Australia has a pretty poor record when it comes to bullying in the workplace.
According to Safe Work Australia’s Workplace Barometer Project, the national prevalence rate for workplace bullying is 9.7%, but research indicates bullying is typically under-reported (mental health organisation Beyond Blue estimates half of all Australian employees will experience workplace bullying during their careers).
Workplace bullying is considered a risk to health and safety and under model Work Health and Safety laws, employers must take all reasonable steps to eliminate the risk to workers (if the risk can’t be eliminated, it must be minimised so far as is “reasonably practicable”).
Bullying causes serious mental and physical harm; it disrupts the workplace, damages morale, and reduces productivity. Most employees are protected by law from bullying at work and a worker who has been bullied can apply to the Fair Work Commission for an application to stop the bullying behaviour.
Every business needs to take workplace bullying very seriously. Despite legislation, the statistics prove that it is still prevalent in too many of our workplaces and we all need to make efforts to turn it around.
If someone comes to you and says they have been bullied or have witnessed others being bullied at work, you first need to be clear about what constitutes bullying.
The Fair Work Amendment Act 2013 defines bullying as when “an individual or group of individuals repeatedly behave unreasonably towards a worker or a group of workers, and that behaviour creates a risk to health and safety”.
The key words here are “repeatedly” and “unreasonably”. The behaviour isn’t a one-off incident; it is repeated behaviour that a reasonable person would see as unreasonable in the circumstances.
A single incident of unreasonable behaviour is not considered to be workplace bullying, however it may have the potential to escalate and should not be ignored.
Workplace bullying is a range of abusive, offensive or intimidating behaviour, language or comments. The behaviour doesn’t have to be direct; it could be subtle, e.g. deliberately not including someone in workplace activities. Bullying often involves a power imbalance, whether inherent or because the target ends up in an inferior position due to the bullying behaviour.
Managing an employee in a lawful and reasonable way is not bullying, e.g. allocating work or giving performance feedback, nor is a single incident of unreasonable behaviour, however you should deal with it before it escalates.
Also, don't overlook the potential for cyberbullying to occur in workplace communication channels, text or social media.
Bullying can be direct and personal, or it can be indirect and task-related.
Examples of indirect bullying include:
Examples of task-related bullying can include:
The repeated nature of bullying makes it extremely damaging. On a personal level, bullying has been proven to harm people’s well-being in many ways, from increasing anxiety, stress, and burnout to causing serious physical or mental health issues, such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even suicidal behaviour.
It’s not just the victim; witnesses and bystanders can also be affected by the hostile work environment, and the cumulative impacts on the business can be significant.
The Productivity Commission estimates that bullying at work costs Australian organisations between $6 billion and $36 billion a year in lost productivity and costs employers an average of $17,000 - $24,000 per case.
Bullying leads to increased employee leave, decreased work performance, higher turnover, and time spent on addressing complaints. Add to that the damage to company reputation and public image, which can further hamper the ability to attract and retain talented workers and harm overall profitability.
The International Labor Organization has identified workplace bullying as one of the greatest threats to business success.
Workplace bullying has a damaging effect on employees, overall workplace culture, and profitability.
Every Australian employer has a legal obligation to take all reasonable steps to keep employees safe and free from bullying, harassment, and discrimination at work. This includes having systems in place to prevent and respond to workplace bullying. Failure to do so can result in a breach of WHS laws.
While bullying may be difficult to totally eliminate, you should take all possible steps to minimise the likelihood of it occurring, just like any other workplace hazard. This starts with a positive company culture that promotes respect and understanding among employees and actively involves all team members.
Every organisation should have a bullying and harassment policy (either stand-alone or as part of your health and safety policy). The policy should define the rights and obligations of employees and managers and document how your business will work to prevent bullying and how you will respond to any issues.
An effective workplace bullying policy should clearly cover these elements:
There should be a clear escalation process so everyone knows what to do if they want to raise an issue. If there is no clear internal process or people don’t feel comfortable making a complaint (quite possible in a company with only a few employees), then they have a right to seek external help, e.g. from the Fair Work Commission, Work Health and Safety Regulators, their union, lawyers.
