How To Deal With Abuse At Work

How to deal with abuse at work is difficult to answer generally, because the right step depends on safety and on what the person wants. One thing helps in every version.

Write it down. Date, time, what was said or done, who was present, and how it affected the work. Do it close to the event, in your own words, and keep it somewhere that is not a work system.

That record matters for a practical reason. These matters are usually raised weeks or months later, by which point recollection has faded and a contemporaneous note carries far more weight than a summary written afterwards.

It also helps the person decide. Reading back a pattern is often what turns this is probably nothing into something worth raising.

If there is any immediate risk to safety, that comes first.

Safe Work Australia covers psychosocial hazards. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s incident reporting software and workplace bullying course.