Workplace Shaming when Advocating For Yourself and Others causes Retaliation Shaming. Image by krakenimages.com on Freepik
The Shame of Speaking Up:
The Mechanisms by Which Employee Silence Evokes Shame
In many workplaces, the working culture stifles standing up to oneself. Where the employees assert themselves and complain about bad handling, they are most likely to end up inexcusably labeled "crazy" and "off their medication." This impact illumines the overall problems in terms of working culture, working attitudes to mental health, and the stigma around people who are courageous enough to assert themselves.
When workers push back at the powerful and challenge the status quo, the response can be immediate and extreme. Rather than working through the issue in a constructive fashion, the co-worker, and in some cases, the manager, label objectors irrational and crazy. This response accomplishes many tasks at the same time: disqualifies the employee's concerns from the status of legitimate concerns, undermines the legitimacy of the experience, and re-establishes the status quo structure. Name-calling is merely one among the many ways to silence opposition and control.
The underlying issue also lies in widespread stereotypes about illness. Mental illness still evokes stigma in the majority of cultures. Slang terms and descriptions like “off their medication” or simply “crazy” reinforce the stereotypes and dampen constructive discussion about the topic. The workers who resist in the effort to gain better working terms and straightforward treatment are seen through the same stereotypes linking assertiveness and instability. Not only are the workers' images discredited, so too the company culture in which workers feel exposed and at the other's mercies.
Furthermore, the politics around power also play an essential role in the case. The employees are in most situations unwilling to report to the employer, most so if they are already in unfavorable situations. The fear to report in case the employer acts in return push the employees into silence, and the toxic cultures are established. The only employees who dare to report are the same employees who are exposed to contempt and mockery.
This stigmatization creates a poisonous cycle, in which the rule and the exception are advocacy to oneself. It prevents others from making complaints, and the result is an office climate of threats and silence. Fear to complain prevents the person's progress, and also the overall morale, productivity, and creative working in the company. A silence culture, inexpressive, prevents the call to transform and to build.
To overcome the challenge, the businesses are going to have to put support and respect into the company culture. The employees are going to feel comfortable to voice concerns and feel they are not going to be damned. Conflict resolution, literacy around the topic of mental health, and education around empathy are all going to give employees at all levels the confidence to participate in constructive dialogue. Developing established anti-discrimination and anti-bullying practices, and having in place a grievance reporting mechanism, are necessary to building a healthful company culture.
Finally, calling employees "off medication" and "crazy" is a destructive strategy that inhibits openness and candor in communication and encourages bad stereotypes about the mentally ill. Speaking up in support of oneself isn't just standing up about oneself' rights, but also about leaving the doorway ajar so others feel empowered to so also.
A culture founded in compassion and respect are necessary to build good and productive working climate in which all employees feel valued and empowered.
The Mechanisms by Which Employee Silence Evokes Shame
In many workplaces, the working culture stifles standing up to oneself. Where the employees assert themselves and complain about bad handling, they are most likely to end up inexcusably labeled "crazy" and "off their medication." This impact illumines the overall problems in terms of working culture, working attitudes to mental health, and the stigma around people who are courageous enough to assert themselves.
When workers push back at the powerful and challenge the status quo, the response can be immediate and extreme. Rather than working through the issue in a constructive fashion, the co-worker, and in some cases, the manager, label objectors irrational and crazy. This response accomplishes many tasks at the same time: disqualifies the employee's concerns from the status of legitimate concerns, undermines the legitimacy of the experience, and re-establishes the status quo structure. Name-calling is merely one among the many ways to silence opposition and control.
The underlying issue also lies in widespread stereotypes about illness. Mental illness still evokes stigma in the majority of cultures. Slang terms and descriptions like “off their medication” or simply “crazy” reinforce the stereotypes and dampen constructive discussion about the topic. The workers who resist in the effort to gain better working terms and straightforward treatment are seen through the same stereotypes linking assertiveness and instability. Not only are the workers' images discredited, so too the company culture in which workers feel exposed and at the other's mercies.
Furthermore, the politics around power also play an essential role in the case. The employees are in most situations unwilling to report to the employer, most so if they are already in unfavorable situations. The fear to report in case the employer acts in return push the employees into silence, and the toxic cultures are established. The only employees who dare to report are the same employees who are exposed to contempt and mockery.
This stigmatization creates a poisonous cycle, in which the rule and the exception are advocacy to oneself. It prevents others from making complaints, and the result is an office climate of threats and silence. Fear to complain prevents the person's progress, and also the overall morale, productivity, and creative working in the company. A silence culture, inexpressive, prevents the call to transform and to build.
To overcome the challenge, the businesses are going to have to put support and respect into the company culture. The employees are going to feel comfortable to voice concerns and feel they are not going to be damned. Conflict resolution, literacy around the topic of mental health, and education around empathy are all going to give employees at all levels the confidence to participate in constructive dialogue. Developing established anti-discrimination and anti-bullying practices, and having in place a grievance reporting mechanism, are necessary to building a healthful company culture.
Finally, calling employees "off medication" and "crazy" is a destructive strategy that inhibits openness and candor in communication and encourages bad stereotypes about the mentally ill. Speaking up in support of oneself isn't just standing up about oneself' rights, but also about leaving the doorway ajar so others feel empowered to so also.
A culture founded in compassion and respect are necessary to build good and productive working climate in which all employees feel valued and empowered.
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