Victims of this situation can be found in every workplace around the world. In Poland, for example, up to 25% of workers are victims of it, and in Germany - this figure is close to 50%. According to experts in the field of human resources, this phenomenon is costing the UK 30 million euros a year.
It is a sad fact that that unhealthy psychological pressure is often applied in many different companies. Workers are no stranger to the "old ghosts", more experienced refuse to explain tasks or jobs to the "new ghosts" with the excuse of being too busy.
Then, if the "new ghost" did not fulfill his assigned duties, he would be mocked, or severely criticized, not to mention heard distant insinuations: "If only do If this is the case, don't expect to last long at the company." The end goal of all of that is often the departure of the newcomer.
All kinds of invisible pressure in the workplace
What causes employees to treat their own colleagues in such unfriendly ways?
“Horizontal invisible pressure” – These are conflicts that occur between employees of the same hierarchy – often with the subject being a whole group, and the object of being a person in that group. Usually, the people selected are new employees.
In organizations with a conservative and closed structure, old employees often have a wary view of newcomers, because they see him as a source of threats to stability here. Ex-employees may suspect that when the new employee is enthusiastic, enthusiastic about the job, he wants to prove he stands above his colleagues. In other companies, employees worry that if they see this new employee's diligence, the leader will place higher demands on the team.
“Invisible vertical pressure” This is a conflict situation directly related to employees according to the superior-subordinate relationship.
Situations here can be very different: leaders unfairly and objectively evaluate the capabilities of employees, superiors see the talents of subordinates as a threat to their "chair", or vice versa. On the contrary – it is the superior who becomes the victim of pressure from the famous and ambitious deputy.
Employees can silently declare war against their superiors in ways such as: tricks, put smear information on the leader, put pressure, etc., if the leader is tough and demands a lot from employees. than the previous moderate leader. Psychological pressure can be private or public, individual, individual or group.
Whose fault is it?
Because the employees themselves, with inappropriate actions, attitudes and words, turned the whole team against them. In this case, human resources or a particularly influential individual will be responsible for resolving the conflict. If leadership is unable to anticipate and prevent minor frictions, or intentionally ignores invisible pressures and waits for them to disappear on their own, things can spiral out of control.
For example, if the team always has to work in conditions of too great work pressure. Employees have to rush, rush of plans and projects with unrealistic deadlines, then in employees will gradually form a state of stress, fatigue, anger ... and this repression soon or later will have to find a place to "discharge". At that time, the possibility that the victim was one of the employees or the head of the department was quite high.
The lack of work can also be worrisome: employees have so much free time that they don't know what to do but grab five, three talk to kill time. A few individuals who work hard in such a team may end up being hated by the crowd. The reverse is also the case – hardworking people will have aversion to individuals who are sitting around drinking water.
Severe consequences
First, they affect the victims themselves. He will start to hate the job he used to love. But in most cases, the consequences will be much more serious: psychological pressure can lead to some neurological and cardiovascular diseases...
Worse yet, your company will be stagnant because of hard work in the unstable market and employees are fighting with each other. If you sit still, nothing will be solved. And the situation is even worse.
What should a manager do?
In some cases, when the difficult situation of cooperation has just appeared vaguely for new employees because they do not understand the internal regulations and rules at the company, the leader just needs to talk to them. talk and discuss to solve problems. Once you detect and address it in time, invisible pressure will be removed quickly and simply.
As for complex situations, you have to choose another way. If you find that an employee is not making a significant profit for the company, while the hostility of his co-workers is well-founded, then you should ask him to leave on his own.
There are also times when new employees honestly want to change the situation, fight conservatism with new methods, want their department to work more efficiently, while the whole team does not want it. They oppose, or conversely, put him at the top of the department to put all the work on him and be directly accountable to the leader. Then, if you can't convince the whole group to change their attitude, then force everyone to follow orders. Thus, over time, the composition of the collective will change and this is always beneficial to the company.
All of this can be avoided, if from the very beginning the leadership pays attention to building a company culture where the employees are not divided into castes, nor accept the allusion. In companies with a collective working style with an open and friendly co-worker relationship, and new employees being properly cared for, the probability of this situation is significantly reduced.
The most important thing here is that no matter how serious the problem, you cannot wait for it to go away on its own. If you procrastinate or procrastinate, the problem will not go away, but your company will be ruined.
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