The thought of having to tackle potential bullying or inappropriate behaviour is enough to get the pulse racing of any Practice Manager. However, these things do crop up – and even more so these days when everyone is feeling the pressure and stress.

But what constitutes bullying? And what is the definition of workplace harassment? And where does victimisation fit in?

In our latest HR clinic, Robyn Clark (aka JacksonR) and Susi O’Brien (HR Help advisor) focused on this tricky subject.

Here is a summary of the questions we received, and the answers given.

Let’s start off with a definition, shall we? What is bullying and what is harassment, and are they the same thing?

No, they’re not the same thing.

Bullying has no legal definition, but it can be a variety of behaviours that are perceived to be offensive, intimidating, malicious, insulting, undermining, humiliating or can cause physical or emotional harm. Bullying could be a regular pattern of behaviour or a one-off incident. It can be in person, over the phone, via email or on social media. And it can be for any reason.

Harassment is different in that whilst bullying behaviours may be on display, it can only be classed as harassment if it’s in relation to a protected characteristic – or is specifically sexual harassment. For behaviour to count as harassment it needs to have violated the recipient’s dignity or created a negative environment for them.

Ironically, only seven of the nine protected characteristics of the Equality Act are included in the legal definition of harassment at work. The law doesn’t cover marriage or civil partnership – most likely because, in these circumstances, gender or sexual preference is the reason for the behaviour. It also doesn’t cover pregnancy or maternity because the type of behaviour being displayed is more likely to be either direct discrimination (i.e., treating someone differently because they are pregnant) or sexual harassment.

So, whilst someone who’s being harassed may be the victim of bullying behaviour, not all bullying is harassment. If a staff member bullies someone else purely because they don’t like them, and not in relation to a protected characteristic, then it’s not classed as harassment.

I find it really hard to manage challenging staff about their performance or sickness because I can just see them accusing me of bullying. I know I’m not, but I always worry that it’s too hard to disprove and I’ll be the one in trouble!

I think this is actually quite a common issue amongst managers – the fear of being accused of bullying when you’re simply trying to do your job. But I would really encourage you not to let the fear stop you from doing what’s right. Employees will often pull out the bullying card when a HR process is levelled at them. But if the only evidence they have is of you following your own practice’s policies and processes, then there will be no case to answer. Bullying is a very subjective thing, and I think that’s why people worry that your innocence may not shine through – but remember that the accuser has to quantify how they’re being bullied. And if that is “my manager has put me on a performance management plan”, and you’ve got the evidence to back up why, then there’s nothing to be afraid of.

How would you deal with a situation where a staff member has not been completing work to the expected standard? This was discussed with them in an appropriate, non-confrontational manner; however, they went to the senior GP in tears to say they felt they were being put under unnecessary pressure and that they felt ‘bullied’ and ‘intimidated’. How do I protect myself from a bullying and harassment potential ‘grievance’ issue?

I really do feel for you and, sadly, this happens quite frequently with people who either can’t see that they’re not doing great, or don’t want to admit it. It sort of goes back to the last question, doesn’t it? If you’ve got the evidence and you’re dealing with it fairly, and in line with your policy, then you just need to keep reiterating that. There won’t be any evidence for a claim against you. People typically make these claims as a defence mechanism against the process they’re undergoing. I would just advise you not to feel vulnerable. I would hope that your partners would back you and not get involved, other than to highlight the policies and give the staff member the option to submit a grievance if they truly believe they’re being bullied. Otherwise, they need to let you handle it.

How do you manage a member of staff under sickness/performance/disciplinary when they tell other staff you’re bullying them? The staff member is also ignoring the manager and being obstructive, as being managed through policies could be bullying behaviour.

I think we’ve covered the first part of this question in the two previous questions. In terms of ignoring their manager or being obstructive, you could, as the manager, view this as bullying behaviour, yes. If the manager felt this was the case, they would be within their rights to commence their own grievance process against the staff member – but my approach would be to meet with this person first, highlight the behaviour being displayed and state how it’s being received. That might be enough to nip it in the bud, but if not, then you’ve got that grievance process to fall back on.

A member of my staff told me that a colleague made some inappropriate comments to her at the last Christmas party – comments of a sexual nature. I’m not sure what to do about this as it was obviously outside of work?

A workplace gathering like a Christmas party can be viewed as an extension of the workplace on the basis that the sole reason for bringing people together in this environment is because they work together. As an extension of the workplace, that would mean that all the usual policies and procedures would still apply, and staff would be expected to behave towards their colleagues at the event in the same way they would do at work. So, you can take action if the colleague wants to make a claim of sexual harassment.

We have a staff member who has raised a grievance against me. She keeps delaying, saying she’s not ready for the grievance hearing, which means the disciplinary is delayed and delayed and delayed! How long can she delay and if she refuses to attend, how can the grievance hearing go ahead in her absence?

