Company Doe: A Culture of Incivility and Workplace Bullying by Duke Vincent Nagrampa

Working in New York City has offered me the opportunity to meet new people from diverse backgrounds. Their knowledge and expertise makes me want to learn more about what they can do. I always believed I could get along with other people in a professional manner. Regardless, I was wrong.

I have learned that the culture of an organization plays a key role in determining organizational effectiveness and human factors such as trust, morale, commitment, and respect. I worked at Company Doe as an independent contractor, doing data entry and ad hoc projects. For over a year, the culture of the company is very different from actually what they say on the website. There are certain behaviors I observed that brewed a culture of incivility, low morale, poor productivity, and feelings of unworthiness and seclusion: An entire department behaved like an all-boys club, colleagues screamed and yelled at each other in front of other employees while working. Several colleagues in one department catcall and inappropriately touch the female executive assistant, who accepts such behavior as the norm. (Think of Uber’s A-Team).

During the time I spent with the company, I learned people will put up with anything for the sake of their jobs.

When I first started working, I was very excited to start. I hoped to impress them enough to become a permanent staff member, not just a contract worker. I was relieved to find another job while doing my Masters Program. Several colleagues treated me nicely and I enjoyed being around them. I established a great relationship with Jaime Smith, a colleague and friend of mine, through cooperative ad hoc projects. coffee breaks outside of the building. Another colleague, Ray Smith, and I began socializing and collaborated on any data entry projects and completing them in an efficient manner.

Some however, just sucked the life out of me.

Leonard Portman tends to catcall the executive assistant while working. He kept touching the executive assistant’s shoulder to greet her. There were often time when she was catcalled in the office by him. For example,  one time, he looked at her and commented that “she looks tight.” Once she wore a red dress, he sang, “Lady in Red” when she was wearing a red dress in front of a department of male colleagues as she passed by.

He also demeaned me in front of other colleagues by making fun of my work and me when no one else is around. One time he stuck out his tongue at me for no reason at all and over time kept laughing at me whenever I passed by. When I confronted him about this, “You know what’s funny. You don’t like me because you don’t like my laugh. That why it’s so funny. Don’t go behind my back and telling you don’t like my laugh. This is why I’ll keep laughing because you don’t like it.”

According to a survey of 5,600 employees, job-networking site CareerBuilder found that, 25% of American workforces are being bullied. The American Psychological Association estimates that $300 billion is lost annually due to lost productivity, absenteeism, turnover, hiring and medical costs. Legal costs to employers through trial averaged around $150,000 and the median settlements range around $7,500.

My supervisor, Ray Winner, wants to know almost everything I do and that make sure that everything is under his control. I felt scared and anxious every time he comes near me. Any time I was doing a data entry project on Excel, he always demanded a specific format such as having the addresses in capital letters. The person who requested gave me the project, Barbara Birdman, did not approve of his formatting choice for which she blamed me. He micromanages his department, which often leads to ineffective communication and productivity issues.

Workplace bullying can have serious impact if the Affordable Care Act is replaced. For those who rely on Medicaid, the loss could affect working class and middle class Americans. Without any social safety net, they could suffer from the effects of bullying. They will go to work and simply put up within the harsh environment of the workplace and they will take their frustration and anger out back to their homes in their personal lives.

My other colleague, Barbara Birdman, does not directly bully me but her actions of incivility and the stress of the work unleashed her anger and frustration out on me. For example, Barbara gets annoyed whenever I ask her if she needs any help on any projects or when I do my best to be polite and send her morning greetings.

Work-related stress and acts of incivility play a role in workplace bullying. According to Robert Sapolsky in his book, “Why Zebra’s Don’t get Ulcers”, stressors like incivility and work problems experience major health problems such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and ulcers. They also demoralize and decrease workplace concentration. According to a medical survey of more than 4,500 hospital employees, disruptive, abusive and insulting behavior results in 27% of patients’ deaths.

I told my other colleagues about this and their responses were not helpful to me. They told me “to just be a friend” to my supervisor Ray Winner, and “to just deal with the situation” with both Ray and John Does. Jane Smith told me to “be a bigger man Duke.” But how do I do that? There was no human resources department in that company, only payroll services.

I did not have a choice but to continue working at Company Doe in its toxic and cliquish environment. Considering I have student loans to pay off, I did not have a choice. I began to gradually isolate myself from my colleagues and companions and become emotionally distant from them. I did not want to burden them with my problems because it did not feel. I was ashamed and embarrassed to tell them.

At the end of March, the company laid me off. Ray Doe mailed some of my personal belongings back home. I never got the opportunity to say goodbye to my colleagues or get an explanation of their behaviors. All I ever wanted was to be respected and be part of Company Doe. That was not too much to ask.

While I am still healing from the wounds, I continue to learn more about workplace bullying. I want to learn conflict resolution management more in depth by practically knowing what strategies and tactics to create healthier workplaces. I also want to learn more about Assembly Bill 0250, otherwise known as the Healthy Workplace Bill and determine as to how it could affect the workforce. I want to make the next generation of the American workforce be more aware of workplace bullying and its effects on the American people. Living in an environment where violence and hate have become acceptable, I would rather take action by using education and by using skills and human resources knowledge to assist young professionals in the workplace. I may never get the justice I deserve but I can at least coach and mentor the future generations that will come after me.