How can expert HR advice for businesses help you?
Workplace bullying is a serious issue that seems to be on the incline in recent years.
The devastating consequences can affect not only the employees involved but the company as a whole. As a manager, it is your responsibility to ensure that your workplace is free from bullying and harassment of any kind.
How do you manage your employees to ensure workplace bullying does not occur, and what are the best courses of action to put an end to already present bullying?
Blue Tree HR Solutions offer expert HR advice for businesses, so we understand the difficult issues management is often faced with. Here’s why taking action against workplace bullying is so important, and how prevention and intervention can be approached.
What is workplace bullying?
Workplace bullying can take many forms. The most common include verbal abuse, intimidation, exclusion, and physical aggression. This type of harassment can create a toxic work environment and often harms the mental health of the employees involved.
According to a study from 2022, 47% of UK workers have observed bullying at work, and one in ten has been the victim of it. How can management make sure their workplace stays clear of becoming a number on these shocking statistics?
How can it affect your business success?
As well as affecting employees, workplace bullying can have a huge impact on your company’s success. Harassment can lead to decreased productivity, low morale, high turnover rates, and a bad reputation – which can cost you money.
Building a safe workplace that fosters employee engagement, loyalty, and productivity can be key to making money, not losing it. Expert HR advice for businesses like yours can help you take proactive steps to promote a culture of respect and inclusivity – ultimately contributing to the success and growth of your company!
Prevention
If you’re struggling to create and implement policies and procedures to prevent workplace bullying, expert HR advice for businesses is critical.
Here are the first steps to take to ensure bullying in your workplace is never an issue:
Communication – Encouraging open communication between employees and management, where employees feel safe speaking up, is key to guaranteeing witnesses or victims feel they can get help.
Zero-tolerance policy – Management should be making it clear to all employees that bullying and harassment will not be tolerated in the workplace and that these actions can be job-losing. Make sure this is in the employee handbooks, included in training sessions, and that regular reminders are sent out.
Recognition and reporting – All employees should be able to recognise bullying and know the procedures for reporting it. To ensure this, managers should provide training to make sure employees can recognise the signs immediately.
By seeking expert HR advice for businesses you can ensure any policies, procedures and training you introduce are legally compliant and that your employees feel supported throughout the process.
Blue Tree HR Solutions believe in the power of proactive HR. Prevention is always better than reaction, as this means the problem was addressed before it even arose. For more advice and help in implementing pro-active HR, contact Blue Tree HR Solutions and find out why our expert HR advice for businesses is trusted by companies of all sizes and industries.
Intervention
Unfortunately, prevention policies won’t stop workplace bullying in its tracks completely. There is always a small chance that harassment is still occurring, or will occur in the future.
If you, as a manager, witness workplace bullying or you are made aware of a situation, it is your responsibility to intervene and take immediate action.
Your actions are detrimental to the outcome of the problem. If workplace bullying is not dealt with correctly, it can lead to increased and intensified bullying, low morale, high turnover, and even lawsuits.
Here’s how you can begin to address the situation:
Investigate – It’s highly important to conduct a thorough investigation, collect all evidence possible, and gather statements from all those involved.
Support – Providing support to the victim is crucial for their well-being and recovery. However severe the harassment was, dealing with the trauma of being bullied can be difficult.
Managers should be able to create a safe space where victims can express their concerns and experiences, have their feelings validated, and receive resources – such as mental health resources or employee assistance programs – to help them cope and recover.
Take action – Taking disciplinary action against the suspect will not only set an example to other employees but will make sure the bullying does not continue.
Action against the individual may be verbal or written warnings, suspension, demotion, or even termination of employment. The disciplinary action should be scaled to the severity of the incident.
Implement – Taking further steps to prevent future incidents of bullying in the workplace occurring, as well as putting in safety measures for the victim, can help restore faith in your management and the company.
Follow up – Make sure to check in with the victim and perpetrator once resolved. This is to make sure the victim is getting the support they need, and the individual understands the consequences of their actions.
You are not alone – expert HR advice for businesses can help
Navigating workplace bullying and harassment can be complex and difficult – and it’s so important to get every last detail right in these sensitive scenarios. Blue Tree HR Solutions can help you every step of the way. From helping with disciplinary action and making sure the consequence is compliant with your company’s policies, providing the correct support for the victim, to support for your other employees and even yourself during these tense situations – our expert HR advice for businesses can help you provide the best management you can.
Looking for expert HR advice for businesses? Choose Blue Tree HR Solutions
Workplace bullying can have a detrimental impact on both employees and the overall success of your business.
Management should have a clear strategy for preventing and tackling bullying to protect employees and the business. Our expert HR advice for businesses like yours could be instrumental in creating a safe workplace culture.
Stand up to workplace bullying. Contact Blue Tree HR Solutions for expert HR advice for businesses – let’s create a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and supported. We offer both retained HR and ad hoc HR packages that are ideal if you are seeking HR advice for small businesses.
