Effective January 2014, the Anti-Bullying Regime would commence, for which the Fair Work Commission had announced its procedures.
Knowing what workplace bullying is
They come in different forms, from verbal to physical, social or even psychological abuse. Some examples are:
- Acts that discriminates or victimises
- Remarks that are humiliating
- Untoward behaviour that is aggressive or intimidating
- Excessive pranks
- Excluded from office events
- Ridiculous expectations — ordered to perform useless tasks, making inconvenient changes to work time, or keeping required information needed to perform the job
- Psychological abuse such as being ganged up on
But when is it not a workplace bully?
You might come across some management policies that seem unfair, but may not be considered as bullying. These can be demotions, performance appraisals, discussions focusing on under-performance, transfers, audit of misconduct, non-provision of certain benefits, or disallowing an employee from returning to work due to a medical condition.
Possible consequences from workplace bullying
A victim of workplace bullying might be affected in terms of his/her performance, health or wellbeing. He/She could face problems in self-confidence, or end up being afraid of the workplace. This could also in turn, affect his/her personal life (i.e. relationships, studies)
Medical symptoms might emerge that could be the result of stress, anxiety and depression, like headaches, backaches and problems in sleeping. These might only be just indications, instead of being directly relevant to workplace bullying.
Workplace is not just during the time of work
Bullying can happen even when one is not engaged in the work. “At work” can in fact include break times like lunch break, after hours work trips, office socials and working from home.
Some companies have put in place procedures and policies for their employees to report issues of bully, and might also implement actions or conduct investigations to prevent them, which could be part of their employment agreement, or code of conduct.
You can find out more on how to report workplace bullying in an official manner to the Fair Work Commission via this link:
http://benchbooks.fwc.gov.au/ anti-bullying/assets/File/ ABBenchbook.pdf