Bullying

You can find out if bullying is happening, or there is the potential for bullying, by:

• talking regularly with workers, health and safety representatives and health and safety committees to find out if bullying is happening or if there’s anything that could increase the risk of bullying
• seeking feedback when workers leave the business, for example, holding exit interviews
• seeking regular feedback from managers, supervisors or other internal and external parties
• monitoring incident reports, workers compensation claims, patterns of absenteeism, sick leave, staff turnover and records of grievances to establish regular patterns or sudden unexplained changes
• recognising changes in working relationships between workers, customers and managers.

There are a number of factors that could increase the risk of bullying at your place of work. Section 2 of the Guide for Preventing and Responding to Workplace Bullying has a list of these.

You can reduce the risk of bullying by creating and promoting a positive work environment where everyone is treated fairly and with respect. You should consider a combination of the following control measures at your place of work.

Management commitment

A senior management team that is committed to identifying, preventing and responding to bullying can help prevent unreasonable behaviour and manage psychological risks. For example, managers can show their commitment by making sure reports of bullying are taken seriously and properly investigated each time.

Set the standard of work behaviour

You can outline what is and is not appropriate behaviour in a code of conduct or a policy to your business. With the standard of work behaviour set, you can address inappropriate behaviours before they escalate.

Develop productive and respectful working relationships

Good management practices and communication are an important part of creating a work environment that prevents bullying. For example, mentoring and supporting new and poor performing managers and workers.

Design safe systems of work

Work design control measures may reduce the risk of bullying, for example, reviewing and monitoring workloads and staffing levels to reduce over-the-top working hours.

Implement reporting and response procedures

It’s important for workers who experience or witness bullying at work to know they can talk to someone in the business, that their report will be taken seriously, and that it will be confidential. Workers affected by bullying will be more likely to report their case if there’s a reporting process in place.

Provide training and information

Training can significantly help you prevent and manage bullying at work. It's particularly useful for early intervention in conflict before it potentially escalates into bullying. There are many ways you can provide training including online courses, podcasts and face-to-face training.

Section 2 of the Guide for Preventing and Responding to Workplace Bullying looks at each of these control measures in detail. You should read this to make sure you know how to stop bullying from happening in your place of work.

Risk management should be an ongoing process in your business and you should review your control measures regularly. Don’t wait until something goes wrong.

Policies and procedures should be reviewed regularly. You must carry out a review alongside your workers and their health and safety representatives (if any).

A review can be taken at any time but it’s recommended it’s taken at least:

• when a case of bullying at work has been found
• at the reasonable request of a health and safety representative or a health and safety committee
• when new or additional information or research about bullying at work becomes available
• where a review of records shows reports of bullying at work are increasing, or
• according to a scheduled review date.

You should report the results of reviews and any suggested improvements to managers, board members and applicable health and safety representatives and health and safety committees.

As a PCBU, you may take reasonable management action to effectively direct and control the way work is carried out.

It’s reasonable for managers and supervisors to allocate work and give feedback on a worker’s performance. These actions aren’t considered to be bullying if they’re carried out in a lawful and reasonable way, taking the particular circumstances into account.

A manager exercising their legitimate authority at work may make some workers uncomfortable.

The question of whether management action is reasonable is determined by considering:

• the actual management action rather than a worker’s viewpoint of it
• if the action involved a significant departure from established policies or procedures
• if a departure from established policies or procedures happened, whether it was reasonable in the circumstances.

Some examples of reasonable management action are:

• setting realistic and achievable performance goals, standards and deadlines
• fair and appropriate rostering and allocation of working hours
• transferring a worker to another area or role for operational reasons
• deciding not to select a worker for promotion where a fair and transparent process is followed
• telling a worker about unsatisfactory work performance in an honest, fair and constructive way
• telling a worker about unreasonable behaviour in an objective and confidential way
• implementing organisational changes or restructuring
• taking disciplinary action, including suspending or terminating employment where appropriate or justified in the circumstances.