Following on from National Bullying Week, it is pleasing to learn that Australia has endorsed a common national definition for bullying. It has been cited as behaviour which is repeated, puts someone’s health at safety at risk or is unreasonable. This sends a clear message to those who are being bullied that their plight is being recognised, and this is the first vital step in tackling it.
The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment led an inquiry into workplace bullying and has put forward a set of recommendations for how to deal with the problem head on. A National Code of Practice regarding workplace bullying will shortly be put in place in Australia too, and this will hopefully become embedded across the corporate sector. This sort of recognition and support could greatly increase corporate wellness.
This code of practice will allow employers to understand exactly what their duties are with regards to workplace bullying – how to spot it, and how to deal with it. To this end, the code of practice will provide training programmes and guidance for employers, to give them the skills and understanding to deal with this difficult issue. The training programme will be suitable for managers and for health and safety executives within an organisation, as bullying is a vitally important health and safety issue which affects numerous workers’ wellbeing.
A National Advisory service will also be developed, which will help employers to understand their responsibilities and the resources that are available to them to deal with the bully-management process. A lot of education is needed to increase awareness of bullying in the workplace, as there are many common misconceptions, such as people thinking that it is a simply a clash of personalities or a poor employee somehow bringing it on themselves.
There is also a recommendation that the Minister should commission ongoing research into the issue, at the same time as these strategies are put in place across businesses.
Comments are closed.