You don’t have to wait endlessly for a grievance hearing if the person who raised the grievance is refusing to attend. You can rearrange it once, and then give a warning that the process cannot be unnecessarily delayed further, so if she fails to attend then, the hearing will go ahead in her absence and she will be written to with the outcome. If the grievance is not upheld, then your disciplinary procedure can continue – and the same can be said for the disciplinary hearing if she tries to hold that up too. You just need to make sure you’re being seen as reasonable in your attempts to get her to the hearing; offer an alternative venue, for her to attend virtually, or for a union rep to attend in her place if she cannot attend.

I’ve heard that there are new laws coming out about sexual harassment later this year. Can you talk about them and explain what we need to do as practices?

The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, coming into force this autumn (October 2024, I believe), will:

• Introduce a duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual
  harassment of their employees
• Give employment tribunals the power to uplift sexual harassment compensation by up to 25% where an employer is found to have breached the new duty to prevent sexual harassment

This doesn’t really change what employers should already be doing to prevent sexual harassment at work, but it’s going to make sexual harassment a much bigger deal. Claims will probably be easier to win, and more expensive for employers when they’re successful. If you don’t already have a policy on harassment at work, you’re going to need one! The same goes for staff training on harassment at work; this needs to be mandatory. Practice Index can assist with training and policy needs for practices – take a look at the HR masterclass modules or get in touch with the learning team to find out what other webinars and training events they can facilitate for your practice or PCN.

One of my male staff has been complaining of harassment because he doesn’t like people pointing out his bald spot. Given everything that’s going on in practices, I’m struggling to take this seriously, to be honest. What would you say and do?

I can imagine a lot of people might think this is a small issue, but put the shoe on the other foot and if a male colleague was making comments about a female employee’s appearance, would we react in the same way? This could be classed as sexual harassment or discrimination as baldness is an issue that impacts on men more so than women. And as a fellow baldy myself, I can confirm that negative comments really can cause an emotional impact. So, I would treat his concern the same as any other staff member’s and not diminish the potential impact it might have on him.

If you’re wondering how big a deal harassment can be if it gets to a tribunal, check out the Practice Index HR Alerts section where the latest post describes a recent tribunal claim for harassment at work caused by (in that case) homophobic banter at work which has cost the employer (not a GP practice, fortunately) £15,000.

How do you deal with situations where someone makes a serious complaint of sexual harassment, but doesn’t want to be named to the alleged perpetrator?

This one is always tough as in circumstances like this, it’s hard to take anything formal forward anonymously. The accused should have the right of reply, but also if the behaviour is specific, it will be only too obvious where the complaint has come from, or who it concerns. Accusations of sexual harassment are also very serious – and may warrant a call to the police in some circumstances – so I would want to be very clear on the veracity of the claim. Making an anonymous claim might cast doubt on that. So, I would speak to the employee who’s making the claim and do my best to encourage them not to remain anonymous for those reasons, but also offer them support whilst the investigation is ongoing. It’s likely that suspension would be on the cards, but you’d want to make sure they felt safe at work so offer them Occupational Health support or an employee assistance programme, if you have one, and a nominated staff member to speak to (maintaining confidentiality, of course).

How often should staff receive training on bullying and harassment?

There’s no mandatory requirement for this, but it’s good practice. I would encourage all staff to do some training on recruitment, and if not specifically on this topic, at least cover during staff induction what your organisational culture is and have staff read the relevant policies. I would encourage anyone with line management responsibility to undergo some training on this – and there is a great HR Masterclass Module on the subject if you use Practice Index Learning. Then just keep on top of employment law updates – as things do change!

Is it harassment if somebody is deliberately ignoring you at work?

You can only call it harassment if the person is ignoring you based on a protected characteristic. I would definitely class it as bullying behaviour if it was being done deliberately, but it needs to be linked to those characteristics to be classed as harassment.

We have a partner who can be a bit short-tempered. He’s a nice man, but gets very worked up about stuff sometimes and will be grumpy and sharp with staff. Some of the younger ones find him quite intimidating to work with. Any advice about how to deal with this?

I love these clinics because there always seems to be a question on the subject that’s like “I know what to do if it’s my staff member; what do I do if it’s a partner though?!”

As a partner myself, I would say you need to do exactly the same thing! Yes, you may not immediately commence a disciplinary process against your own boss, but you can have a word and be honest about the feedback you’ve received. Tailor your approach to the individual’s personality as you don’t want to go poking any bears if they’re not going to react well. Part of the job of being a manager in general practice is managing up, though, isn’t it?

Another thing you can try is encouraging your partners to have 360 appraisals. I encourage mine to, and I have one myself. And the questions asked aren’t around what our clinical or professional competencies are; we ask what it’s like to work for us – whether we could be a better boss or whether there’s anything we can improve as leaders in our organisation. It can be quite eye-opening to get that level of feedback and I’ve seen it work wonders regarding how people then behave.

