Examples of unacceptable behaviour

Acas says that: “Behaviour that is considered bullying by one person may be considered firm management by another. Most people will agree on extreme cases of bullying and harassment but it is sometimes the ‘grey’ areas that cause most problems.”

It is therefore good practice for employers to give examples of what is unacceptable behaviour in their organisation. It suggests the following examples:

• 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, asking for sexual favours and making decisions on the basis of sexual advances being accepted or rejected;

• 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.

Bullying and harassment do not necessarily take place face-to-face. They may occur by written communication, visual images such as pictures of a sexual nature or embarrassing photographs of a colleague, 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.

Public service union UNISON’s guidance, Harassment at work — A UNISON guide, sets out that bullying can also include:

• ignoring views and opinions;

• withholding information which can affect a worker’s performance;

• setting unreasonable or impossible deadlines,

• setting unmanageable workloads;

• humiliating staff in front of others; and

• cyberbullying using email, text messages, camera phones and social media (see pages 8-9 and 13 on cyberbullying in the media and education, and page 40 on cyberbullying and the criminal law).

In addition, “contract manipulation” — including being forced to accept worse terms and conditions, work unfavourable hours, or return to work when sick under threat of losing the job — can amount to bullying. A UNISON member described how he was threatened with job loss because he wanted the bank holiday off with his family. Another described how she was “harassed at home by phone” by her manager when she was off sick: “I was threatened about my job due to how much sick leave I’d had in the past six months. The sick leave was due to having to wait three weeks for a hospital admission.”

The teachers’ ATL union guidance on bullying and harassment labels different types of bullying managers its members may encounter. For example, the “friend” may appear to cultivate a close friendship with a member of their department then just as suddenly drops any pretence of friendship, becomes hypercritical and treats people unfairly. The “refrigerator” on the other hand “makes it plain that s/he is unwilling to have anything to do with you. Your opinion is never invited and your contributions at meetings are completely ignored. If you complete a valuable piece of work, praise goes to someone else, or your success is not even mentioned.” And the “proceduralist” uses a particularly nasty form of bullying, using school/college procedures exhaustively to undermine morale.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says that: “Experts believe that bullying involves negative behaviour being targeted at an individual, or individuals, repeatedly and persistently over time.” It provides the following examples of “negative behaviour”:

• ignoring or excluding you;

• giving you unachievable tasks or “setting you up to fail”;

• spreading malicious rumours or gossip;

• giving you meaningless tasks or unpleasant jobs;

• making belittling remarks;

• undermining your integrity;

• withholding information deliberately;

• making you look stupid in public; and

• undervaluing your contribution — not giving credit where it is due.