For victims of workplace bullying, talking about their experience can be very difficult and challenging. Bully victims are afraid that sharing their story will affect their reputations, while others still feel humiliation over becoming a target of a bully.
Unfortunately bullying is becoming prevalent in workplaces. Data from the Workplace Bullying Institute indicated that 27 percent of Americans were bullied in the workplace. This accounts for 37 million employees, wherein 60 percent of the time, the target of workplace bullies were female workers.
Despite these numbers, some companies have yet to address the issue of workplace bullying. Research showed that less than 20 percent of organizations are committed to stop the bullying or abusive conduct at work. Apart from this, laws covering bullying and discrimination are only deemed illegal if the victim can show that the abuse covered factors such as gender, age, race, religion, national origin and physical disability.
This is the reason why Marisa Wong, a bully victim, decided to share her story. She gained the courage to speak up about her experience given the results of Ellen Pao’s discrimination case with Kleiner Perkins. Wong even admitted that until now, she still feels shame, weakness and defeat over what happened. This was what pushed her to tell her story so that more people will know how detrimental bullying can be.
To read Marissa Wong’s story, click here.
