team lunches or after-work drinks, The Every Girl recommends that you bring this up to them face-to-face, exposing them to their childish behavior.
Constant Interruptions
In the workplace, it’s important that everyone has the opportunity to contribute to meetings and conversations, so if you’re often interrupted by your colleagues, this suggests disrespect. It undermines your contributions and, often without you realizing it, affects your confidence, so watch out for this behavior so that you can ensure it doesn’t continue.
Lack of Eye Contact
When someone has been treating you poorly, they often won’t be able to look you in the eye during conversations, partially out of feelings of guilt. However, this can also be a sign of disregard, so either way, when you notice colleagues are avoiding looking at you directly, they’re more than likely being disrespectful to you.
Being Assigned Menial Tasks
If you’re frequently given low-level tasks that don’t match your skills or job description, it might indicate a lack of respect for your abilities. This can hinder your career growth and make you feel undervalued in your role, something that no coworker will ever do if they have your best interests in mind.
Receiving Unfair Criticism
It’s always a good sign to receive constructive feedback, even if it seems harsh because at least the coworker or boss is trying to help you improve. However, this is very different from constant, unwarranted, and unconstructive criticism, which is only damaging. If colleagues regularly critique your work without justification, they’re more likely just undermining your efforts out of nastiness rather than trying to help.
Getting the Silent Treatment
While it may seem immature, some colleagues may give you the “silent treatment,” intentionally ignoring you, putting you down, and making you feel alone. This is incredibly immature behavior that isolates the victim, representing the kind of behavior you’d expect to find on a playground–not in a professional workplace.
Spreading Rumors About You
It’s never a good sign if you hear that a colleague has been gossiping or spreading false information about you, as it shows that they’re intentionally treating you poorly. They don’t care about your feelings or reputation, so instead of being a good colleague, they’re intentionally contributing to a toxic work environment, making it difficult for you to feel comfortable at work.
Micromanaging Your Work
You might find that even when a colleague is not your superior, they still try to micromanage your work excessively, indicating a lack of trust in your capabilities. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s okay for a supervisor to do this; it only stifles your autonomy and growth, so unless you’ve been messing up at work, it’s really not fair behavior.
Excluding You from Decision-Making
Even if you have a low position in the workforce, you should still be given the right to join in with decision-making. Sadly, some immature colleagues won’t allow for this, intentionally leaving you out of decisions, often ones that directly affect your work. So, if you notice that your input is consistently ignored or bypassed, you might want to have a word with your manager.
Minimal Praise or Recognition
Colleagues who treat you poorly will always fail to acknowledge your hard work in an intentional attempt to demoralize your hard work. It’s completely cruel behavior, as it can make your effort feel unappreciated and overlooked, which hard-working employees should feel in the office.
Public Criticism
If a colleague or superior has a problem with your work, they should address this with you in private–not in front of others. When colleagues do this, they’re attempting to publicly humiliate you and belittle you, which is incredibly disrespectful and unprofessional. You may not have noticed it before, but if you see it from now on, don’t tolerate it.
Unfair Workload Distribution
Every employee should have a workload that fairly reflects their role and salary, so if you notice that you’re consistently given more work than your peers, it could indicate unfair treatment. This imbalance can lead to burnout and resentment, impacting your overall job satisfaction and well-being.
Passive-Aggressive Behavior
It’s pretty pathetic to see colleagues use sarcasm, indirect comments, or other forms of passive-aggressive behavior in the workforce, as it just creates hostility. If they have a problem, they should say it to your face instead of letting it boil up. Sadly, they probably won’t change, as they’re quite possibly treating you poorly intentionally.
Lack of Collaboration
It’s very important to collaborate in the workplace, even if you don’t get along with a colleague. So, if your colleagues are demonstrating a reluctance to collaborate with you, brushing you to the side, and excluding you from projects, they’re treating you poorly, even if you didn’t realize it before. This is serious, as it can hinder your professional development, so don’t stand for it.
Playing Favorites
Regardless of whether it’s your boss or peer, nobody in a workplace should play favorites, with nepotism and favoritism being widely frowned upon as unprofessional. Sadly, this behavior is all too common, so you might find that certain colleagues intentionally overshadow your work in favor of others. Sadly, they’re doing this intentionally out of spite, so you need to stand up for yourself.