Speaker 1: 35% of employees feel that they've experienced harassment. This figure is even higher for women as 41% say that they were victims. Often this workplace harassment is verbal. Certain comments and remarks that staff make to each other can be offensive, inappropriate, and insulting. The problem is that some people think this behavior is acceptable or they don't realize it qualifies as harassment. Verbal harassment is often defined as language directed to another person that causes that person harm, typically in an emotional or psychological sense. Hi everyone, I'm Matt from E-Tactics and today I'm going to talk about 5 examples of verbal harassment at work. Before we get started though, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking the button below. While you're down there, hit that alert bell icon next to it as well so when we post new helpful content, you get notified. Now like I mentioned before, some people don't realize that some language qualifies as harassment. This includes jokes. In fact, 32% of people are unaware that jokes can be sexual harassment. Because not everyone knows that certain jokes are inappropriate for the workplace, they may end up defending themselves after an insulting remark. Perhaps you've heard of someone at work say one of the following lines. Or you've said them yourself, it was just a joke. You take things too seriously. I'm only kidding. Sure, sometimes these jokes don't have malicious intent, but rather were just a poor choice of words. But other times, jokes are an attempt to conceal mean-spirited comments or opinions. Some employees may have malicious intentions with their remarks but try to disguise it as a joke so it seems less harmful, but really, it still hurts the person they're harassing. Many words cause significant pain when directed at minorities. Because of their severity, I'm not going to spell them out for you, but they're so common that you probably know what they are. Racial offensive slurs are another instance of illicit workplace language. Because of the emotional harm that they can cause to employees, it creates a hostile work environment. Some work systems can even deem discriminatory language illegal in the workplace altogether. Next up, I'm going to talk about inappropriate sounds, specifically sounds that someone makes intentionally to hurt someone else. There are so many different instances of these, such as whistling when someone walks by or groaning when your least favorite co-worker walks into the room. In this instance, even if the harasser doesn't verbalize any remarks, making inappropriate sounds creates an uncomfortable and intimidating environment for the victim. It's okay to ask your colleagues questions such as if they enjoyed the weekend. Engaging in these conversations actually helps create a friendly atmosphere. But you shouldn't ask questions that pry into their life. There are some taboo topics that people always consider to be off limits in the workplace. Some of these include topics about finances, politics, religion, drug and alcohol use, weight, pregnancy, or family planning, or disabilities. Of course, some of these have a fine line between what is and isn't appropriate. For instance, if you have concerns that someone is struggling with substance abuse, you would want them to get help. But there are ways to address concerns without putting someone on the spot in the middle of the workday. The tone you use can also be a factor in showing that you care versus accidentally humiliating them. Obviously, threats of physical harm are a severe form of verbal harassment and are illegal. Any threats of violence should get reported to legal authorities, but workplace threats typically occur differently. For instance, managers may threaten to fire or demote an employee if they don't make certain goals or adhere to non-work related requests. This would create negative pressure for employees and lead to an unhealthy workplace. If you'd like to learn more about raising awareness on verbal harassment in the workplace, reach out to eTactics. You already made it this far into the video, so you might as well like it, share it, and comment below. What are you waiting for? Subscribe to our YouTube channel.