Having a zero-tolerance policy always needs to be matched with practice. Bullying in any form shouldn’t be accepted as a normal part of the job. It shouldn’t be swept under the rug or forgiven in the belief it’s a hard-nosed style of management that’s good for performance and productivity.
Bullying isn't effective performance management and effective performance and issues management never involves bullying.
If you need help with strategies to identify and prevent bullying at your workplace, the Safe Work Australia website is a good place to start. The MyHR team can help you draft policies, review practices, and support you and your team with managing any bullying concerns or complaints if they arise.
If you receive a bullying complaint from one of your employees, you need to treat it seriously and respond quickly and fairly.
The first thing to do is to acknowledge it and meet with the person (known as the “complainant”) - this can be done in person, over the phone, or on a video call. Check to see if there is anything they need right now to feel supported at work, ask if there is anything that they would like to do while you look into and respond to their complaint (e.g. work from home for a period of time), and understand what they would like to happen as a result of their complaint.
This last step is critical. Sometimes employees want the person they’ve accused of bullying fired immediately, and are surprised to hear that there is a process to follow before any decisions can be made. On the other hand, sometimes employees don’t want to go “on the record”, and just want to make their boss aware of the behaviour.
This can be particularly tricky to manage as an employer, because while you need to respect the complainant’s privacy, once they have reported the bullying, you have a duty of care to address it. If an employee raises a bullying complaint, but “doesn’t want this to go any further”, seek legal advice before deciding how to proceed.
Once you are aware of the complaint, decide whether you want to bring in an external workplace investigator to look into the matter (if physical harm has been caused, however, call the police). Workplace investigators are licensed professionals who have experience running investigations, and will be able to impartially and professionally investigate the matter and provide you with a full report at the end of the process. This can be an appropriate step if you’re a large organisation who has the resources to engage these professionals; if the complaint itself is very serious, complex, or takes place over a long time period; or if your policy requires it.
For most small businesses, it’s impractical and expensive to engage a workplace investigator, and you may choose to look into the matter yourself. Make sure that whoever leads the investigation is as impartial as possible, has no connection to the bullying complaint, and is provided with professional support as they proceed.
When investigating, put aside preconceptions and stay as objective and open-minded as possible. Keep in mind that the person who’s been accused of bullying behaviour (the “respondent”) and any witnesses may also need support. You are not running a criminal investigation and both parties need to be given the opportunity to present their version of events.
Take notes so you have a record. This improves objectivity and reduces hearsay or potential conflict of opinions.
Once you have all the information in front of you, decide what you think has happened “on the balance of probabilities” (i.e. given all the circumstances, what you think is most likely to have happened). Accusations of bullying can be hard to prove. Sometimes, there’s a fine line between acceptable and unacceptable management and personal interaction, especially in a busy workplace. Perceptions and context are important too.
Remember, bullying is about repeated and unreasonable behaviour towards another person or group - it isn’t necessarily about what the respondent intended or what they thought they were doing.
Whatever you do, don’t try to brush complaints off as something insignificant. Employers who don’t take bullying allegations seriously and don’t follow proper, transparent processes can find themselves in court.
If the allegations against the respondent are upheld, you will need to take remedial action, which may be a combination of:
Even if the respondent is well-liked, successful, or holds a senior position, the ongoing harm they can cause to your employees and business is far greater than any benefit they may bring to the organisation.
Once you have addressed an issue, make sure you continue to follow up and check that the resolution has been effective and everyone feels supported.
Find out more about how to handle employee complaints against a co-worker.
If a worker in your organisation applies to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) for an order to stop workplace bullying, the FWC will contact you as the employer, giving you a copy of the application and asking you to respond (the FWC will also contact the person named in the application as having engaged in bullying behaviour).
You must respond within 7 days of receiving the application. You can challenge the application if you don't think the worker has been bullied at work. You will also need to provide information on:
Once the FWC receives your response, it will contact you to let you know the next steps, which may include taking part in conciliation (where both sides try to resolve the issue with help from a mediator) or attending a conference or hearing.
The FWC has the authority to make any order it considers appropriate to stop the bullying and help people resume normal working relationships. It can’t make orders requiring payment. Failing to comply with stop orders could expose the organisation and/or the relevant bullying party to civil penalties.
For more information on applications to stop workplace bullying and the process for responding, visit the FWC website.