Cyberbullying in the workplace refers to the use of digital communication tools, such as email, instant messaging, social media, or other online platforms, to harass, intimidate, or mistreat colleagues or employees. This can include sending threatening or derogatory messages, spreading rumors or false information, excluding individuals from online discussions or group communications, or posting humiliating or offensive content about them online.
Cyberbullying can have serious consequences for the targeted individual’s mental health, job satisfaction, and overall well-being. It can also create a hostile work environment and negatively impact productivity and morale within the organization. Employers have a responsibility to address and prevent cyberbullying in the workplace through clear policies, training programs, and proactive measures to promote respectful and professional online interactions among employees.
A Page Out Of My Life
I’ve experienced cyberbullying without actually realizing that I was being bullied. I’m not sure if this was because I was slow to catch on, oblivious to what was occurring in the moment, or second-guessing myself because I wanted to give my coworkers the benefit of doubt. Nevertheless, I did soon realize that I was experiencing forms of cyberbullying but in the most covert of ways.
Signs of Cyberbullying I Experienced
Signs that coworkers were cyberbullying me were actually more covert than overt. I experienced stonewalling, the silent treatment, and exclusion through group texts, email, and other forms of electronic and online communications. Some examples:
- Lack of response: Some of my coworkers consistently ignored my messages or failed to acknowledged my contributions in group discussions.
- Exclusion: I’d notice that my coworkers communicated freely with each other but often excluded me from group conversations or activities.
- Short or dismissive responses: When I did receive responses, they were brief, unhelpful, or dismissive, indicating a lack of interest or willingness to engage with me.
- Changes in tone or behavior: I would sometimes observe a shift in my coworkers’ tone or behavior towards me, such as sudden coldness or hostility, which was always evident in their messages or interactions with me.
- Avoidance: Sometimes my coworkers actively avoided interacting with me in group texts or attempted to minimize contact with me, even in professional contexts.
- Delayed or selective responses: My coworkers would also respond selectively to my messages, choosing to engage with certain topics or individuals while ignoring my contributions.
- Subtle cues: I always paid attention to subtle cues in the group dynamics, such as changes in group dynamics, increased tension, or passive-aggressive remarks, which always indicated underlying issues with communication or collaboration.
My Voice Was Sometimes Chained Through Cyberbullying
During my previous career, I worked with a group of people that I hadn’t realized were on bad terms with me until I began recognizing repeated patterns in their behaviors. Those behaviors were often subtle but demeaning and discarding of me, nonetheless.
Mainly, verbal communication at work took place via emails when meetings could not happen, but during the pandemic, we were commissioned to use group texting as a form of meeting to communicate. For me, this was personally annoying on so many levels because I had established boundaries for communicating with coworkers during set times, particularly so that I would not to engage with coworkers after work hours. I had to be a lot more lenient during this time because contact would be based upon times that the group could meet overall.
During the bulk of group text communications, I had already experienced enough covert forms of cyberbullying from others to recognize the nuances of when something was “off”. I’d already experienced being blocked, excluded, stonewalled, and silenced from coworkers whom I thought were my friends. A much later lesson would teach me that the bulk of my coworkers were not my friends, and I was lucky to have any coworkers as true allies.
It wasn’t until my final year in my previous career that I realized that I had been experiencing forms of bullying and retaliation from a mob of colleagues. During an emergency meeting via group text, everyone was asked to communicate their questions in reference to how to deal with work issues and public contact during the pandemic. I recall asking a very valid question that went unanswered by anyone in the group. In fact, at some point, I began to realize that there were no further responses. It was as if there was an abrupt end to the conversation, and I felt that questions from many others were simply left unanswered too.
The fact that neither of my supervisors responded to me was very puzzling. The group consisted of four supervisors, the main boss lead, and at least 10 coworkers at most. So, it wasn’t the entire building of people which meant that my question could have and should have received a response. As a matter of fact, there were several questions and responses, and we were each told to ask one question. So, when I asked a question but didn’t receive a response, I was not only puzzled, I was bothered.
At the time, I was suspicious of mobbing behaviors against me, but I thought it only consisted of three people at the time. Unfortunately, I would later learn otherwise. In fact, I would later find out that two of my supervisors, the main supervisor, and a host of other coworkers were attempting to mob me out of my position. Because they wanted to be covert about their actions against me, they progressed to subtly attacking me in passive aggressive ways.
During the group text situation, I would learn that none of my responses were even seen by my coworkers, including my supervisors, because I had been blocked from communications within the group text. I could see everyone’s responses up to a certain point, but coworkers would later claim that they could never see any of my questions or responses. They simply thought I was being silent. Yet, from experience, I had made the connection that I had most likely been blocked from the group text.
The way it works is that when someone blocks another person via text, the person blocked no longer receives text messages. Even if the blocked person sends messages, no one sees them. They are apparently to sent I to a void. I would also later find out that one of the supervisors began a separate group chat with everyone but excluded me. Since my question was never seen, and I didn’t know the reason, I contacted the supervisors and coworkers through email while Bcc’ing the overall supervisor of our building. That email wouldn’t be seen until the next business day, but by sending an email after I could no longer communicate via texting the group, I foiled everyone’s plans of exclusion against me while getting my question answered at the same time.
Of course, my email was baffling to the supervisor of our building location and equally embarrassing to my main supervisors since it appeared that they may have not been able to answer my valid question at the time. I never let on that I knew that I’d been blocked from the group text, but I did mention to one of the supervisors that I didn’t seem to be a part of the loop because I had stopped receiving group text messages overall. Oddly, but not surprisingly, I was gaslighted with the lie that there was perhaps a glitch, but I didn’t believe this, of course. I knew the truth.
Sadly, exclusion through group texts and even most emails would continue to happen until I blocked all coworkers from communication with me after I resigned from the job. I didn’t have to be a part of their group, and after realizing how banal their behaviors were towards me, I didn’t want to be a part of their group either. Fortunately, while these behaviors against me were all occurring, I was too busy questioning what I was experiencing to completely comprehend that the actions were all forms of bullying within the workplace.
My Voice Unchained 