In 21st century businesses, cyberbullying has become a problem that needs to be addressed. Cyberbullying can take place on many different devices and media, such as cell phones, instant messaging, chat rooms, e-mail or sites such as Facebook.
In most cases, behaviour can be undertaken which harasses a fellow worker either on their public account or through another form of communication. This can come in the form of direct attacks, or by proxy. The proxy route is generally more convenient when the aim is to get another colleague into trouble, while the direct attack is often seen in sexual harassment cases.
It’s important for all companies to get occupational health and safety training programs that also include cyberbullying instruction.
What Does a Training Program Comprise?
Training programs encompass many aspects of occupational health, including sexual harassment, cyberbullying, and compliance with government legislation. As part of the training program, you and your staff will learn about how the system works and what it is meant to protect.
Furthermore, it will be explained why companies would do well to comply unless they want to face the wrath of the law on sensitive issues that it is better to decide on with the heart instead of the mind.
During the training, it will also be explained what traditional bullying is and how this can take place in the workplace as well. Many workplaces have a bully and often the effect they have on people is only felt in subtle ways. Not every bully is public about it and sometimes the bullying can take place behind closed doors. There are bullies in the workplace that will hover over employees they are interested in and constantly harass them.
There are also far more subtle bullies, who will delegate work to a staff member and mysteriously forget to point out things which would cause problems, and then, later on, accuse this worker of making mistakes on purpose, or laziness.
Workers on occasion also experience other forms of career sabotage by other employees. Rarely this is intentional, in most cases, people need to face off with their own ego and take some assertiveness and sensitivity training in order to learn to respect their own time and others’ time in the workplace.
Now more than ever, businesses are adopting a ‘team’ model for their staff relationships. If the expectations are high and mediocrity is not a rampant problem, then the staff culture can be changed relatively quickly. It is essential that businesses that are lagging behind in these issues make changes immediately, not just to comply with legislation surrounding OH & S training programs, but also for the well-being of their company.