Dealing With Workplace Bullying, Harassment, And Stress: Obligations And Steps For Employers In Ireland

Preventing Workplace Bullying

This assignment is comprised of two different sections. The first section focuses on the obligations that employers in Ireland have when it comes to dealing with issues such as bullying, harassment and excessive stress that are likely to arise at the workplace. The second section focuses and outlines the necessary steps that employers in Ireland must take for investigating allegations, including disciplinary procedures and grievance.

Workplace bullying may be regarded as repeated inappropriate behavior, indirect or direct, whether physical, verbal or otherwise that is carried out by one person or more than one person against other people, in course of employment or at a work place that can be regarded reasonably as undermining the right of an individual to work in dignity. Isolated incidents of behavior that have been described in this particular decision, can be regarded as an affront to workplace dignity but a one-off incident only may not be regarded as bullying (Cullinan et al. 2015).

1.1. How to Prevent Bullying 

Bullying can be prevented at the workplace by having a strict policy in place which addresses the matter of bullying. Such a policy should be designed at preventing bullying by advocating and implementing strict disciplinary measures and even punitive action if necessary against the person who initiates such aggressive behavior against a co-worker in the office (Barak 2016). Another effective way by which bullying can be prevented at the workplace is to encourage employees to speak up about such behavior and register their complaints officially, in order to make themselves heard. If employees are given the option of voicing their concerns or complaints when they are at the receiving end of bullying behavior, this will go a long way in combating the problem of bullying at the workplace in the long run (Cobb 2017). 

1.2. How to Deal with Bullying 

1.2.1. Informal Methods of Dealing with Bullying 

If an employee believes that she or he is being bullied at the place of work, then such a person should explain in no uncertain terms to the person who is allegedly carrying out the acts of bullying in the first place, that such behavior is unacceptable. In the circumstances in which it is found to be difficult on the part of the complainant to approach the person who has been bullying him or her, then the complainant must immediately seek advice and help from a contact in the office space on a confidential basis (D’Cruz et al. 2018).  Such a contact person can be a work place colleague, a line manager or supervisor, a human resource manager or personnel or a trade union or employee representative. Once the contact person has been consulted with, the complainant can request the contact person for assistance with dealing with the matter of bullying in a non-confrontational manner. The complainant can at any point of time decide to opt out of taking recourse to an informal procedure to address the matter of workplace bullying, if he wishes to (De Wet and Jacobs 2018).

Addressing Workplace Bullying

1.2.2. Formal Methods of Dealing with Bullying 

The complainant or the person who is at the receiving end of bullying behavior, should register a formal complaint in writing to his or her immediate supervisor, or to any important member of the company’s management (Barak 2016). This complaint should be kept as precise as possible, and confined to the exact incidents of bullying that have taken place against the complainant. The perpetrator should also be notified by the management in writing that a complaint of bullying has been levied against him, and a copy of the statement that is made by the complainant should be made available to the perpetrator and should be advised that he will be given a fair opportunity to respond to the allegations that have been made against him (Cobbs 2017). The complaint that is made regarding bullying at the workplace should be reviewed initially by a member of the management who is known to be impartial in his views and who can be counted on for taking the appropriate course of action that is needed for addressing the problem at hand. Examples of such courses of action could include mediated solutions or views that the matter at hand can be addressed in an informal manner (Cullinan et al. 2017). 

Harassment is defined by Section 14 A (7) of all the Employee Equality Acts of 1998 to 2015, as a form or type of unwanted conduct that is related to the nine discriminatory grounds and which has the effect or purpose of violating the dignity of a person while creating a degrading, hostile, intimidating, offensive and humiliating environment for that same person.

2.1. How to Prevent Harassment at the Workplace 

Harassment at the workplace can be prevented by introducing a policy that is against workplace harassment and which advocates that punitive action be taken against people who harass co-workers in the office space. Regular sessions need to be conducted by HR managers and executives with workers and supervisors on the importance of avoiding workplace harassment by highlighting the very negative consequences that this behavior can have on a person who is at the receiving end of harassment such as employee suicide (Cullinan et al. 2017).

2.2. How to Deal with Harassment at the Workplace 

Informal Methods to Deal with Harassment

The person who is at the receiving end of harassment in office should immediately speak to the HR manager at the office and let this person know of the problems that he or she has been going through (Halim and Riding 2018). Such a person can also approach a member of the company’s top level management to let them know of the issues of harassment that he or she is faced with. It is entirely up to the complainant as to whether he or she wants to keep the matter confidential and informal or whether he or she would like to take it up formally and lodge an official complaint against the person who has been perpetrating such acts of harassment (Di Marco et al. 28).

