Examples of unacceptable behaviour

Acas says it is good practice for employers to provide examples of unacceptable behaviour in their organisation. Examples of bullying behaviour suggested by Acas include:

• spreading malicious rumours or insulting an individual (particularly on the grounds of race, sex, disability, sexual orientation and religion or belief);

• copying memos that are critical of an individual to others who do not need to know;

• ridiculing or demeaning an individual — picking on them or setting them up to fail;

• excluding or victimising an individual;

• treating an individual unfairly;

• supervising an individual in an overbearing manner, or otherwise misusing power or position;

• making unwelcome sexual advances — touching, standing too close, displaying offensive materials etc;

• making threats or comments about an individual’s job security without foundation;

• deliberately undermining a competent worker by overloading and constant criticism; and

• preventing an individual from progressing by intentionally blocking promotion or training opportunities.

Behaviour that is considered bullying by one person may be considered firm management by another, Acas says.

Bullying and harassment do not necessarily take place face-to-face. They may occur by written communication, email, telephone, text, online, or automatic supervision methods (such as computer recording of downtime from work, or recording of telephone conversations) if these are not universally applied to all workers.

The TUC provides more examples of bullying and harassment in its Workplace Manual 2012, including:

• public verbal abuse — being blamed and shouted at in front of colleagues;

• contract manipulation — for example, being forced to accept worse terms and conditions, to work unfavourable hours, or to return to work when sick, under threat of losing the job;

• undermining — for example withholding the information needed in order to perform the job; and

• humiliation.

The recognition that contract manipulation can amount to bullying is particularly important, reflecting experiences of members and reps since the start of the economic downturn, and illustrated by the survey evidence outlined in Chapter 1.

The HSE’s guidance also includes examples of repeated behaviour that counts as bullying:

• verbal abuse (including shouting or swearing);

• insubordination;

• libel, slander or ridicule;

• spying, pestering, or other inappropriate intrusive questioning, particularly into personal or domestic life;

• setting of impossible or arbitrary objectives or deadlines;

• excessive supervision;

• unjustified fault-finding;

• withholding of information that the employee has a reasonable expectation of being given;

• exclusion from meetings that the employee has a reasonable expectation of attending;

• other forms of unreasonable ignoring of the employee;

• refusal (without reasonable cause) of reasonable requests for leave or training; and

• malicious prevention of career development.