Bullying and Harassment

Bullying and Harassment at Work

One day Course Outline

Introduction

Bullying and harassment in the workplace is painful for staff and expensive for organisations. It increases absenteeism and staff turnover and reduces the quality of work and staff morale. It is sometimes mistaken for strong management. This one day interactive workshop looks at what is meant by bullying and harassment, gives practical advice on how to prevent it happening and what to do if it does take place. The workshop is designed for employees and managers at all levels in order to enable them to, recognise, challenge and combat workplace bullying and harassment

Why is this course important?

A recent CIPD survey found that 83 per cent of UK employers now have a policy on bullying and harassment, yet bullying in the workplace remains headline news. One estimate states that bullying costs employers upwards of £2 billion a year. Identifying and dealing with its causes and having effective procedures to deal with bullying and harassment remains an important, yet often neglected, part of managing the conflicts that can arise at work. (Source CIPD 2005)

Programme Outcomes

By the end of the programme, participants will have:

• Increased their understanding of harassment and bullying behaviours
• Explored the differences between, assertive management styles, bullying and harassment
• Developed strategies to tackle bullying and harassment
• Addressed cultural issues, which may facilitate bullying and harassment
• Clarified the legal obligations of Managers and all employees.
• Raised their awareness of your organisations policies and procedures
• Understood the consequences of failing to challenge bullying and harassment

Our Approach

Our approach is dynamic and active with plenty of interactive exercises. We suggest the style of your programme is informal and practical with ‘lectures’ kept to the minimum. Activities will include:

• Introduction of facts, concepts and ideas
• Plenty of group discussion and debate
• Sharing of experiences and good practice
• Individual and group exercises working on realistic scenarios and case studies
• No ‘preaching’ – just practical, workable ideas, tools and tips
• We will make the programme fun and interesting! We firmly believe in enjoying learning. We can treat serious issues like this with the respect that they deserve and have fun at the same time
• We will focus on practical tools to support participants in their jobs. For example; ‘What should I say /not say?’ ‘How should I behave in this situation?’ ‘What action do I need to take?’

As interactive as you want it!

Whether you want a highly interactive or a more traditional discussion based approach, we can accommodate your requirements. Here are a few options you may like to consider:

Interactive sessions with actors

Your staff get to interact in a series of scenarios with actors who will bring key issues to life, based on some of the issues experienced in the workplace. Many people find this less intimidating than role-play as they are just being themselves – the actors handle the role-plays.

Drama observation

Your staff observe short dramatic scenarios played out by actors and then ‘direct’ the actors - what should have happened, what would make it better etc.

Quizzes, problem solving

Covers key issues without a lecture - participants find it out for themselves. This can include discussion of case studies and scenarios

Thought provoking video /DVD work

We use challenging realistic video footage to enable participants to explore for themselves the consequences of bullying and harassment in an interactive way. This is also a less costly alternative to live work with actors We can tailor make to the needs and culture of your organisation, so please talk to us about this.

Programme Manual and Certificates

Each participant receives a programme manual containing worksheets, supporting notes and handouts. A personalised certificate can be presented to each participant on completion of the workshop.

Course Programme – One day Course

This is a suggestion for a one-day course outline. If you like the ideas, please talk to us as the more we know about your organisation and what you are hoping to achieve, the more we can tailor make a course to your exact requirements. We can vary timeframes, run on a modular basis etc. if this fits better with your objectives.

• Introduction & Objectives - gives people a chance to air their hopes fears & expectation and we agree ground rules
• Bullying and Harassment v ‘Strong’ Management - What is bullying and harassment? - Acceptable/unacceptable behaviours - Why does it occur?
• What are the implications in the workplace? - What are our statutory and organisational responsibilities? - What policies and procedures do we need? - Investigating bullying and harassment – the employers' responsibility
• Discrimination / Bullying /Harassment What would make us feel unfairly treated? Empathy raising information share
• You are the judge – has bullying and harassment occurred? A chance to consider realistic scenarios and decide whether you feel unacceptable behaviour has occurred. What would you do to handle the situation?
• Overview of Legislation – not too much detail but practically, what managers and staff need to know - The legal framework and current legal definitions of bullying and harassment - The costs of bullying and harassment – case-law
• Challenging Bullying and Harassment When and how to challenge (or not to challenge). How to challenge in a sensitive, positive and constructive manner. The consequences of doing nothing - Prevention – good practice guidelines
• Conclusion and Evaluation