Bullying and Harrassment in the Workplace
Employers are responsible for preventing bullying and harassment in the workplace and it’s obviously in their interests, as well as being common sense, that they make it clear to everyone that such behaviour will not be tolerated. Examples of bullying/harassing behaviour include:
- Spreading malicious rumours, or insulting someone by word or behaviour (particularly on the grounds of age, race, sex, disability, sexual orientation and religion or belief);
- Ridiculing or demeaning someone – picking on them or setting them up to fail;
- Preventing an individual’s progression by intentionally blocking promotion or training opportunities.
Bullying and harassment are not necessarily face to face but may occur in written communications eg email, or via social media. A written policy on how the employer tackles this issue is essential but is only a starting point. Some of the other actions an employer needs to consider are:
- Their own culture within the organisation: does it lend itself to being the sort of environment where bullying and harassing behaviours eg name calling/teasing are commonplace;
- How they actually enforce the policy when issues arise so that employees are comfortable that their complaints (provided they have been made in good faith) will be taken seriously and they will not be disadvantaged as a result;
- Mediation and conciliation – some form may be sensible to manage an ongoing working relationship;
- Confidential counselling services
- Greater support from any occupational health provider (like Capita in the BBC case)
A failure to take these issues seriously may not only result in the kind of extreme situation the BBC found themselves in, but more likely will expose an organisation to other costs (in addition to the risk of legal claims); poor employee relations, low morale, inefficiency and potentially the loss of staff who vote with their feet and resign.
Take a moment or two to consider your organisation, its culture and its policies in this respect – are there changes you need to make?
