Today is National Stop Bullying Day. Schools around the country are working to put an end to bullying during the school year. They are trying to educate and inform children about bullying. But, what about adults in an office environment? It would be nice to think that bullying ends as people grow up, but sadly that is not the case. From coworkers to companies looking for business loans for bad credit from traditional lenders, bullying in the business world is real.
The Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute found in their survey at the beginning of 2017, that 60 million people in America are dealing with bullying in the workplace. Here’s what you can do about it:
The only way to put an end to workplace bullying is to start at the top. Clear expectations need to be established for what is acceptable. Then, they need to be communicated to everyone within the organization. It is also important to spell out a plan for how workers should deal with bullying if it does happen at work. What is the chain of command if a problem is escalated? How are bullies going to be dealt with? If you don’t have a plan in place your responses will be inconsistent and you will not send a clear message.
Once your standards are in place you need to stick to theirm. That means it doesn’t matter if the bully is your best salesperson, you cannot allow their behavior to continue.
As a business owner, you will not be able to eliminate workplace bullying if you or your managers are using workplace bullying to get employees to do what you want. Examples of this behavior include:
Take a look at yourself first to see if you are part of the problem. You cannot be part of the solution if you are also part of the problem. Treat each employee correctly so others will see that example and follow suit.
If you need to address a situation with an employee it is important to do so in private. Calling someone out in front of the entire department or staff often puts a target on their back. Other employees will quickly realize this person would make the perfect scapegoat. That sets the person up to be the victim of future bullying as well.
As a business owner or manager, there are times when you will need to addresses people in situations, but you need to do it in the right manner. This will help avoid future problems.
Teach every employee how they should respond if they are bullied or if they witness bullying. You do not want anyone to feel stuck in a negative situation. Pull your employees together for a quick seminar where you teach them strategies for dealing with bullying. A bullied employee should know who to go to. Provide each person with a few different options on who to talk to. Just telling them to go to their supervisor does not help if the supervisor is the problem.
Not only can employees be bullied, but the business as a whole can be as well. Both vendors and customers can act as bullies. If your vendors are bullying your business, simply walk away. There are few vendors that offer a product or service that you cannot receive from a different vendor. Let them know that your company will not stand for that treatment.
If your customers are being the bully you will have to decide how far your business is willing to go based on how important that customer is to your business. Customers are not always as easy to walk away from. However, sometimes enough is enough. Do not allow your customers to bully your employees.
Small businesses often feel bullied by traditional lenders. If you need to find business loans for bad credit you usually won’t find help with them. Traditional lenders have strict guidelines on who they will and will not work with. If you have a history of bad credit, regardless of the reason, it will usually lead to denial of your loan application.
Tiger Funding prides themselves in working with small businesses that need access to working capital but are turned down by traditional lenders. You don’t have to have perfect credit and loads of collateral in order to qualify. Tiger Funding looks at the financial history and future predictions for the company when making approval decisions. So, whether you have great credit but haven’t been opened for at least two years or you are in desperate need of small business loans for bad credit, Tiger Funding wants to help.
Stop feeling bullied by big lenders with strict requirements and get fast access to the working capital you need. Start the process today to have access to business loans for bad credit to get the funds you need within 72 hours.
