Have you ever worked in a hostile work environment?

[Anonymous]

If so, did you report it? Was there retaliation?

[Anonymous]

I consider the career path that I was on for years to be hostile in general. It involves hazing. People at the top say, I did it so can you. In order to progress in that industry, you must put in time working 80+ hours/week at one of a select few firms.

[Anonymous]

I worked for one of the Big 8, now Big 4 Accounting Firms twenty plus years ago. As a female and person of color, it was pretty hostile place to work, mostly from the senior managers and manager level but probably condoned at partner level. I let them know when I quit that I felt discriminated against. There is more of a vocabulary now to describe what I felt more at a gut level what was going on. In any case, there may be no new info in reporting , unless you can organize a class action. Just get what you need to from the job and move on to a more pleasant job when the opportunity comes along.

[Anonymous]

Yes, at one of the GSEs. I did not report it and regret it to this day. Several people on my team were bullied by someone in a different but close working department. He was retired military and would manipulate situations to get more "power" for his team. He lied about so many things to make our team look bad, had them run in circles to get things approved, it was a total mind F (which apparently he was good at in the military- so messed up). Some were put on performance plans due to feedback from him (when before they were high performers) and several left because they were burnt out. He essentially ran them out of the organization. Then he retired.

[Anonymous]

Yes, during an 8 med school rotation with blatant sexual harassment. I asked to switch and the clerkship director immediately guessed why (in a yeah, Dr. X is like that/shrug type way.) a switch wasn’t possible but they did swap my next rotation to a more pleasant one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked for one of the Big 8, now Big 4 Accounting Firms twenty plus years ago. As a female and person of color, it was pretty hostile place to work, mostly from the senior managers and manager level but probably condoned at partner level. I let them know when I quit that I felt discriminated against. There is more of a vocabulary now to describe what I felt more at a gut level what was going on. In any case, there may be no new info in reporting , unless you can organize a class action. Just get what you need to from the job and move on to a more pleasant job when the opportunity comes along.

I’m the first pp. Feel the same why about my experience there.

[Anonymous]

Yes, in federal government. Hostility, ridicule, public humiliation steadily worsened. I saw how the Deputy Asst. Secretary for Management handled issues I did not expect accountability.

Unstable, misanthropic SES is near retirement. The deputy is just as bad, so I left. Those environments are dangerous to career and health. They work against the mission.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Good luck to you OP.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I was bullied by two people for many years at a private company.

I didn’t report it for a long time because I was very vulnerable. When I was less vulnerable, I finally reported one person and HR dealt with them. The person did try to retaliate but they were basically pushed out. I regret that I was never able to get the worst bully.

[Anonymous]

Yes. At a couple of nonprofits. Get out now. Life is too short for work to rob you of your serenity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I consider the career path that I was on for years to be hostile in general. It involves hazing. People at the top say, I did it so can you. In order to progress in that industry, you must put in time working 80+ hours/week at one of a select few firms.

Even if you put in the hours, there is still no guarantee of progression.
After 10 years of grinding, I find myself in the same spot as the guy who coasted for 10 years, who had hobbies and worked on his house, built wonderful personal relationships ect...

[Anonymous]

I did for 2.5 years. I did not report. But the bully thought I reported and hates me. He has been spreading all sorts of nastiness about me. It has even come up during an interview. And it becomes a no win situation. I just deflect. I say that Bully and I had our differences and he was really frustrated he could not convince me to see his PoV.

[Anonymous]

If you don’t mean the legal definition of “hostile work environment” there’s nothing to report. Some people in this thread seem to, others don’t.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Small company, "we're a family here" ethos which I learned is just a way of covering up workplace abuse. Sexually harassed/assaulted by a boss early on, but no HR or even a process for reporting. Later I became the subject of vicious (and untrue) gossip that got passed around both at work and at the many social events outside of work. Most of the management team had inappropriate relationships with members of the rank and file (including affairs and at least two members of management who were in open relationships that involved multiple members of the staff including people who reported directly to them), so if one person in management didn't like you, they could infect a huge portion of the company via these relationships, and vice versa.

I still don't really know what I did to get on their bad side early on. Maybe having boundaries at work, or having a social life outside of the company? I think these things were viewed as liabilities.

I was there for four years and did try to report it on my way out but of course it fell on deaf ears. I contemplated suing them but what would this get me, really? I didn't want my job back, they weren't a company with a ton of money. Even assuming I could win (a big assumption since I have no doubt that they would closed ranks against me and happily lied about me to discredit me, plus I would have needed the participation of multiple people to corroborate my experience and I really don't think I could have gotten that), at most I'd get a small settlement minus my attorney's fees. And in the process I'd be raked over the coals by people with no scruples or allegiance to me. No thank you.

My advice to anyone in this situation now is (1) document everything, (2) get out as quickly as you can, (3) if they give you trouble on your way out, retain a lawyer to scare them off so they can't do anything to you on your way out. And then just try to forget about them. I stayed too long, put up with too much, assumed it would get better, and it just got worse and worse.

[Anonymous]

Yes and it negatively affected my mental health. I got out of there as soon as I could.

[Anonymous]

Yes, as a woman in NYC architecture firms from 2005-2010. Never reported anything because it was the norm. Never again.