30- Core Values

 Case Study - Bullying

What is bullying?

It's more than just a fight or disliking someone.

It’s being mean to someone over and over again.

Bullying is an ongoing or repeated misuse of power in relationships, with the intention to cause deliberate (on purpose) psychological harm. Bullying behaviours can be verbal, physical or social.

Bullying can happen anywhere – at home, online, with friends, in a group, on the bus or at school.

 Reason for why people are often hesitant to make a complain.

First and foremost, there is no compensation to be claimed if bullying is found to be occurring,” he told HC. “The only order you can get is that the bullying behaviour ceases.

“Secondly, the definition of bullying is relatively narrow, which makes it hard to make a successful claim.”

The Fair Work Act defines bullying as repeated unreasonable conduct that has the potential to cause a health and safety risk.

Jewell added that another reason for the low number of claims being made is that practically, the claims aren’t dealt with very quickly.

“An employee could make an allegation, but the subsequent process could go on for three to six months,” he explained.

“It’s not often that people think they are being bullied, but having to put up with it for six months makes the situation worse.

“It’s also difficult to get a successful claim against a manager in circumstances involving performance management,” he added. “These tend to be the circumstances in which people think they are being bullied.”

Jewell said that if an alleged bully’s behaviour can be deemed ‘reasonable management’, the claim would collapse.

“There’s a secondary element that bullying can’t be a reasonable management action,” he explained. “Any conduct considered to demonstrate this is exempt from bullying orders.”

“Very few law firms are advising these orders as a primary option,” Jewell warned.

“There could be quite unreasonable conduct going on that is held to not be repeated, so deemed not to be bullying.”

According to Jewell, a more traditional route – which employees are still opting to take – would be a worker’s compensation claim.

“Employees cannot make a bullying claim if they already have a worker’s compensation claim in,” he said. “A lot of employees are sticking to compensation claims.”

Is it possible for people who file complaints to be victimised beyond the original incident? How could this happen? What are some ways organisations and individual managers can help people feel more comfortable making a claim?

Yes, it has been noticed that in some cases people can be victimised for making complains.

Some possibilities why people get victimised are as follows:

1. Listen to each other.

Communication is at the core of human relationships, and it should be no different with your colleagues. Open a dialogue by listening and making people feel comfortable sharing. This is an ongoing process that should go beyond a single engagement survey each year. Collect regular, ongoing employee feedback -- and all forms of feedback at that.

Send pulse surveys, host focus groups, plan one-on-one meetings and participate in conversations around the office whenever possible. Sometimes the best feedback happens in these casual settings, when formal barriers are not in place.  

2. Show employees that you care.

In the same way you nod to someone to show them you are listening, make sure employees know you are listening by communicating the findings of any feedback they have provided.

Through my research interviewing hundreds of companies, it stood out to me how well-intentioned feedback efforts can backfire if nothing is done with the new information. Employees want to know that their voices aren’t falling into a black hole. If you can’t make the recommended changes, simply explain why. It’s scary, but transparency like this goes a long way to create a culture of respect and trust.

3. Help each other.

People who respect each other help each other. They support each other as employees and as people. Not only does this mean that employees will have richer, more positive relationships at work but also when there is a culture of support, employees won’t be afraid to ask for help. This ultimately makes everyone more comfortable and effective in his or her job.

Related: 5 Ways to Make Your Employees Happier and More Productive

4. Encourage everyone to be themselves.

The team-building events at my company CultureIQ, a business providing company culture-management software, have ranged from hiking to volunteering at a soup kitchen and a competitive game night at a local jazz bar. The common thread to these diverse (and seemingly unrelated) events is the team behind it.

Each month we pass the planning of our culture events to a different member of our team, and thus, each employee has an opportunity to bring his or her personality to the table. Not only do we get to know each other during the event itself, but we learn something about each employee through the event they plan. Hiking isn’t everyone’s favorite activity, but it certainly speaks to our product manager’s love for the outdoors, and we all are able to respect and appreciate that together.

The next time you find yourself stumped at retaining and engaging employees, just remember that it comes down to two surprisingly simple concepts: respect and trust

 

SHIFT THE FOCUS FROM EQUALITY TO FAIRNESS IN THE WORKPLACE.

 We hear a lot about equality in the workplace. Equal treatment, equal pay, equal opportunities for advancement. While all these things are important, and something employees look for and appreciate in a company, they may want something else even more. Fairness.

“That’s not fair!”

It’s a common childhood complaint. No doubt you’ve heard it before. In most cases, the complaint is dismissed, with the old, “Life’s not fair” rebuttal. However, the desire for fairness in the workplace cannot be shoved under the rug so easily. In fact, treating employees fairly might be one of the most important things any manager or owner can do to create a positive work environment.

WHY FAIRNESS IS SUCH A BIG DEAL

Most of us have probably had a manager who played favorites in the office. Examples include the “star” employee who always gets the best assignments and all the credit, that one employee who gets away with everything or managers who have a different set of rules for some employees versus others.

The problem is that playing favorites causes dissension among employees, invites poor morale, and makes it harder to keep or attract good talent. When you treat employees fairly, the focus in the office will shift away from grievances to how everyone can work together to achieve goals.

According to The Balance, “When you treat others fairly two things happen. Your employees notice and respect you for it. Your reputation for fair play reinforces their belief in you. Second, the people who you treat fairly will respond in kind. You are teaching through your actions and modeling the behavior of ‘fairness’ in the workplace.”

SOME KEYS TO REMEMBER IN FAIR PLAY:

• Never play favorites
• Make the rules clear and apply them equally (and fairly) across the board
• Make changes if you see an individual or group is being treated unfairly
• Think about how rules affect everyone
• Be up front about the reasons for your policies and rules
  
  

WHY THE “GOLDEN RULE” MIGHT NOT WORK AT WORK

The golden rule is another one of those life lessons we all learned as children. “Treat others as you want to be treated.” While this is a good rule to follow in general, it doesn’t always work in the office environment. According to an Inc. article, “If everyone has separate goals and desires (which they do) why should you assume something that makes you happy will give others the same pleasure? The new rule you should follow is the platinum rule: treat others how they would like to be treated.”

HOW TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR EMPLOYEES WANT

The key is to get to know your employees, so you understand what they want and what motivates them. Parents know that what often works with one child, fails with another. Teachers also face the challenge of figuring out the best educational methods to reach students with different personality types.

Managers and owners must do the same thing. “You need to understand what is important and valuable to each of your reports … Reaching out can be done with one-on-one meetings, drop-in chats, or employee surveys …The result is you’ll know more about your employees and be better able to motivate and inspire them,” according to Inc.

Fairness may be the new buzzword in the business world, as important (if not more important) than “equality” in the workplace. Follow these guidelines to create a work environment where being fair is the order of the day.