Monitoring

The TUC says that any policy must be monitored regularly, to assess whether it is achieving its aims and objectives. Even if there have not been any complaints under the policy, this does not necessarily mean that it is working; in fact, the opposite may be true.

Staff appraisal systems, anonymous feedback from counsellors, focus groups and exit interviews when staff leave the job can also be used to assess the quality of bullying and harassment policies. Informal action should also be monitored.

Public sector employers need to remember the public sector duty to promote equality under the Equality Act 2010 (see Chapter 2) and check for patterns to ensure that there is no institutional harassment or bullying of particular groups.