Workplace Abuse and PTSD: The Response
Lawyer Stefanie Costi experienced both and is committed to leading the "charge for a safer future at work"
She experienced or witnessed it in abundance: egregious workplace conduct that transcended the unprofessional and unethical. It was inhumane. Some may argue it was barbaric behavior.
Stefanie Costi, The Anti-Bullying Lawyer, TedX speaker and LinkedIn Top Voice recently wrote about it in a LinkedIn post. The Australian vividly summarized it:
I'll never forget when a colleague in a legal workplace threw a file in my direction which narrowly missed my head.
I'll never forget when a colleague in a legal workplace read a letter that I drafted and wrote at the bottom "WTF. I stopped reading at the second word because this is so sh*t".
I'll never forget when I told them a colleague was having panic attacks daily in the bathroom because of a partner's behaviour, and HR just shrugged it off, saying it wasn't their problem.
I'll never forget when a partner of a law firm had a sign as you entered their office which said: "No whinging about the long hours. If you can't cope, we will replace you in a heartbeat."
I'll never forget when that same law partner had an expectation that associates work around the clock to the point that associates always left a jacket on their chair and put a ‘pecker’ on their keyboard to make sure they were always online.
I'll never forget when a colleague in a legal workplace threatened to jump and I stopped her from doing so because someone at work was treating her like sh*t.
She wrote about what transpired to her, communicating that it “shattered my confidence and left me with post-traumatic stress disorder,” Costi wrote.
She thought about her choice of response. Her decision was not “staying silent,” she said. Instead, Costi was motivated to “share my story on LinkedIn and use my experiences to make a real difference.”
“Staying in a toxic workplace is like drinking poison and expecting to stay healthy,” Costi has written.
A family talk helped her become additionally informed about the risks involved.
“My sister, who works in HR, warned me against going public about my experience, and there was the fear that it would be career limiting but, so far, it has been anything but that,” Costi told reporter Mary Sinanidis at The Greek Herald, also telling Sinanidis that employers tolerate workplace bullying because employees fear that speaking up will damage their reputation.
Specifically, Costi is using her legal knowledge and acumen to push for beneficial protections, first in the legal field where she was traumatized and saw others be the same.
“I'm fighting for laws that make education on workplace bullying and harassment mandatory in law schools and legal workplaces across Australia,” she wrote in her LinkedIn profile. “I'm also advocating for regulatory authorities to be better resourced to deal with workplace bullying and harassment. Once we clean up our own backyard, I'll take this fight to every damn industry out there.”
Leaders and practitioners (sometimes those same leaders) of unprofessional, unethical and abusive workplace behavior are thinking and acting in shortsighted ways.
“One aspect that many organizational leaders may not fully understand is the long-term health impact on individuals who experience workplace bullying and harassment,” Costi says. “It goes beyond the immediate emotional distress, often leading to chronic stress, anxiety and physical health problems.”
Trust is gold in professional interactions, relationships and work missions. The misbehavior doesn’t always make it possible. It damages, ruins or prevents it.
“The trust and relationship damage can also be intense,” Costi says.
“Victims may find it difficult to trust colleagues or leadership, which erodes team cohesion and productivity. Bullying and harassment can stunt career growth, leaving individuals feeling isolated, unappreciated and disengaged, which in turn impacts overall organizational performance.”
She shares her observations and professional opinion about why harassment and abuse run rampant and dangerous workplace culture is tolerated and not corrected.
“In many cases, this type of behavior is tolerated due to a lack of awareness, inadequate policies or a failure to hold perpetrators accountable,” Costi says.
“Often, workplace culture implicitly supports a tough or competitive environment, where aggressive behavior is mistakenly seen as a form of motivation or leadership.
“Additionally, when individuals in power are part of — or condone — the behavior, it becomes difficult for those affected to speak out. In many cases, there is a fear of retaliation or damaging one's career by raising concerns.”
Costi explains the sense of urgency and commitment to make this work her focus.
“I made the decision to share my story on LinkedIn because I realized that by staying silent, I wasn’t helping others who were likely going through similar experiences,” she says.
That LinkedIn post resonated with people.
“My candid post caused a stir, amassing a surprising 1.2 million views, 9,600 likes, 1,516 comments and 829 reposts. The message could not have been clearer, ‘Workplace bullying and harassment demand our immediate attention,’” Costi communicated in HR Leader in November, 2023.
“But what hit me like a ton of bricks were the gut-wrenching stories that inundated my inbox (and still do to this day),” she continued in her article.
“Over 2,000 people privately reached out to me, sharing their own tales of workplace torment across various industries.
“Their stories dripped with pain, betrayal and suffering, leaving them disillusioned, shattered and broken. Unbelievably, two even confessed to contemplating self-harm. Their courage in confiding in a complete stranger was nothing less than heroic, exposing the epidemic proportions of this issue across different sectors.”
She aimed to open up the conversation.
“It was important for me to break the stigma surrounding workplace bullying and mental health,” Costi says. “My short-term goal is to raise awareness and start conversations that challenge existing norms.
“Long-term, I hope to contribute to creating safer and more supportive workplace environments globally through speaking and writing where individuals can thrive without fear of harassment.”
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