Bullying scandals: Catalysts for victims to speak out?

Is there a silver lining to high-profile bullying scandals? How can firms encourage employees to report bullying? Suzy Blade, head of HR at Setfords, provides a breakdown.

The news agenda has sadly been dominated by workplace bullying scandals in recent times, from accusations of bullying against Dominic Raab being upheld, to reports of a culture of institutional racism, sexism and homophobia at the Metropolitan Police.

While these cases are clearly abhorrent and awful for the victims involved, is there a potentially positive impact from the high- profile media coverage of these cases? With so few people coming forward to report workplace bullying, which is unfortunately a common occurrence in the UK, we assess whether such scandals could encourage more employees to do so.

What is workplace bullying?

Firstly though, let’s define exactly what workplace bullying is. Some common instances of it include:

• Setting up someone to fail, like giving them unachievable tasks or unrealistic deadlines
• Inappropriate monitoring of work
• Demotion without justification
• Giving no credit where credit is due
• Sabotaging someone’s work
• Making inappropriate threats about job security

What does the law say?

Bullying itself isn’t actually against the law, however, harassment is prohibited under the Equality Act. This is when unwanted behaviour is related to one of the characteristics outlined below:

• Age
• Sex
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sexual orientation

As such, workplace bullying is unlawful if fits the above criteria.

Could prominent workplace scandals encourage more people to report workplace bullying?

The case for

As a result of the high-profile workplace bullying cases discussed above, victims may:

• Feel they’re not alone in reporting bullying – reporting bullying can feel lonely, but these cases demonstrate to victims that they’re not alone in doing so.
• Realise things will be taken seriously – with comprehensive investigations into the perpetrators in these scandals, and consequences for Raab who was forced to resign, they show that workplace bullying can be taken seriously.
• Feel part of something bigger – like with the #MeToo movement, speaking up against misconduct in light of these scandals can feel like being part of something bigger, which can encourage more people to do so.

The case against

On the flip side of things, victims may also:

• Fear the limelight -speaking up against bullying puts individuals into the limelight, something they may want to avoid.
• Dread the stress and strain -investigations into bullying can be drawn out and force victims to relive traumatic events.
• Feel they may be forced to leave – from having to work with people they’ve accused of bullying to fear of being singled out, many victims may be scared that reporting bullying could hinder their work experience and force them to leave.

How can businesses encourage more employees to come forward?

Some of the main ways businesses can encourage workers to report bullying include:

• Have clear reporting channels
• Offer training to staff on how to recognise and deal with bullying
• Provide support to anybody involved in a bullying complaint
• Take strong action when complaints are upheld
• Challenge inappropriate behaviour when it happens

It remains to be seen if the high-profile workplace bullying scandals we’ve seen recently will impact the number of victims reporting it. In reality, perhaps the only way this will happen is by employers better supporting employees.