Do you hate your coworkers? Do they make you feel uncomfortable? Are there signs of disrespect at your work? Workplace disrespect is very painful and discouraging. It can turn your dream job into a nightmare and ruin your days instantly, disrespect at work can be harmful.
If you feel disrespected at the workplace, then don’t worry you are not alone. Let’s talk more about this as we go ahead. Whether it comes from your boss or your work colleagues, you have the right to know.
This way, you can weigh your options and decide what to do next. So always look for signs if you are being disrespected at work.
As per a study conducted by HBR and Tony Schwartz, 54% of the 2000 employees surveyed claimed that their superiors disrespect them.
Workplace Turmoil
- Get to know the reason for getting disrespected. Then prove them wrong with your actions.
- Being smarter than your boss can also make them hate you.
- Detach yourself from the situation for the sake of title, paycheck, and benefits.
- Search for another job.
How can you be sure you are disrespected at work?
There are a few telltale signs you should keep an eye on. If you identify them at your workplace, you can be sure you have no respect from your work colleagues, or, worse, from your boss.
Be more vigilant with regards to the signs if you are being disrespected at work. Since these are different situations, the signs differ as well, so let’s review them separately.
5 Signs Your Colleagues Disrespect You at Work
1. They wave you off, sneer, roll their eyes, or avoid eye contact
You don’t do that to someone you respect and look up to, so you can take such gestures, looks, and behaviors as a clear sign of disrespect. This might lead to hating your coworkers.
2. Talking to them feels like talking to the walls
Whenever you express an opinion, give advice, or request something, no one seems to hear, listen, or care. If they are your equals, perhaps you can live with it.
If you are their superior, you may want to teach them a lesson.
3. They talk about you behind your back and isolate you
You hear the whispers, and you see them looking and pointing at you. You listen to them planning parties and nights out, but you never get invited.
They don’t respect you, so why should they care about your feelings or want your company?
Do you hate them for this?
4. They steal your ideas and take credit for your achievements
Whenever your hard work pays out; they’re there to take the credit.
Things you accomplished on your own become the result of teamwork, or, worse, they express your ideas out loud and take full credit for them.
But here if you hate your coworkers for such behavior you are only going to empower them and hurt yourself more.
Next time till you achieve your goals do not share anything with anybody, let it be a secret.
5. They don’t value your time
Just when you get ready to go home, they ask you to do something for them, most of the time meaningless stuff.
Sometimes, you are supposed to work together on a project, but they leave and let you finish their work as well.
Their time is always more valuable than yours, and they act as if you don’t have a personal life or a place to be.
All these are evident signs of you being disrespected at work.
Change your Perception If Signs of Disrespect Are Evident
Tips to Gain Respect At Work
Your work colleagues’ lack of respect suggests they don’t think you’ve earned or you deserve your place in the company, or they simply think they are better than you.
See if there are any signs of disrespect. If you find any then you can call them out, face them, and let them have it, hoping they’ll see you have a spine and you are ready to fight whoever asks for it.
You can also prove them wrong through your achievements and gain respect from your colleagues. Finish work before they do and tell them politely you have better things to do when they try to pass on meaningless assignments.
Get into details when they steal your ideas and show everyone who came up with them in the first place.
It is Time to Let Go, How to Handle Disrespect at Work?
Finally, if none of the above works, you can try to:
- Talk to your superiors and let them intervene. Tell them upfront that you may not tolerate the fact that your colleagues disrespect you.
- Ignore them and continue with your job as if nothing has happened
- Start looking for another job and do not stress much about them.
If your colleagues are the only ones disrespecting you, and your superiors appreciate your hard work and commitment, things are not that bad.
They get worse when your superiors don’t respect you, and this state of facts has a few telltale signs as well. This will also lead to hating your coworkers more.
But hating your coworkers is not a solution always. You should try to work on your personality, learn new skills, and increase your self-esteem.
After a few days, you will see that your coworkers are trying to be friendly with you. They are accepting you the way you are.
Telltale Signs That Your Boss Disrespects You at Work
1. They underpay you
Sometimes, your salary does not depend on your superior. When that is the case, if they respect and appreciate your work, they will show it and even try to reward you by other means.
When you have the lowest salary in your department, and your boss acts like you don’t deserve it, disrespect is a given.
2. They don’t value your time
Does your boss always provide you with something to do just when you get ready to walk out the door? They probably plan overtime meetings and ask you to come to work on weekends as well.
This is a sure sign that your boss doesn’t respect you. Lack of respect for your time means it is disrespecting you as a person.
3. They overload you with work and keep things from you
You were hired to do a job, and, instead, they fill your time with mindless tasks everyone else refuses or, worse, they give you assignments they couldn’t complete themselves and refuse to give you all the necessary details.
Although the two situations are entirely different, they suggest the same lack of respect.
4. They get credit for your work and never acknowledge it
There are two types of bosses who take credit for their employees’ work: those who do it and never admit it, and those who do it but find ways to reward the employee whose work they used.
When your boss takes credit for your work in front of their superiors or business partners but shows their gratitude by other means, they are easy to put up with.
It is challenging to stand those who steal your ideas and continue to act as if they came up with them after the show is over. This also adds up to one of many signs that you are being disrespected at work.
5. They ignore your needs, but not those of your colleagues
Your vacation request was refused, but your colleague received approval for his. Your boss has coffee with your colleagues every morning, but if you enter the room, they act as if you interrupted them.
Whenever you need something, they act as if you are asking for the moon and the sky or, worse, they refuse. The fact that they don’t care about your needs hurts more than the fact that they don’t meet them.
I hate bosses who act as described above, and I’m sure you do too.
Although I only have about 15 years of experience in the work field, I’ve seen all of the above signs at one workplace or another.
There’s something I’ve learned, and I want you to think about it. So always make sure that you look for the signs of getting disrespected at work.
Respect Yourself If You Want Others to Respect You!
“If you want to get respect from others, the best thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.”
This quote belongs to Fyodor Dostoevsky, and I came across it on a cold winter day, while browsing William Safire’s collection of Words of Wisdom.
It marked my life, and I hope it will inspire you too. How does it apply to your situation?
Now you know your work colleagues, or, worse, your superiors disrespect you. Before you do something about it, take a step back, and assess the way you see yourself. Perhaps you are the one who doesn’t value your time and your work.
Perhaps you don’t trust your ideas and your skills, and they are merely following your lead. I am sure thoughts like “I hate my coworkers” will occupy your mind.
After all, how could they respect you if you don’t respect yourself and you don’t think you are worthy of respect? Before you can fight their disrespect, you need to learn to respect yourself. When you do, it might be easy to convince everyone else to show you the same respect.
If they don’t, you will at least be able to assess whether their disrespect is something you can live with or something you have to eliminate, either by confronting them and proving them wrong or by finding a job with colleagues and superiors who respect you.
Conclusion
I know how much workplace disrespect hurts, and how difficult facing it every day can be. So it is important to see if there are any signs of disrespect at your workplace.
I’ve learned not to accept it, and I hope you will too. I also hope you will take a few seconds of your time and share any other signs of workplace disrespect you can think of and, why not, advice on fighting it.
In the meantime, respect yourself to teach others to do the same! So do not waste your valuable time hating your coworkers instead make yourself mentally strong and live like a warrior.
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