Anything can make you dread going to work, including annoying behaviors from your colleagues So, which situations are considered to create a hostile work environment? When can you take action?
Here is how you can identify circumstances that create a hostile work environment:
Consider the totality of the circumstance
To determine whether or not a circumstance creates a hostile work environment, you need to consider its totality. A single factor of the circumstance may not be enough to give a conclusion.
Some of the aspects to consider include:
- The frequency and severity of the conduct
- The extent to which the behavior affected your work performance
- The extent to which you felt physically threatened or humiliated by the action
- The extent to which the conduct caused you psychological harm
For example, a colleague brushing against your body once when passing may not be sufficient to create a hostile work environment. It may have happened accidentally. However, if the act keeps happening even after you ask them to stop, they may be doing so intentionally, creating a hostile work environment for you.
Consider if the conduct was subjectively or objectively hostile
Chances are you have been in situations in the office that you find offensive, but other people seem unbothered. For example, when someone makes a sexual remark and everyone in the office but you laughs.
In such a case, it’s crucial to learn more about subjective and objective hostility. With subjective hostility, you (the complainant) found the conduct to be hostile, whereas with objective hostility, the conduct was sufficiently severe/pervasive to create a hostile work environment. A conduct may need to create both subjective and objective hostility to establish a hostile work environment.
Determining if a behavior has created a hostile work environment for you can be complicated. Gather adequate information on your case to make informed decisions.