Staying anonymous but would really appreciate some advice! Has anyone here been target of workplace bullying in finance? What’s the best way to navigate? So far I’ve just put my head down and not made a fuss; the person is important to my boss so don’t have manager support here. Think HR is useless.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
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consider this book if female
but on a serious note, I would consider laterallinig, since if the MD likes them you're just screwed
No joke though, a former female VP used to rip one of the female analysts apart for no reason at all. Like damn
I've read this stereotype that females are more critical to each other than males are to each other and I think there may be some truth to that...
Idk why you got MS, that's hilarious
Mail the CEO a random dick pic with the bully's return address on it. Don't overthink this - just act.
Please elaborate on the nature of bullying.
That really sucks and sounds like a shitty situation where you can't really escalate it yourself. Do you have friends / other people at your level who have had a similar experience (or can back you up)? If it's multiple people going up to your staffer/MD/HR/whoever then I think it's more likely they take it seriously and do something about it. At the very least you guys can commiserate together.
Unfortunately it may be better to find another role. The dynamics you briefly described suggest things aren’t going to improve.
Needless to say you will want to do plenty of offsheet references for the new team / organization you plan to join.
It’s not 1980s IB, no one should be bullying / pressuring you to do anything. Raise it to HR (some banks have an anonymous reporting website). If it doesn’t help leave and when you leave, you’ll group head will probably call you and tell him about the bullying and how HR didn’t help.
Can you please elaborate on the nature of the bullying?
Bring your chin down to protect your neck while continuing to stare into his eyes. Bring up your hands and say "I don't want no trouble". Flex your traps and core while slightly bending your knees.
Here comes the important part.
In a low voice begin to say "wolowolowolowolowolo" slowly increasing in volume, he should be surprised by now. Begin to sway side to side and loosen all facial muscles and your anal sphincter and your kegal muscle.
By now you should be pretty loud and your opponent will have stepped back and will appear visibly shaken. Begin to piss and shit yourself and let your eyes roll into the back of your head. By now you are chanting "WOLOWOLOWOLOWOLO" at the top of your lungs.
He will run away. Everyone within a one mile radius will feel a terrifying presence within their soul. Marvel as you ascend into your planar form.
Might be one of the best comments I ever read!
You'll need to elaborate. There's a bunch of things that fly and are OK in IB that are NOT ok in most other industries. Be 100% sure that this doesn't accidentally fall into one of those.
Obvi if this something serious then you need to bring it to HR (ie, dude is threatening you or harassments of some sort).
If this is just a case of being cussed out on the phone for a typo in a client pitch... those are a dime a dozen and very common place.
Speak up ! Don’t turn into private pyle.
As soon as you read this comment, create a word doc with “[Date of first incident] - 2.17.21 Incidents” with everything that’s occurred so far that you can think of. Save this deep deep on your internal drive:
BB/NY-drive//Resources/Templates.....
...in a folder called “Bullying incidents”
Every day, create a new word doc with the same exact name “MM.DD.YY Incidents” versioning up like you would any CIP. Be as diligent with this as you would be downloading files from Box daily, while looking for a place to lateral. When you do leave, maybe send an email to HR with this file path. Maybe leave it for someone to find down the line when this person is more senior. Up to you. But keep it up to date and have a copy saved somewhere locally as well. Good luck and keep your nose down
Change job.
Once you change, wait outside the building until the m...f....er comes out and punch him in the face and run.
If he's a coward to bully, he doesn't deserve any respect.
If you don't know how to punch properly, pay $200 to someone that knows. That's a huge ROI
I have a buddy of mine who went through something similar. One associate in his team used to be very passive-aggressive. This associate also had senior support so when my buddy raised it, he was told it would be dealt with but as a result this associate got aggravated even more and continued the behaviour but only when seniors weren’t around to witness it. Also this associate basically screwed him in performance reviews.
I heard he wasn’t the only victim, others complained but this thing went on for years.
Ultimately didn’t end up well for anyone.
When I spoke to him last time, he said that upon reflecting on this topic, if he could go back, he would move teams/bank or shut up and grind until associate years. He didn’t see another alternative.
Obviously speaking one on one didn’t help because first thing this associate said in person that he / she didn’t like him.
One advice that he got from somebody senior was to warn this person before every interaction that he was going to take notes and send them to this associate to acknowledge in an email. This way there is a trace of written evidence but it’s time-consuming and ultimately only worth doing if you really like the team or the bank, or for a short while before you leave to make sure you aren’t screwed somehow by unfair references.
OP here - in a similar situation, and thank you for the insights!
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