Can your business benefit from expert assistance in bullying and harassment issues?
The increasing frequency of bullying and harassment issues and allegations in Australian workplaces make it essential that managers are fully aware of how to correctly respond to such matters in a timely and compliant manner.
Left unaddressed, bullying and harassment issues and allegations can result in major negative costs to your business through:
- The risk of valued staff leaving your organisation;
- Lost productivity, including increased levels of absenteeism and lowered levels of staff morale;
- Adverse publicity and loss of reputation;
- Expensive workers’ compensation claims for bullying
- Court costs and penalties for sexual and other forms of harassment.
What constitutes bullying in the workplace?
There is no single statutory definition of workplace bullying in Australia but as workplace bullying becomes increasingly seen as a workplace safety issue, assistance can be drawn from a number of sources, including the current definition preferred by WorkCover NSW and WorkSafe Victoria, ie:
Bullying is repeated unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety. Bullying can occur wherever people work together. Under certain conditions, most people are capable of bullying. Whether it is intended or not, bullying is an OHS hazard.
Workplace bullying is often unreported by staff for a number of reasons, including:
- As bullying is most often an abuse of power between staff, it is common for an employee to be bullied by a more senior employee;
- The perpetrator often is able to ensure that bulling is done behind closed doors, without being witnessed;
- Often other staff are aware of the bullying but adopt a culture of silence, either tolerating it or fearing reprisals if they report it.
TELS has proven expertise in working with businesses to respond to allegations of bullying and harassment. We also have a track record in providing the following types of services for our clients:
- Investigations into allegations of workplace bullying;
- Responding to Provisional Improvement Notices placed on workplaces by WorkCover inspectors;
- Conducting bullying risk audits;
- Assisting with practical workplace policies + procedures to address bullying issues; and
- Presenting briefings and training sessions to staff and management groups on workplace bullying.
What is workplace harassment?
Unlawful workplace harassment occurs when someone is made to feel intimidated, insulted or humiliated because of their race, colour, national or ethnic origin; sex; disability; sexual preference; or some other characteristic specified under antidiscrimination or human rights legislation such as discrimination on the basis of disability, race or religion.
Unlike bullying conduct that normally requires repeated conduct, it is possible for even one incident of harassing conduct to constitute harassment. Harassment can include behaviour such as:
- Sending sexually explicit or suggestive emails;
- Displaying or showing others offensive or pornographic images on mobile phones, work computers or having such images as screen savers;
- Asking intrusive questions about a colleague’s personal life, especially their sex life;
- Making derogatory comments about aspects of a colleague’s religion, race or disability;
Substantial penalties may apply to individuals or businesses who have allowed staff to be subject to workplace harassment.
Details of our methodology and pricing options for bullying and harassment services are available on request. Use the Contact Us page to obtain fuller details.
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