How to manage bullying in the workplace

Bullying in the workplace

Bullying in the workplace is not only harmful to the individual who is being bullied but also to the organisation.

• Raises questions whether you have provided a safe working environment for employees and workers.
• Time spent on managing grievance and disciplinary procedures takes time away from productivity.
• Creates a toxic and negative culture.
• Employee retention and attraction is poor.
• Damage to organisation brand.

These alone should be enough reasons to tackle bullying in the workplace.

What is bullying?

Whilst there is no legal definition for bullying, it is behaviour that is offensive, intimidating, insulting, malicious and it means to undermine, humiliate or even injure someone.  

It can be a manager treating a team member in this way, it could be a colleague’s behaviour towards another colleague or a group of people treating an individual poorly.

Bullying doesn’t have to be in person, it can be via electronic communication and social media but also by choosing to not communicate with an individual.  This means the bullying behaviour can also take place away from the workplace itself.

Sometimes, an organisation’s culture, poor management can lead to bullying acts not being reported, not taken seriously or worse the complainant is considered weak and receives further unfavourable treatment for raising a complaint.

Regardless of there being no legal definition of bullying, there is a legal responsibility on an employer to protect the health and wellbeing of employees under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

How to deal with complaints of bullying at work

Firstly, the culture of the organisation should be one of zero tolerance of bullying behaviours and individuals should be able to report bullying without fear of retribution. This starts with communication and action from the top down, so it filters through to individuals in the front line.

Along with having an anti-bullying policy – ask our HR consultants to help you with a Dignity at Work policy – you should have other initiatives in place that actively deal with tackling bullying. This might be awareness training for managers who can spot signs of bullying, able to investigate complaints of bullying and set a good example themselves.  

Anti-bullying ambassadors are a great idea too. They can help to raise awareness and provide learning to others on preventing bullying in the workplace.

Implementing measures other than a policy helps to create a culture of zero-tolerance of bullying which in turn would help to reduce acts of bullying in the workplace. In the case an individual is bullied they should feel confident in making their complaint.

In the unfortunate event a bullying case ends up in an Employment Tribunal, the above measures can be used as defence that the organisation has acted responsibly to prevent bullying.  

Steps to follow if a bullying complaint is made

A complaint does not have to be in writing. Once an individual raises concerns with a manager about their perceived treatment the manager should take steps to deal with the issue. Failure to take any steps to dealing with the complaint could be used as evidence that bullying is being acceptable in the workplace.

Where possible, the complainant could speak to the alleged bully and bring to their attention about their unwanted behaviour. Having an informal word can sometimes be enough to stop the unwarranted behaviour. However, if that does not work, or an individual may feel they can’t approach the alleged bully, they should be able to raise the complaint with a manager.

The manager should listen carefully and take notes of the complaint, checking with the individual they have fully understood the complaint. Inform the complainant that an investigation will be undertaken whilst not making any promises of action against anyone or showing a bias towards anyone. 

Recognise it will have been difficult for the individual to raise a complaint and offer them support either employee assistance programme or signpost them to external organisations that can provide help and support.

Keep communication open and regular to keep the complainant informed on the progress of the investigation.  

Conduct a thorough and fair investigation. Don’t just look for points that prove or disprove the allegations. Speak to witnesses and gather independent evidence. Talk to us about supporting your managers or helping you with an investigation.  

Investigations are time consuming and can be difficult if there are details that cause upset.  

It’s equally important to provide a duty of care to the alleged bully and also offer them the same access to an employee assistance programme or signpost to an external organisation. Once a complaint has been made, the alleged bully should be informed of the complaint and if appropriate they can be suspended or transferred to another place of work for the duration of the investigation.

Once the investigation has been concluded, an outcome should be decided upon on the grievance. If there is no evidence of bullying explain to the complainant why.  If there is evidence of bullying inform the complainant what action will be taken to deal with their bully and how the organisation will prevent the same happening again Care should be taken not to divulge what precise action is being planned or has been taken against the bully.

If a full and fair investigation identifies there has been bullying, the organisation must take steps to deal with this by following a fair disciplinary procedure. Talk to our team for HR support and advice about following a fair disciplinary procedure.

Once both processes have been exhausted, it may be useful to hold a mediation session between both individuals to help them to work in a professional manner at work and move on from the complaint.

HR Support & Advice  

If you would like professional HR consultants to support your business with the process of tackling bullying in the workplace, please get in touch with the team at Lunar HR. Offering comprehensive HR services that can be tailored to deliver effective HR support to small businesses or large organisations.