Dignity & Respect at Work Policy
| Dignity & Respect at Work Policy (.pdf) |
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1. Statement of Principles
1.1 Aberystwyth University is committed to maintaining and promoting a working environment within which its employees treat each other with dignity and respect. The University recognises that investing in employee well-being makes good business sense, not only in terms of improving performance, raising morale and reducing stress, but also in making the University an attractive place to work and study, aiding retention and improving overall performance.
1.2 This policy forms part of the University’s Equality Scheme and as part of its general duties, including Health & Safety law, towards all its employees. It has been developed in partnership with Human Resources Department, Trade Unions and in consultation with the Equalities Advisor.
1.3 The University recognises its statutory duty to ensure that employees are not discriminated against on the basis of any protected characteristic including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. It further recognises that this duty is of wider application and includes all employees regardless of their status, contractual relationship with the University, or length of service.
1.4 The University undertakes to ensure that procedures are in place to enable allegations of harassment and bullying to be investigated and considered in a fair, timely and sensitive manner. At all times the University will have regard to the need for such allegations to be dealt with in a way that ensures an impartial investigation and hearing for all parties. From the initial raising of the complaint by the individual employee, the University is committed to seeking to attend to, investigating and responding to the complainant within four working weeks from the initial date of complaint. Where this is not possible the parties will be informed and HR will communicate on a regular basis with all parties to inform them of progress.
1.5 The University is committed and will ensure that complaints brought under this procedure will not lead to the victimisation of any individual.
1.6 The University recognises that employees who feel that they have been treated with a lack of respect, harassed or bullied within the meaning of this Policy are entitled to pursue their case in a safe and non threatening environment.
1.7 The University will ensure that all its employees are aware of this Policy and their obligation to respect the dignity and diversity of their colleagues and, in particular, not to engage in behaviour that may be interpreted as harassment, bullying or showing lack of respect.
1.8 All managers are required to establish and maintain acceptable standards of conduct and performance. A distinction is therefore made between harassment, bullying or victimisation and management’s legitimate, justifiable and appropriately conducted constructive criticism of an employee’s behaviour or job performance.
1.9 A party or witness acting under any stage of this Policy who knowingly makes a statement that is untrue, malicious, frivolous or in bad faith may be subject to the relevant University Disciplinary Procedure.
1.10 At all stages of this Procedure the complainant, (person who brings a complaint against another person), the person against whom the complaint has been made and any witnesses have the right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative.
1.11 Contact with the Personal Harassment Network is confidential and it is therefore important to note that contacting this voluntary group does not constitute formal notification of a dispute to the University for resolution as part of the procedure described in this document.
1.12 This policy is not appropriate to deal with matters where the complainant also raises other types of complaints as part of the substantive issues. In such cases, all matters raised will be dealt with under the University’s Grievance Procedure.
2. Definitions
2.1 Bullying may be characterised as offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse or misuse of power through means intended to undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient.
2.2 Harassment, in general terms, may be defined as unwanted conduct affecting the dignity of men and women in the workplace. It may be related to age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation or any personal characteristic of the individual, and may be persistent or an isolated incident. The key is that the actions or comments are viewed as demeaning and unacceptable by the recipient.
2.3 Further examples of what constitute Harassment and bullying may be found in Annex A to this document.
3. Policy Objectives
3.1 The aims of the policy are:
i. To promote and disseminate that the University is committed to developing a culture whereby individuals are able to raise concerns about harassment and bullying, confident that their issues will be dealt with appropriately, consistently and fairly.
ii. To assist in developing a safe working and learning environment in which harassment and bullying are known to be unacceptable and not tolerated.
iii. To foster a working environment where individuals and groups treat one another with dignity and respect.
iv. To eliminate all forms of offensive and inappropriate conduct, raise awareness of the effects of such conduct on individuals and their environment, and provide a culture where staff feel able to raise complaints of harassment and bullying without fear of ridicule or victimisation.
v. To prevent acts of discrimination, exclusion, unfair treatment, bullying and demeaning behaviours.
vi. To have adequate and accessible mechanisms in place for handling harassment and bullying effectively.
vii. To ensure that all staff are aware of behaviour that may constitute harassment and bullying and their responsibilities for avoiding and/or preventing such behaviour
viii. To ensure that all staff understand that harassment and bullying are unacceptable, that such behaviour will be challenged and that disciplinary action may be taken in circumstances where there is a management concern.
ix. To provide arrangements to enable complaints of alleged harassment and bullying to be fully investigated in a manner that recognises the sensitivity of the issues raised and the rights of all parties involved.
x. To ensure that all complaints and allegations are dealt with fairly and equitably with appropriate and strict confidentiality to all parties concerned and, wherever possible, to encourage the internal and informal resolution of complaints.
xi. To raise awareness of dignity and respect by educating staff and students in the development of positive relationships.xii. To ensure that effective monitoring and evaluation systems are in place.
4. Responsibilities
4.1 The ultimate responsibility for the Policy rests with the University Council, however, Council will require that the Vice-Chancellor ensure that the policy is applied effectively.
4.2 The Vice-Chancellor and all line managers have a particular responsibility to promote a culture of mutual respect, professionalism and tolerance. However, this should not detract from the personal obligations of all employees to respect and promote dignity at work.
4.3 Heads of Department/appropriate managers have a duty to report any potential breach of this policy and procedure to Human Resources.
4.4 Senior Management are responsible for ensuring:
i. The engagement of management at all levels in the importance of the principles of this policy.
ii. That the identified proactive initiatives, behaviours, systems and policies are embedded in the culture of the organisation, and their ongoing success and improvement.
iii. That the strategy is driven via collective responsibility at Senior Management level. However, the Human Resources Director has an overriding responsibility to monitor delivery and alert the Senior Management Team to any concerns.
