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Harassment and Bullying Policy

Harassment and Bullying Policy

1. Policy Statement

  1. The Foundation recognises the need to create a working environment where staff are treated with respect by their fellow colleagues as well as guests and customers;
  2. The Foundation strives to create a working environment in which no person feels threatened or intimidated;
  3. The Foundation will not tolerate any form of harassment or bullying whether on the grounds of sex, race, gender reassignment, disability, sexual orientation, age, religion or belief or for any other reason;
  4. Further, the Foundation, will not tolerate any form of retaliation or violence or victimisation against any member of staff and in particular, where they have brought a complaint of harassment or bullying under the Foundation’s policy;
  5. Staff who do harass or bully any other member of staff will be subject to discipline in accordance with the Foundation’s disciplinary policy;
  6. It is the responsibility of senior management to ensure that the Foundation’s policy on dignity at work (harassment and bullying policy) is fully implemented.

2. Harassment

  1. Harassment may come in many forms, some of which are not always obvious to the individual members of staff. It will usually take the form of some unwanted behaviour by one member of staff to another;
  2. Harassment can include verbal, non verbal or physical conduct which:
    • Belittles someone;
    • Can include comments about a person’s appearance, clothes or body;
    • Patronises someone;
    • Has the purpose of degrading someone;
    • May involve unwelcome sexual attention or comment;
    • Can include the display of offensive or sexually explicit material such as posters, pinups, books or visual display images of that nature or the use of e-mail to forward similar types of material;
    • Can include touching, caressing, hugging or encroaching on a person’s individual space or other similar unwelcome approaches;
    • May involve staring at a person;
    • Includes the deliberate exclusion of someone from work activities or discussions for any reason but especially because of their race, sex, gender orientation, disability, age or similar.
  3. The essence of harassment is that the behaviour of the individual or individuals is unwelcome, unwanted and not reciprocated in any way;
  4. Harassment is a serious matter that may amount to gross misconduct within the Foundation’s disciplinary policy;
  5. Further, staff should be aware that harassment involving any aspect of discrimination in relation to a person’s age, sex, race, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation or gender reassignment may constitute a serious criminal offence, making a person liable to prosecution. Further individuals so harassed may bring private claims under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

2.1 Bullying

  1. Bullying is a persistent course of behaviour by an individual or a group of individuals that creates a situation where people are undermined due to threatening or intimidating behaviour;
  2. There is no single definition of what amounts to bullying but it can include, amongst other actions:
    • A threat of physical violence or actual physical violence;
    • Unfairly picking on someone;
    • Imposing unrealistic targets or work expectations;
    • Abuse of authority in dealing with an individual;
    • Making unpleasant remarks or jokes about a person;
    • Playing practical jokes on an individual or taking, hiding or damaging their personal property;
    • Requiring new members of staff to undertake a new staff initiation ceremony or similar degrading expectation.
  3. Bullying is a serious disciplinary matter that may amount to gross misconduct within the Foundation’s disciplinary policy.

3. Implementation

  1. Staff who become aware of a problem of this nature should ensure that they make a responsible person aware of the position;
  2. If you are subject to unwelcome conduct or remarks you should make the person aware that you find the conduct unacceptable or offensive;
  3. It is the responsibility of all employees to make sure that they understand and follow this policy;
  4. Management are expected to ensure that the policy is fully understood by the staff, that it is properly implemented, and that suitable disciplinary action is taken in the event of any breach of the policy;
  5. The Foundation recognises that complaints of harassment or bullying can be of a sensitive or worrying nature. Staff may feel unable to speak directly to their line manager. If this is the case you may wish to speak to someone in a more senior position or to the Human Resources Department directly. Alternatively you may wish to put your concerns in writing and send them to the appropriate person;
  6. All staff members should treat their colleagues with respect and comply with this policy.

4. Outline Procedures

  1. Wherever possible the Foundation will aim to try and resolve difficulties and concerns within the workplace through an initial informal approach;
  2. The informal approach will usually involve a meeting of the relevant parties to discuss the concern and attempt to resolve the difficulties;
  3. Where this informal approach fails or a staff member feels that the issue is of such a serious nature that an informal approach is inappropriate the matter will be dealt with through a formal complaint procedure in line with the Foundation’s grievance procedure;
  4. A formal complaint will be thoroughly investigated by the Foundation. Staff are reminded that they should keep full details of the alleged concerns and be specific when raising a complaint in relation to the incident or incidents, including date, times and parties involved;
  5. Following the investigation, the staff member raising the complaint will be informed of the outcome of the investigation and be given an opportunity to respond. If the Foundation decides to take formal disciplinary action there will be no obligation to notify the staff member complaining of the nature of any such action;
  6. If the staff member raising the complaint is dissatisfied with the outcome of the investigation they will have a right to appeal in writing to more senior management;
  7. The appeal will undertake a separate investigation of the concerns and the nature of the original investigation meeting, where relevant with all involved parties;
  8. The outcome of the appeal will be notified to the staff member complaining and this will form the end of the appeal process and grievance procedure;
  9. The Foundation aims through this policy to ensure that no staff member shall feel harassed or bullied. If such circumstances should occur that the staff member is aware of and feels confident to use the policy knowing that they will suffer no detriment as a result of so doing;
  10. In order to ensure that this policy remains fully compliant with current legislation, it will be reviewed on a regular basis and may be subject to change.

Last Updated: November 19, 2022

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