Saturday, December 8, 2012

Harassment: Resolving Conflict


Harassment in the workplace can be described as actions directed at an individual, or group of individuals, which results in an intimidating, difficult and humiliating environment to work in for the victim. It's basically understood to be unwanted comments, conduct or gestures that are derisive, offensive, threatening, humiliating, hateful or demeaning. It could be a recurring or one-off event but it is so notable that it negatively affects an individual's performance, contribution or work environment. It can also include physical, debasing behaviour, exploitation of power, isolation, and discrimination, sexual and racial. The concept of bullying is basically continuous behaviour towards an individual that is deliberately intimidating, humiliating and undermining but is not exactly unlawful.

The act of harassing can be subtle or blatant and will often involve undesirable comments and gestures such as the display of offensive material; insults to a person's race, gender, disability or sexual preference; violent or threatening conduct, intrusive questioning about a person's personal life; offensive communications such as emails or phone calls, exclusion from normal workplace interactions; unwarranted degrading comments or evaluations of workplace performance. Considering the above, it is important to note that it does not involve legitimate negative assessments of an employee's work performance if these are communicated in a suitable manner. Bullying in the workplace does not have to be something that occurs frequently over a long period of time, it can happen just once for it to be considered harassment and unacceptable.

If you are experiencing harassment there are several things you can do to deal with the situation appropriately. If you do not feel confident enough to approach the person responsible and ask them to stop their negative behaviour you can make a written complaint to either your manager or the offender's manager. Make sure you save a copy of the complaint no matter how small or unimportant you think the incident is. Accurately described accounts of all exchanges or relations should be recorded for future reference. If you belong to a union, your representative should be contacted as unions usually have harassment policies and may be able to give you support and legal assistance. Your employer should also have harassment procedures in place to deal with potential cases and it is advisable to become familiar with these guidelines. If you struggle to resolve the complaint, you and your employer can participate in a mediation process that is monitored by a third party who is familiar with employment relations problems.

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