There is no single legal definition of bullying. ACAS refer to it as unwelcome “offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse or misuse of power through means that undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient”. It is “unwarranted and causes a detrimental effect”.

Examples of bullying can include

• Ridiculing
• Telling jokes in public at someone’s expense
• Insulting or otherwise humiliating someone in public
• Excluding or ignoring an individual
• Spreading malicious gossip or rumours
• Unwelcome sexual advances
• Deliberately undermining with constant criticism
• Overloading someone with work

Bullying may be an isolated event or a series of events which may appear less significant but have a cumulative effect because it is the number of incidents which causes harm.

Handling bullying?

If you are approached to deal with an issue of bullying, what steps should you take?

(1) Check the relevant policies

If you have relevant policies, take the time to familiarise yourself with them.  A good policy should provide a clear framework which, if followed properly, will ensure a consistent and fair way to deal with such accusations.

(2) Don’t put off dealing with the issue

This situation is one which can rapidly escalate so it is important to tackle it as quickly as possible

(3) Informal discussions

You should arrange to hold an informal chat with the person making the complaint (the complainant) to fully explore their concerns and then arrange a similar informal meeting with the alleged perpetrator or “bully”.

The meetings should be confidential and usually undertaken by the parties’ line manager, unless the line manager is the alleged bully, then another manager should conduct the discussions. Allow both the complainant and the bully to be accompanied to the meetings if they choose.

During this stage you should

• be objective and sensitive
• obtain as much information as possible – for example, encourage the complainant to provide examples of the behaviour giving rise to the complaint and ask those involved what outcome they would consider appropriate
• understand that the “bully” may not realise that their behaviour is causing distress
• be aware of the environment – for example, malicious allegations need to be further investigated if found to be untrue and will likely form the basis of disciplinary action against the person making them

(4) Assess how the matter could be resolved

Consider the allegation and decide how serious it is. There may be some types of behaviour which require more formal intervention – for example, formal complaints, discipline or even legal action and police involvement.

However, in less serious cases one or more of the following informal resolutions could be considered:

• Agree standards of behaviour between those involved
• Training
• Mentoring
• Performance management
• Rehabilitation/support

(5) Examine the environment

Bullying occurs in the best workplaces, but it is important to learn from a complaint and examine the environment to ascertain how and why the bullying happened. For example, reviewing policies and training are an ideal way to remind people what is and is not acceptable behaviour in the workplace.

Finally, ensure that the management sets a good example generally.