prijava
MOSTAR, August 7 (FENA) - In the first six months 2019, the ‘Stop the Mobbing’ citizens’ association received complaints from 27 employees from Bosnia and Herzegovina who have reported mobbing incidents, 19 of them from Republika Srpska and eight from the Federation of BiH.
Mobbing, as a particular form of discrimination in the workplace, is widely expressed in all workplaces in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It most often occurs in poorly organized companies (or institutions) and in cases of disinterest and helplessness of the management, and according to research, mobbing occurs in 88 percent of cases due to incompetent bosses.
Because of fear of employers and job loss, most employees in BiH, even at the cost of health risk, do not want to talk about mobbing at all.
“Men and women are equally affected by mobbing, and as a rule, they are always conscientious, responsible and hardworking people, those who love and know how to do their jobs,” Anica Ramić, president of the Stop the Mobbing association, headquartered in Trebinje, told FENA.
She said that “we will never become a serious and civilized state unless we understand that mobbing is a social problem and not just an individual problem or the problem of the victim alone."
As the most common examples of mobbing, Ramić cites giving humiliating tasks to employees, constant scrutiny and criticism from work colleagues and superiors, not allowing vacation use, not allowing vacation when the employee wants it, and being unable to go on sick leave. There is also rejection to invite employees to attend meetings, overworking, or situations where an employee comes to work and has no tasks, that is, he/she is not given any work tasks.
In the first six months of this year, Ramić noted, there were no reports of sexual harassment at work, although the rate of this type of abuse has not been negligible.
One of the victims of mobbing who has contacted the association is an employee from Banja Luka who is experiencing psychological abuse at work by several executives on a daily basis and even gets complains when she needs to use the toilet.
“I'm not even 30 years old and I work in Banja Luka. For a while now, I have been experiencing psychological abuse at work almost daily by several executives. My health is in jeopardy, I can't sleep, I have stomach cramps, I have problems with my period, I am depressed and aggressive, I feel unsafe, I bite my nails and just think about quitting, which is their goal. It's like they want to get me to leave on my own,” she states in her complaint, adding that it all negatively affects her life outside of the workplace.
Ramić points out that mobbing is a huge problem in our country, and the matter is even more serious if we bear in mind that, according to statistics, this phenomenon is most widespread in state administration bodies, education, healthcare, culture, and education institutions. Therefore, we see it precisely in those institutions that should be the first to tackle such phenomena.
Asked why BiH employees do not report mobbing, Ramić says that this problem has been in the focus lately, but that our society has not yet developed awareness and mechanisms to prevent it.
However, she gives advice to mobbing victims: "Talk to everyone and talk about everything that is happening to you, in order to encourage others to bring their problems to the public as well. Therefore, as many people as possible should be informed about the abuse, and if necessary the media should be contacted as well. Make the matter public and explicitly list the names who do the mobbing. It will brand the mobbers as outspoken villains and primitive people, so they might back down. "
If the pressure becomes unbearable, Ramić advises going on sick leave, but not to terminate employment in any case because it would mean defeat for the victim, impunity for the mobber, and the effects of stress will remain after that.
She recalled that in the case of Croatia, the issue of mobbing is also addressed by trade unions, since this phenomenon is a violation of basic labor rights, but that nothing serious is being done in BiH for the time being.
“This problem should be primarily addressed by our ministries, inspections and the judiciary. Our trade unions should also include the fight against mobbing in their list of priorities,” said Ramić.
(FENA) S. R.