Preventing Workplace Harassment

Formal Methods to Deal with Harassment at the Workplace 

Adopting a formal approach to dealing with harassment at the workplace would mean lodging a complaint officially against the perpetrator or the offender (Hersch 2015). The matter at hand will then be investigated officially by the top level management of the organization where the workplace harassment is taking place, with the alleged offender being subjected to disciplinary action for his or her bad behavior. Although complaints of harassment can greatly increase tensions at a place of work, this does not mean that such complaints should not be raised, given the seriousness of an offence like workplace harassment (Halim and Riding 2018). 

Employers in Ireland need to keep the workplace as free from stress as possible, in order to get workers to be their most productive when they come to office. Employers should be aware of situations or circumstances that can create stress at work, and should aim to prevent such situations from arising in the first place (Kwan et al. 2016). Documenting work place risk assessment can help employer in identifying factors that increases the risk of employee stress in an organization. Employees should be given the scope of voicing or addressing issues of concern should they feel too stressed or overburdened because of the work that they do. Employees should also be allowed to take legal action if they face specific types of stress at the place of work such as stress that may arise as a result of poorly established work roles, the absence of proper communication, work practice changes or faulty work organization (Pallesen et al. 2017).

If employers are to manage workplace grievance in an effective manner, then they need to draw up a grievance policy and procedure for this purpose. Such a procedure will provide individuals with the course of action that they can take if they have any complaint that they would like being addressed at the workplace, it will provide timescales and a point of contact for resolving issues of concern, it will resolve employee problems in a quick and informal manner and it will show that an employer is acting as fairly as possible to all those who are working for him or under him (Ritzman 2019).

5.1. Informal 

Employers can meet with employees and let them know about areas of work and their behavior in office that need to be improved upon. An action plan may be provided about what needs to improve concerning employee behavior and performance and how it should be improved. Written notifications can also be generated by employers on the types of action that are considered to be acceptable at the workplace and which are signed by both the parties, that is, the employers as well as employees (Velasquez and Jain 2018). 

Addressing Workplace Harassment

5.2. Formal 

Formal disciplinary methods that an employer can take recourse to in order to ensure that decorum and discipline is maintained at the work place is to issue a written warning to a person violating office norms, stating that his behavior is unacceptable. If this is not paid any heed to, a second and even third warning can be issued by the employer after which dismissal action can be taken against the employee who refuses to acknowledge any of the warnings sent to him by his employer (Cullinan et al. 2017).

Conclusion 

It is responsibility of the management of an organization or company to formally investigate matters of bullying or harassment at the workplace and to take the appropriate steps needed for ensuring that such incidents do not cause any discord or disturbance at the workplace. Employers must always look into the wellbeing and safety of their employees, and must address all grievance and stress related issues and disciplinary aspects of organizational life, to ensure that employees have a secure place in which to work in. 

References 

Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage Publications

Cobb, E.P., 2017. Workplace bullying and harassment: New developments in international law. Routledge

Cullinan, J., Hodgins, M., Hogan, V., McDermott, M. and Walsh, S., 2019. Bullying and Work-Related Stress in the Irish Workplace. Societies, 9(1), p.15.

D’Cruz, P., Noronha, E. and Lutgen-Sandvik, P., 2018. Power, subjectivity and context in workplace bullying, emotional abuse and harassment: Insights from postpositivism. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 13(1), pp.2-9

De Wet, C. and Jacobs, L., 2018. Workplace Bullying, Emotional Abuse and Harassment in Schools. Special topics and particular occupations, professions and sectors, pp.1-34.

Di Marco, D., Hoel, H., Arenas, A. and Munduate, L., 2018. Workplace incivility as modern sexual prejudice. Journal of interpersonal violence, 33(12), pp.1978-2004.

Halim, U.A. and Riding, D.M., 2018. Systematic review of the prevalence, impact and mitigating strategies for bullying, undermining behaviour and harassment in the surgical workplace. British journal of surgery, 105(11), pp.1390-1397

Hersch, J., 2015. Sexual harassment in the workplace. IZA World of Labor.

Kwan, S.S.M., Tuckey, M.R. and Dollard, M.F., 2016. The role of the psychosocial safety climate in coping with workplace bullying: A grounded theory and sequential tree analysis. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 25(1), pp.133-148

Pallesen, S., Nielsen, M.B., Magerøy, N., Andreassen, C.S. and Einarsen, S., 2017. An experimental study on the attribution of personality traits to bullies and targets in a workplace setting. Frontiers in psychology, 8,p.1045.

Ritzman, M., 2019. Workplace Bullying, Emotional Abuse and Harassment in Corrections. Special topics and particular occupations, professions and sectors, pp.1-20.

Velázquez, M. and Jain, A., 2018. The Role of Work Environment Authorities in the Dynamics of Workplace Bullying, Emotional Abuse and Harassment. Pathways of Job-related Negative Behaviour, pp.1-29.