Workplace bullying
Wanted to get some advice on whether I’m overthinking my current work situation or if this is genuinely not normal.
I recently got a full-time role and am still within my first few weeks/months, so I understand there’s naturally a steep learning curve and pressure from clients. I’ve also noticed that my director seems stressed from client pressure and tends to speak quite sharply to everyone, not just me, so I’ve been trying not to take things too personally and focus on improving.
That said, there have been some things that have made me uncomfortable.
One incident that stood out was team members making remarks about men in front of me during lunch/meeting discussions, including calling certain men “manlets” based on their height. I usually ignore such comments, but hearing it repeatedly within my own team made me feel quite excluded and uncomfortable.
I’ve also noticed a difference in how communication happens within the team. Among themselves, they are collaborative and do alignment discussions/calls, but when I ask questions or ask to align before meetings, I sometimes get ignored or receive very minimal responses. Since I’m still ramping up, this makes it difficult to know whether I’m proceeding correctly.
There were also situations where expectations were unclear. For example, during my first time handling reports (including additional scope being added that week), I spent extra time checking numbers, screenshots and insights carefully because I was new to the process. I communicated that I would share the report for vetting once done, but later got told I was expected to notify the team earlier as I wasn’t supposed to work it independently — which hadn’t been communicated to me before.
At one point when I mentioned the workload was difficult during my first time handling it, mocking emojis were used in response. There was also another occasion where I asked for clarification on some calculations before proceeding because I wanted to avoid mistakes, and after revisions were requested, the word “stupid” was used regarding the work submitted.
To be fair, I do recognise that I’m still inexperienced and slower than the rest because I’m new, and I’ve been trying to improve by documenting things more carefully, aligning more proactively and staying calmer under pressure by not panicking when Im being accused
I would appreciate any advice on this and have been wondering if hr would be able to help with this or should I just find another job and quit after reporting this