Hostile work environment would mean a person or group feeling harassed, abused or discriminated by their colleagues or superiors at work. They feel stressed and cannot perform to the best of their ability in such unfriendly surroundings. Employees could be harassed by a third party related to the organization like contractors, suppliers or clients also.
Circumstances at work that can be termed hostile include verbal abuse by a superior, sexual harassment by colleague or senior, discrimination based on age, gender or race, or threat to be inflicted physical harm. Any remark, joke or comment is considered hostile if it can be termed offensive by any reasonable person.
A senior who does not take action against a person who is complained about can also be termed as an abettor of such harassment.
In many cases, one gets harassed on being a whistle blower against any malpractice in the organization. Tasking working hours more than stipulated, cutting on their work hours or salaries, putting pressures on them by threatening them with physical or mental harm are a few ways of harassment. The complainant is stressed to such an extent that he/she volunteers to resign from the organization saving the company its repute, a probable lawsuit or unemployment benefits to the complainant.
An organization must have clearly defined company rules on defining harassments, procedure for such reporting and redress the complainant’s grievances. They must also have an eagle’s eye to get offenders and punish them suitably. They must prohibit access to offensive sites at work-places and exchange of e-mails or messages which can be considered hostile.
