You May Not Recognize That You Are Being Work Abused Work abuse is so prevalent, victims often do not realize they are being maligned. Hare says most cannot break the denial that prevents them from seeing their own work abuse until they experience a severely traumatic situation. Hare, formerly an engineer, experienced work abuse so severe, though not physical, it led him to become a therapist in order to help others recover from their abuse. Most workers remain in abusive work settings because they have not experienced that traumatic experience yet. Workers stay in abusive organizations by adapting to their companies' norms.
Hare says there are three stages of adaptation.
Observing and assessing the behaviors of others in the organization is the first step. Next is changing one's behaviors to align with others behaviors. This is difficult because it involves the new employee changing his or her own beliefs. The funny thing is if you visit lots and lots of companies as I have, you'll see so many different combinations of norms, and you'll see all these different realities. Hare says he has visited more than 1000 workplaces during more than twenty-five years of study of this problem.