A hostile work environment is considered as that situation where an employee is not able to work because of some odd behavior of the management or co-workers. It is really a bad effect for both the management and the employees. The hostile environment may be due to external pressure from the management. It may also be due to some other causes like discrimination at workplace that results in severe stress.
The employees cannot concentrate on work at such situations. A lot of time is wasted because of this and leads to a decline in performance and productivity. Hostile work environment may arise because of many reasons. Sexual harassment on the part of management or co-workers causes a hostile environment for an employee. Discrimination regarding age, race, nationality, gender, or disability may also results in a hostile work environment. The management may sometimes engage in a designed way to make an employee resign for some reason. It may also be as a part of retaliation against the actions of an employee. Sometimes, hostile environment may also arise due to physical risk from co-employees.
When you face any of these situations in workplace, you can formally complain to higher officials. Certain disciplinary actions have to be taken by the higher management levels against the people responsible for such trouble at a workplace. When you do not even get a result from the higher officials, you can charge a file against the employer or the responsible individual to government agencies like Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in the United States. You can take the help of attorneys which are specialized in dealing such cases. It is better to know some guidelines by all employees for handling a hostile work environment.
