Workplace bullying at the United Nations?

1 comment

1. Eeshita Dey

   November 30, 2011 at 12:21 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment

   Dear Madam/Sir ,I was in UNDP,CHTDF , my supervisor Hossain Shahid Sumon (Cluster Leader, Confidence Building Cluster) began to make rude remarks about me right after 4/5 months .The behavior, began to make me feel uncomfortable about asking for assistance at work. Although i enjoyed The job, the behavior began to affect my work.I was really happy to work there because I love event management.
   I spoke with multiple supervisors, and an internal investigation was conducted in his department, but his claim of bullying was dismissed as” ignore”.
   Bullying on women is larger than on-male. Man have a tacit approval of an automatic acceptance at work . But women carry a in built guilt in themselves, its very complicated. Bullying is done with impunity because it’s so rarely stopped. Rarely does management intervene and actually say this is destructive for people, employee health and the organization
   i was victim of bully for almost 2 years,
   I was targeted to all kinds od bully
   1. Threat to professional status – including public professional humiliation, accusations regarding lack of effort, intimidating use of discipline or competence procedures
   2. Threat to personal standing – including undermining personal integrity, destructive innuendo and sarcasm, making inappropriate jokes about target, persistent teasing, name calling, insults, intimidation(becoz my boss knw about my traumatic incident with marriege)
   3. Isolation – including preventing access to opportunities, physical or social isolation, withholding necessary information, keeping the target out of the loop, ignoring or excluding
   4. Overwork – including undue pressure, impossible deadlines, unnecessary disruptions.
   5. Destabilization – including failure to acknowledge good work, allocation of meaningless tasks, removal of responsibility, repeated reminders of blunders, setting target up to fail, shifting goal posts without telling the target.
   I suffered in silence , afraid to confront my bullying boss.I have already risk clinical depression, debilitating anxiety, and now post-traumatic stress disorder by that time….and lost my Power disparity (the target lacks the power to successfully defend themselves.
   I couldn’t survive, i quit instead of having 9 months contract. Still suffering from psychological disorder. I am thinking of not doing any job at all coz the trauma i faced i do not want to fact it again in my life. And pray for my death every day.I event had to go under counseling twice. I have the evidence of Doctors advice.
   I enjoyed my work at UN. Working in UN is highly competitive and I am now consider myself a looser , cant do anything. I was highly appreciated for 2009 and 2010 Cultural Divercity Festival.I pray and hope that this type vof impunity doesn’t get punished and no one may suffer like i did.
   And I also think that it happened to me because I am an women, metis(who are yet hated by the Bengali and indigenous both community).And my co worker as a man also faced the same thing but we complained that directly to deputy director. After that Mr. Shontosh Chakma born and brought up in a hostile area and also being an indigenous managed to confront. And I however being women and being minority among minority (we now call us war child), faced this everyday bully. The whole office could hear the screaming.My life , career goal may be no more will inspire me again but at least I pray the future be safe.
   Regards
   Eeshita Dey