Anti-bullying awareness in the workplace

Individuals who are bullied at a young age usually go onto experiencing low self-esteem and low confidence in themselves which often leads to other poor outcomes in that person’s life. Bullying doesn’t necessarily have to happen at a young age but often takes place in the workplace too.

Employers have a duty of care towards their employees to provide them with a safe working environment in which to work from. Policies highlighting an anti-bullying statement and how employees can expect to be treated with dignity in the workplace are important to have in place but also for a culture that lives by these policies.

People spend a lot of time at work and inevitably there will be employees who become disgruntled or annoyed about another colleague. Encourage employees to resolve these matters quickly and informally between themselves without fear. Bullies are often stunned themselves if someone stands up to them to inform them their behaviour is unacceptable and unwanted. An organisation must create a space where individuals can speak up about how they may be feeling bullied without being ridiculed themselves.

When an employee raises a concern with their employer, they should be listened to. Allow them to air their grievance and it is usually possible to resolve the matter at this point. If not, then assure the employee that you will look into the issue and arrange to meet again to feedback. Knowing that they are listened to, their complaint is not brushed away will help employees to become engaged with the business and work towards creating harmonious working conditions.

This also helps to alleviate the number of formal grievances the business has to respond to. Stress and absence often go hand in hand with formal grievances, so where employers are tackling concerns at grass roots then they will also see a drop in absenteeism and stress levels with their employees.

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Get in touch with our HR Consultant

Contact us for further HR advice on anti-bullying in the workplace. Our specialist HR consultancy in Birmingham covers neighbouring areas of the West Midlands to provide HR management and support to businesses.