What should your anti-bullying policy include – and how far should it go?
As we collectively settle into a hybrid or fully remote working schedule, employers should look at updating their anti-harassment and bullying policies. When we think of workplace bullying we conjure up images of toxic boardroom meetings, of snubbing colleagues by the watercooler or calling them out in front of the whole office. Now, in digitized work, it presents itself a little differently. Issues such as passive aggressive emails or leaving people out of WhatsApp groups are becoming increasingly prevalent – what exactly constitutes ‘harassment’?
“Workplace harassment is defined as a either a single or repeated incident of unwelcomed comments, actions or bullying that is intended to intimidate, offend, degrade, or humiliate a particular person or group,” added Peninsula’s Health and Safety Team Lead, Catherine Bergeron, “This is an issue that must be taken seriously as it can create an unhealthy work environment that can result in psychological harm to the individual.”
Seems simple enough, right? Well, it may be easy to pick up on toxic vibes when everyone was sharing the same workspace – but now people are dipping in and out, it’s becoming difficult for HR to spot the tell-tale signs.
“The classic definition of harassment, as seen in Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, is ‘engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a person in a workplace that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome’,” added Stuart Rudner, founder of Rudner Law. “Now, as people continue to work from home, harassment has taken on an online form – namely, social media abuse and electronic bullying. For instance, we’ve seen a rise in toxic WhatsApp messaging, bullying posts on a colleague’s Facebook wallc etc – mainly because that’s how we communicate now. We’re relying more on digital interactions which has inevitably led to a spike in digital harassment.”
As Rudner often says, there’s no law against being a jerk, and there’s also a significant difference between managing and bullying.
“If an employee has a bad experience in a video call – perhaps their manager is aggressive – if it’s a one-off, then it’s not harassment,” he clarified. “However, if it continues and becomes a pattern, then it’s harassment. In remote work scenarios, many employers are relying on internal messaging systems to communicate with employees, which tend to be very informal. This casual tone leaves room for interpretation in comments and conversations – causing some people to commit forms of unintentional electronic harassment. Even excluding people from meetings or events can constitute bullying.”
So, what are your responsibilities as an HR leader in Ontario? Under the OSH Act, every employer in Ontario must prepare and review a policy on workplace violence, annually regardless of the number of employees. If there are fewer than six employees then the policy can be a verbal policy, however, if there are six or more employees the policy must be in writing.
According to Bergeron, this workplace violence policy should do the following;
- Show an employer’s commitment to protecting workers from workplace violence
- Address violence from all possible sources (for example clients and customers)
- Clearly outline the roles and responsibilities of everyone within the workplace
- Must be dated and signed by the highest level of management such as the President of the company or CEO.
