Preventing bullying and harassment Advice for individuals, firms and organisations

In addition, “harassment” which is related to “a protected characteristic” is a form of conduct expressly prohibited by the Equality Act. S26 of the Equality Act 2010 provides that “A person (A) harasses another (B) if A engages in unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, and the conduct has the purpose or effect of violating B’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for B.”

The protected characteristics under the Equality Act are race, gender, age, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, and marriage and civil partnership.

Examples of bullying/harassing behaviour include:

• ridiculing or demeaning someone in person or online;
• exclusion or victimisation;
• spreading malicious rumours or insulting someone either by talking about the person or posting comments online;
• inappropriate intrusive questioning, particularly into personal and domestic life;
• overbearing supervision;
• deliberately undermining an employee by overloading and constant criticism;
• unwelcome sexual advances – touching, standing too close, inappropriate language orbehaviour, display of offensive material;
• preventing employees progressing by intentionally blocking promotion or training opportunities; and
• abusing a position of superiority to unreasonably cast doubt on ability.

Workplace bullying and harassment can occur in various forms. It can be face to face, occur in emails, comments posted online, comments or images posted on social media sites or visual images, through other written communications or over the phone. It can be hard to recognise. It may be carried out by an individual against another individual, by someone in a position of authority such as a manager or a supervisor or a third party such as a customer, client, supplier, committee member or panel chair. It may also involve groups of people for example, a group acting together to isolate another colleague.

A one-off incident can amount to bullying or harassment. There is no requirement that an individual explains to the other person that the conduct is unwanted.

It can occur during working hours or in other situations where there is a connection with the workplace or colleagues or has an impact on their relationship with colleagues or clients. For example comments posted online out of working hours may still amount to bullying or harassment. Similarly, conduct which occurs during work related social events may also come within scope.

The costs to the business may include low morale, inefficiency, long term illness, potential recruitment and retraining costs due to the loss of staff. There may also be reputational damage to the organisation. Job performance is almost always affected and employee relations in the workplace suffer.

There will also be a direct cost to the business should an employee make a successful claim to the Employment Tribunal for constructive dismissal or for harassment amounting to discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, as well as any associated legal costs. A successful claim against an employer will also damage the reputation of the organisation as an employer and, potentially, to prospective clients. A claim of harassment may also prejudice a firm’s prospects when tendering for new business as those looking to appoint new providers will often ask for details about a firm’s record of claims or complaints.