4.5 Line-Managers are responsible for:
i. Ensuring staff are aware of the policy and incorporating it within their induction programmes;
ii. Promoting the aims of the policy;
iii. Investigating complaints sympathetically and impartially;
iv. Managing disciplinary and other issues as they arise.v. Keeping a watching brief on those who have been the victims of harassment, bullying or victimisation including, where appropriate, putting in place appropriate support mechanisms including (not exhaustively), paid counselling and reasonable paid time off from work to aid recovery (as distinct to monitored sick pay procedures where the incident(s) have resulted in sick leave, for example).
4.6 The Human Resources Department is responsible for:
i. Ensuring that all staff are made aware of the policy and the procedure for dealing with complaints;
ii. The design and development of appropriate training and monitoring systems for the University management structure responsible for the operation of this policy and procedure in consultation with recognised campus trade unions;
iii. Ensuring that managers receive proper training on how to operate the policy;
iv. Providing confidential advice and information about the steps to be taken to individuals who feel that they have been subjected to harassment, bullying or victimisation;
v. Monitoring how and where incidents of bullying and harassment occur and ensuring that the appropriate University management committee and the recognised trade unions are made aware of trends or themes;
vi. Communicating likely timescales for dealing with complaints to all parties;
vii. Communicating and signposting all mechanisms for accessing support to include counselling and mediation services;
viii. Ensuring that all employee university information is confidential and lawfully processed in respect of the Data Protection Act 1998.
4.7 All Employees are responsible for:
i. Ensuring that they are familiar with the content of this policy and it’s procedures and that they behave in accordance with this policy;
ii. Not encouraging, participating in or condoning the harassment, bullying or victimisation of others;
iii. Promoting an inclusive culture in which colleagues or peers are not subject to harassment, bullying or victimisation by challenging these forms of behaviour or reporting situations in which they occur to the line-manager or supervisor of the person involved;
iv. Responding courteously and positively to all requests to cease or amend behaviour perceived as harassment, bullying or victimisation.
4.8 Local and Regional Trade Union Representatives will:
i. Work with the University in raising awareness and promoting the importance of the principles of this policy.
ii. Provide reports to the University on trends or patterns that may be discerned from personal cases or meetings of members.
5. Informal Resolution
5.1 Mindful of the need to avoid escalating disputes when seeking to resolve cases of an alleged breach of this policy, the University is committed to achieving a fair and workable solution at the lowest level possible (informally). If possible, all parties to any dispute have an obligation to seek resolution at the lowest level possible that is compatible with the principles outlined in this policy, unless the nature of the complaint requires formal action following an investigation.
5.2 Strategies can include referral to the University’s mediation service where both parties are in agreement to undertake this process, or referral to the Counselling service through the Human Resources Department.
5.3 The Procedure for investigating allegations of a breach of this Policy will (dependent upon the individual case) normally commence with the Informal Procedure outlined in Annex B. If the individual feels that the informal process is not workable in their situation the formal procedure will be used.
6. Formal Resolution
6.1 Formal complaints relating to harassment, bullying or victimisation should be made through the procedure outlined in Annex B.
6.2 In the event that the person whose behaviour is alleged to be unacceptable should make a counter allegation this will be treated separately and investigated through the relevant procedure, outlined in Annex B.
6.3 Disciplinary action may be taken against any individuals who are found to have brought complaints knowingly based on false information or with malicious intent.
6.4 It will sometimes be necessary to separate those involved in complaints procedures during the period of investigation in accordance with Section 2.5 of the appended procedure. In such circumstances, it is possible that one of the parties to a complaint will be transferred, redeployed, asked to work from a different location, or suspended from duty. These steps are taken to protect the interests of both parties and do not constitute disciplinary action.
7. Training & Awareness
7.1 All new employees will be made aware of the principles of this policy at induction through the mandatory e-learning Diversity in the Workplace training course.
7.2 Training, support, guidance and advice on addressing harassment, bullying and victimisation will be made available to managers and supervisors through working in partnership with the Human Resources Department, Occupational Health & Counselling Service.
7.3 The Policy will be disseminated to current staff via the Heads of Departments and through the development of awareness raising sessions by the Human Resources Department.7.4 All staff will be encouraged to make use of the ACAS e-learning resource detailed in Annex D.
8. Monitoring
8.1 Statistics on reported bullying and harassment will be collected from across the University on an annual basis by the Equalities Advisor which will be anonymised and reported to Staffing Committee. The nature of the information to be collected is outlined in Annex C.
8.2 The information will be used to identify trends, patterns and will enable the University to identify areas in which resource should be allocated. All reports will be shared with the recognised campus trade unions.
8.3 In cases where an individual could be identified, steps will be taken to ensure that confidentiality is maintained.
9. Counselling
9.1 The University will ensure that information on the counselling service will be provided to any complainant, on their request, whether that be at the start of the process or from the complainant first making a complaint (informal/formal), through the process, or to aid a period of recovery after completion of any process.
10. Policy Review
10.1 The Director of Human Resources will co-ordinate a review of the University’s Dignity & Respect at Work Policy on an annual basis (or before if deemed necessary) to maintain compliance with legislation and good practice.
10.2 The review will be undertaken in liaison with the recognised campus trade unions and any proposed amendments will be submitted to Staffing Committee for approval.
11. Equality Impact Assessment
11.1 The University is committed to embedding the Equality Scheme into its policies, procedures and practices. This policy has been equality impact assessed in accordance with this scheme.
Annexes
Version 19122011