We have a receptionist who’s been with us a long time. She’s got a big personality and generally a good heart, but often she’ll stir things up in the staffroom by voicing her opinions about topics in the news. Sometimes this involves her repeating what the right-wing press say about immigration and asylum seekers. We have a nurse who comes from outside the UK herself (nothing to do with asylum) and she’s complained about this. As far as the receptionist is concerned, she can say what she likes on her break, and she’s only saying what’s already in the newspapers. It’s getting really awkward and I don’t know what to do.

Ouch, that’s not a nice position to be in! First of all, on her break or not, if she’s on your premises, she’s bound by your policies and hopefully you have a good equality and diversity policy in place which gives the organisational standpoint on these issues. So, I’d be having a chat with her, drawing her attention to that policy, and explaining that those policies are in force whilst on practice property regardless of her working hours. I’d also say that they apply to the concept of extended workplace, as we mentioned earlier, so it’s clear that any work-organised activity adopts the same principles. It doesn’t matter what the papers say; there are plenty of other media outlets that have a different viewpoint, so she’s not exactly giving a balanced view. Whenever we take staff on, we expect them to abide by the culture and values of our organisation, and I would reinforce that with her – that there’s no place for these comments in your practice.

How do I manage a situation where I’m managing staff and having confidential conversations under our HR policy, but a staff member then goes to the team and tells them their version of the meeting. As a manager, I cannot breach confidentiality to the team about the meeting, but it’s difficult to manage a team when the manager is being painted in a bad light. Lots of new staff too are getting a one-sided opinion of the manager. It’s a small team, so there’s gossip behind closed doors.

Confidentiality works both ways. What would you expect to happen to you if you breached it? Disciplinary action, right? So the same can be said of the staff who then go and tell the rest of the team their version of events. If you’ve started a conversation by clarifying that it’s confidential, and then the confidentiality is breached, you can take disciplinary action. You can then also remind staff that there are two sides to every story, but because of confidentiality, you’re unable to disclose any details. In most circumstances, the staff will value your moral standpoint, and it can often then discredit the blabbermouth to their colleagues!

We have a team member who consistently shares negative comments about the management and tends to influence other staff members against the management team. How can we address this situation delicately?

Again, this is a conduct issue in my book, and would fall under your disciplinary policy.

If we have had allegations of bullying from two members of staff about each other and we do not feel able to be unbiased during an investigation, is it ‘over the top’ to ask our external HR company to come in and investigate? Neither staff member has raised anything formal yet.

Nothing is too ‘over the top’ when it comes to bullying and harassment – bearing in mind that if the allegations are founded, it could be viewed as gross misconduct, so having external HR support is never a bad idea. You don’t always have to wait for the issue to be raised formally to take action either; if you know there are accusations flying around, then tackle them ASAP. That might be an informal conversation or mediation, or it might be formal. Sometimes, if staff know there might be a formal process, and there’s really no substance to their claim, they will drop it, knowing that it may not end well for them. But telling them the potential options can at least get you on the way to managing the issue.

Useful resources

• Disciplinary policy and procedure [PLUS]
• Grievance policy and procedure [PLUS]
• Bullying and harassment policy [PLUS]
• Communication policy [PLUS]
• Equality and diversity policy [PLUS]
• HR Masterclass – Module 8 (Bullying and Harassment)
• Bullying and Harassment
• Practice Index Training – HR Bundle
• Practice Index Training – Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Bundle

Future HR clinics

Handling Long-Term Sickness – Tuesday 23rd April at 12.30pm – Book here

Managing staff who are on long-term sick leave is a challenging situation for practice managers. Can we contact them? How long is long enough? How can I get them back to work? In this HR clinic we will answer all your questions on this tricky subject.

Managing Staff Consultations and Change – Tuesday 21st May at 12.30pm – Book here

For most of us in practice, managing and leading change processes is a regular activity. This gets particularly challenging when changes impact on staff roles, responsibilities, hours, work environment, or even contractual entitlements. In this HR clinic we’ll answer your questions about the practical, legal, and leadership aspects of managing change. This includes tips on how to run a successful staff consultation process. Questions could also include topics like redundancy processes and TUPE.

Managing Grievances – Tuesday 25th June at 12.30pm – Book here

“I want to make a complaint” is never a phrase we relish hearing, and it can be all too jarring to hear it from the mouths of our own staff. But that is essentially what a grievance is – a complaint about the working environment. So how do you as a manager deal with grievances? Should it be informal, or should it be formal? Does it link in with other HR policies you have in place? What do you do when relationships are fraught and grievances are flying in from all sides?! This HR Clinic will focus on how we manage the grievance process, what you as a manager can do to reduce the number of grievances coming in and how you can effectively deal with them when they do.