Violence in the Workplace
Workplace Violence, Harassment and Legislation
What you need to know and how it can help your company now
Employees should be able to work in a safe and healthy environment without fear of any kind of violence. Yet most people are aware, either from their own personal experience or from the experience of a family member, friend or colleague, that workplace violence—especially psychological harassment or bullying—is still common in many workplaces.
All across the country governments have been responding to high-profile cases and alarming statistics by imposing legislation to control this problem. For example, Quebec passed its Psychological Harassment legislation in June 2004, leading the way in North America. More recently, last year the federal government announced its Violence Prevention in the Workplace regulations for the federal public service and federally regulated industries. And this year Ontario introduced Bill 168, amending the Occupational Health and Safety Act with respect to violence and harassment in the workplace. All of these regulations require employers to develop policies and programs to prevent workplace violence or harassment, assess the risks for workplace violence, and to regularly evaluate and update their policies.
…as many employees who have been targets of psychological harassment have been finding out, the legislation does not necessarily result in an immediate end to their ordeal.
One would expect that these evolving regulations would make a significant difference and that violence—in particular bullying and psychological harassment—would be a problem of the past. One would also expect that employers and employees would enjoy the benefits of a harassment-free, healthy and more respectful workplace. Yet as many employees who have been targets of psychological harassment have been finding out, the legislation does not necessarily result in an immediate end to their ordeal. Furthermore, as many employers have been learning, handling this issue is often a costly, time-consuming and arduous task. While clear policies and violence or harassment prevention training programs help, they do not completely resolve the problem.
Why do managers often not respond?
One reason why this problem is not so easily controlled is because of the way individual managers respond to the complaints. .Most organizations are doing their due diligence: they have created or updated their policies, developed training programs and have communicated the importance of having a respectful culture. Yet not all managers react the same way to the problem of harassment or bullying, or to conflict. Some tackle the problem when it is brought to their attention; others avoid dealing with it. Managers who avoid addressing this problem do so for good reason. They feel they do not have the competency to handle a problem even with training. Some may not believe that the behaviour warrants disciplinary action, or may sense a lack of organizational commitment. Others may find that dealing with a situation of bullying is a time-consuming and arduous task, giving them extra work and no reward. Finally, some courageous managers who do take action against their bullying employees can suddenly find themselves facing a harassment complaint against them. This is not encouraging at all for them or for their colleagues who want to work in a respectful work environment.
Best Practices make all the difference
After years of working as an expert in all sectors, I know that violence, harassment, bullying, discrimination, chronic conflicts, and disruptive behaviour can be managed and resolved in a timely and effective manner. But it takes an effective organizational strategy to make this happen, one that moves beyond policy implementation, risk assessment and training. Above all, senior leadership has to be committed to an organizational culture that is ready to “walk the talk.” Leaders also have to go beyond their due diligence and develop a plan that demonstrates that they “mean business”. Out of this commitment Best Practices are emerging, and are bringing us steps closer to enjoying a more respectful workplace culture. These include a well-functioning monitoring process, training and ongoing coaching for managers, and a mechanism to ensure accountability and compliance.
Your organization can also benefit from Best Practice Strategies. They will help prevent bullying, harassment, discrimination, chronic conflicts and disruptive behaviours, and will help your organization move closer to a respectful workplace culture.
Best Practice Strategies
1. Train and coach supervisors, managers and those who are responsible for resolving these problems. The training focuses on how to conduct investigations and resolve incidents—a sort of ABC course with very concrete guidelines to follow, with coaching and support built into the process. The training leads to a more unified management approach to dealing with incidents and a more consistent message—that this new culture of respect is supported by all levels of management and that collectively the management team is prepared to take action. The training gives managers the tools they need to investigate and resolve incidents. However giving managers access to coaching has been found to help significantly. Coaching, either one-on-one or in a peer group, gives supervisors and managers the support they need to help them to conduct an investigation and resolve the complaint. Peer group coaching also adds value because it promotes team learning, team building and peer support. When increasing numbers of supervisors use a similar approach to resolving problems, they develop more individual and organizational expertise. Problems are then resolved more efficiently, thereby creating a more respectful workplace culture.
2. Provide a mechanism to ensure compliance. Make people responsible for their behaviour and obligate them to resolve problems. Including behaviour and civility in a performance appraisal prompts employees to follow the rules and pay more attention to their behaviour. When managers know that they are being held accountable for investigating and resolving complaints in a timely manner, and this is dealt with in their performance appraisals, they will be more ready to act on problematic behaviours and situations when they first become aware of them.
3. Resolve outstanding situations of chronic conflicts, harassment, bullying, etc. Take a scan of the work climate, relationships, teamwork, communication styles and ways people resolve conflict, etc., so you can get a sense of how healthy or toxic the work environment is. This will shed some light on what is really going on in each department or the whole organization. This information will create a catalyst for managers to work together to resolve outstanding issues and problems.
A harassment-free workplace benefits the bottom-line
Employers may be baffled as to why they are still plagued with highly complex and serious incidents of conflicts, bullying or other serious types of violence, particularly when they have their policy and procedures in place and they have invested heavily in training. They may also wonder if they will be able to ever fully resolve these problems or truly create a respectful workplace. They can. But to do this they need to go beyond the legal requirements and ensure accountability and compliance. Violence prevention programs cannot be completely effective without this component.
Employers can reap the benefits of the expanding legislation on violence prevention when they develop and implement Best Practice Strategies. By working to fully resolve their distinct problems they will develop their own unique strategies that are right for their organization. By doing this, they will bring about a change process. All this will ensure that the vast amount of money, time and energy they are spending to comply with the legislation will not only fulfill their legal obligations but will give them added value, the benefits of a harassment-free environment, an engaged work force, and a respectful workplace.
Article first published in Your Workplace magazine issue 12-1
