6. NEGOTIATING A POLICY

Policies and procedures are a necessary step towards tackling bullying and harassment at work, even though they are not sufficient to eradicate the problem. Any policy should be jointly negotiated and must have the demonstrable support from senior management to be successful.

Unions and management should work to promote awareness, both within the organisation and externally — to customers and suppliers and where appropriate, members of the public, always leading by example.

A membership survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) reported that 83% of the employers surveyed had a policy on bullying and harassment. However, the existence of paper policies and procedures does not necessarily mean that bullying and harassment are being dealt with, and the research findings in Chapter 1 of this booklet strongly suggest that despite the proliferation of anti-bullying and harassment policies, bad behaviour in the workplace is widespread and increasing.