With the 20th anniversary season of Strictly Come Dancing due to take to the floor in a matter of weeks, and the 15 new contestants revealed, it should be a time for celebration however few people will have failed to see the controversy over allegations of bullying made by actor, Amanda Abbington, a contestant in last year’s series. It is also alleged that contestants from previous years have also raised concerns. More recent allegations of a toxic environment for production staff have also come to light. An investigation is underway but it may be several weeks before the outcome of that is known.
Of course, Strictly is not the usual working environment! The intensity of rehearsals and stress of weekly live shows, combined with the fact that it is a competition where all participants – contestants and professional dancers alike - want to if not win, progress each week, not forgetting it can be a great boost to careers - are not what most people face on a daily basis in their working life. It does highlight the importance of understanding what bullying can look like in the workplace and ensure that everyone feels able to speak out about it and have their concerns addressed.
From a legal perspective, unlike discrimination, there is no legal definition of “bullying”. ACAS describe it as “unwanted behaviour from a person or group that is either offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting, or an abuse or misuse of power that undermines, humiliates, or causes physical or emotional harm to someone.” Where such behaviour is directed towards a person or group of people who have a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, such as sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, age etc then it may also amount to discrimination or harassment under that Act.
Some instances of bullying will be so obvious that treating anyone in a particular way is unacceptable. It is not always as clear as that. What one person may feel is bullying, another may not be bothered by it, or at least appear to be affected by it. Sometimes a reason for that is that people will often just brush off being treated in a particular way, as “that’s just the way it is”, but that means the underlying problem never gets addressed. It is also important to remember that bullying is not limited to a manager bullying a more junior colleague, or colleagues at the same level for example ignoring or excluding someone. There can be upward bullying where a more junior colleague perhaps disrespects or undermines their manager.
Bullying can often be symptomatic of wider issues within the culture of a particular team, department or organisation and in many cases people may be too afraid of the consequences to them to raise complaints. It is not uncommon once one person does raise an issue for others then to feel empowered to speak out.
What can employers do to address issues of workplace bullying?
- Don’t pretend that bullying cannot exist in your organisation.
- Set out clear standards of behaviour, where respect for colleagues and others is a foundation. Prevention is always better than cure.
- Involve employees at all levels in developing a Code of Conduct.
- Embed good behaviours in recruitment and induction processes, so anyone joining knows what is and is not acceptable.
- Review your procedures for how colleagues can raise complaints of bullying, and make sure these are clearly communicated. Many employers have a bullying and harassment policy, others will cover it in a Code of Conduct or grievance policy.
- Regular staff engagement surveys can provide vital information in identifying whether there is a problem with bullying. If that is the case employers need to follow up on that and get to the root of the issue.
- Ensure anyone with line management responsibility gets training and coaching. One person’s rigorous performance management is another person’s bullying!
- Ensure the independence of any investigation, if this is required. Often the fear of raising a complaint is that any investigation will be biased against the person raising it.
- Provide access to wellbeing and other support for both the person raising the complaint and the person against whom the allegation is made.
- Even if an allegation is not upheld, it is likely that relationships will have been seriously damaged, so consider whether mediation is required, particularly if the individuals will have to still work together.
In the past as an employment lawyer the common refrain I heard was “its just banter” or “that’s just the nature of this type of workplace”. Quite frankly that is just unacceptable. Bullying in the workplace is bad for colleague health, recruitment and retention, morale and performance often leading to increased absence levels, declining performance, time spent dealing with complaints, so far better to take steps to prevent it from occurring in the first place.
