
Risk Management Workplace Bullying
Risk Management Workplace Bullying. It is vitally important as part of your organisation’s risk management strategy to ensure you do all you can to minimize or eliminate bullying in the workplace, training is a key component
Examples of workplace bullying may include;
- Abusive, insulting or offensive language
- Behaviour or language that frightens, humiliates, belittles or degrades; including criticism that is delivered with yelling and screaming
- Teasing or regularly making someone the brunt of practical jokes
- Displaying material that is degrading or offending
- Spreading gossip, rumours and innuendo of a malicious nature
Violence, assault and stalking are extreme forms of bullying that constitute criminal offences. Such behaviour should be reported directly to
- Harmful or offensive initiation practices
- Physical assault or unlawful threats
Workplace bullying can also be subtle and could include behaviour such as:
- Deliberately excluding, isolating or marginalising a person from normal workplace activities
- Intruding on a person’s space by pestering, spying or tampering with their personal effects or work equipment
- Intimidating a person through inappropriate personal comments, belittling opinions or unjustified criticism
Covert behaviour that undermines, treats less favourably or disempowers others is also bullying, for example:
- Overloading a person with work
- Setting timelines that are very difficult to achieve or constantly changing deadlines
- Setting tasks that are unreasonably beyond a person’s ability
- Ignoring or isolating a person
- Deliberately denying access to information, consultation or resources
- Unfair treatment in relation to accessing workplace entitlements, such as leave or training
- Failure to provide adequate training
Workplace bullying can take place in person, through a secondary person or other persons or via remote communications such as telephone, email or the internet.
The use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter or online chat forums for bullying purposes in or outside the workplace can constitute workplace bullying if it forms part of a pattern, or is an extension of bullying that has or is occurring in the workplace or is directed at a fellow employee.
The AWPTI Understanding Workplace Misconduct training courses have been disigned to assist employers and employees to understand their responsibilities and for employers as part of taking all reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate as far as possible workplace bullying in the workplace. Details here
With respect to power imbalances it is important that all your employees know what workplace bullying is, that is unlawful, that the person’s position within an organisation does not relieve them of their responsibilities to comply with workplace bullying guidelines and the behavioral expectations of your organisation. The duty not to engage in bullying is not diminished by the fact that a person is a high performer or is generally well liked within the organisation. Businesses and employers must have a zero tolerance policy to workplace bullying it should never be tolerated.
In relation to conferences and festive season functions, especially where alcohol is avilable things to consider are where will the functions will be held, how long they will go, what will be the start and finish times, will there be any regulation or restriction on the consumption of alcohol, who will oversight this, Have you done any training or provided employees with any guidance as to the behavioural expectations at the function.
The AWPTI Understanding Workplace Misconduct program has been adapted into a short course designed so that employers can clearly outline the behavioral expectations during the festive season specifically at Christmas lunches parties and other gatherings where alcohol may be involved – Details here.
Risk Management Workplace Bullying – The Law
Workplace bullying is any behaviour that is repeated, systematic and directed towards an employee or group of employees that a reasonable person, having regard to the circumstances, would expect to victimise, humiliate, undermine or threaten and which creates a risk to health and safety under Fair Work Act section 789FD (1)
Workplace bullying can also be experienced by a person who sees, hears or otherwise witnesses other persons being bullied.
In 2014, the Fair Work Act was amended to allow employees who believe that they are being bullied in the workplace to apply to the FWC for an anti-bullying order. Section 789FF.
Upon receiving the application, the FWC would investigate the matter within 14 days and if warranted issue the order.
Failure to comply with the order could result in a fine for the person named in the order.
It is worth noting that quarterly statistics have shown that 70-85% of total applications are for orders against managers or groups of managers.
Having training in place is not only important for an employer to satisfy the general duty of care to take all reasonable steps to ensure that nothing in the workplace could cause an employee to suffer an injury or illness, courts and tribunals have found that workplace bullying can lead to psychological injuries and illnesses such as stress anxiety depression, PTSD and in the worst cases suicide.
Don’t take the risk of your business failing to satisfy your duty of care.