In yesterday’s Advisor, we looked at steps for establishing your antibullying program. Today, a sample antibullying policy and an upcoming special audio conference that answers your bullying questions.
Here’s a sample anti-bullying policy:
[Company name] prohibits acts of harassment or bullying. A safe and civil environment is necessary for employees to achieve the high standards we expect. Demonstration of appropriate behavior, treating others with civility and respect, and refusing to tolerate harassment or bullying is expected of all employees.
What Is Bullying?
Bullying is repeated, health-harming mistreatment of another employee. Generally, bullying:
▪ Consists of any gesture or written, verbal, graphic, or physical act (including electronically transmitted acts – i.e. Internet, cell phone, personal digital assistant (pda), or wireless hand held device) that is reasonably perceived as being motivated either by any actual or perceived characteristic, such as race or religion; or a mental, physical, or sensory disability or impairment; or by any other distinguishing characteristic, or is based on an association with another person who has or is perceived to have any of these characteristics.
▪ Substantially interferes with work, opportunities, benefits, of one or more employees, sometimes through actual sabotaging of work; and
▪ Adversely affects the ability of a employee to function at work by placing the employee in reasonable fear of physical harm or by causing emotional distress.
Should you be writing your antibullying policy right now? Not sure what to write? Try BLR’s special 90-minute July 22 audio conference. Click here for details
Since bystander support can encourage bullying, [company name] prohibits both active and passive support for acts of harassment or bullying. Employees should either walk away from these acts when they see them, or constructively attempt to stop them. In either case, employees should report incidents to the designated authority.
[Company name] prohibits reprisal or retaliation against any person who reports an act of harassment or bullying.
Violators of this antibullying policy will be subject to appropriate consequences up to and including discharge.
What to Do Next
Workplace bullying is a growing worry for many HR directors and employers—and an increasing liability risk, too.
Studies show that 1 in 10 employees around the United States will be the target of what the experts define as “persistent aggressive or unreasonable behavior” from their co-workers. That means everything from rude manners and office ostracism to curses and taunts, the destruction of work product or personal property, and even outright assault and battery. Women and minorities tend to suffer in disproportionately large numbers, which is bad news if you’re ever brought to court. Plus, make a mistake in disciplining or firing a bully and he or she could sue you, too!
It’s not always easy to identify potential or active workplace bullies, and it’s even more difficult to stamp them out entirely. However, you can minimize your legal risks by staying alert for the red flags that signify bullying in progress, establishing clear-cut policies prohibiting these behaviors, and dealing swiftly with complaints and claims as they’re made.
Get started by attending Workplace Bullying: Practical Steps for Recognizing, Managing, and Eliminating Bullies – Without Getting Sued. During this 90-minute audio seminar on July 22, you’ll learn how to create a workplace environment that discourages bullying before it starts. Also, you’ll gain practical advice for identifying potential bullies (and bullying targets), setting policies to deal with bullying claims, and disciplining bullies before any situation gets out of control.
“Employers Can’t Ignore Workplace Bullies,” headlines Business Week. Find out what to do now at BLR’s special 90-minute audio conference Workplace Bullying: Practical Steps for Recognizing, Managing, and Eliminating Bullies – Without Getting Sued. Click here for info
The date is July 22, 2008. The time, 1:30 pm to 3 pm (Eastern Time—adjust for your time zone). As with all BLR audio conferences, one fee trains all the staff you can fit around a conference phone, you can get your (and their) specific phoned-in or e-mailed questions answered in an extensive Q&A that follows the presentation, and your satisfaction is assured or you get a full refund.
What if you can’t attend on that date? Preorder the conference CD. For more information on the conference and the experts presenting it, to register, or to preorder the CD, click here. We’ll be happy to make the arrangements.
This is an interesting post. It’s good that we’ve been shown how to develop a thumbnail anti-bullying policy so that we can take our own faltering steps (if the first) to develop our own.
It would still be wise to take into consideration that the employees of a business could develop a bullying or harassing regimen with a customer (or the reverse) and some policy needs to be instituted to address that type of situation. In this case, I’ve been witnessing a customer/employee situation worsening over the months.
How do you identify the abuser or the bully *before* they start working for your company? I’m disappointed to say I’ve been attempting to write that article and that blog several times over the last three years. Each time I start the writing, some strange system malfunction occurs and deletes everything I’ve done. When I attempt to recover the content or redo it, it again gets deleted.
And strange as it may sound, that is one of the signs of an abuser/bully — intentional interference with work product and gainful opportunities.
You really do want to have me as a presenter on this subject — SOON.