Posted By Tony Martin How do Employee HS and Occupational HS members react when an employee contacts them and tells them that a manager is bullying them?

Posted By Bryn Maidment Tony It would be prudent to have a bullying/harassment policy that details the action to be taken and by whom. I would urge the harassed staff to contact the Trusts nominated Personnel advisor who will investigate either covertly or overtly with the assistance of another senior manager. If it's open verbal abuse or harassment I would also ask them to complete the incident form in the same way as if a patient / visitor had abused them. Particularly useful for 'slapping' Consultants back into place!!

Posted By Tony Martin Workplace Bullying | Bryn Maidment | 09.05.01 09:58 GMT Well Bryn, Your response raises many questions. What if the Personnel advisor and senior manager cover up the abuse and begin to abuse the employee themselves for complaining against one of their own? Where does the employee go then? I'm very pleased to see that you would treat harassment in the same way as physical abuse, because both forms can cause major trauma. Regards, Tony

Posted By Tony Martin It sounds as though your organisation has a lot it could teach other businesses Bryn. Has this always been the case or was there a time when the bullying/harassment response was "less than helpful"? The reason I'm asking Bryn is because I work in a sector that has been officially recognised as one of the worst for bullying its employees. I want to find a way to help improve the working environment and the behaviour of the support personnel within it. This will not be easy because I am a low grade worker and also a victim of workplace bullying, but I am determined to achieve a change in the mindset of the top management, and by doing that, help create an environment where people are valued and treated with respect. Regards, Tony

Posted By Bryn Maidment Tony As with most safety issues you will find it a big struggle at times trying to change things but you should persevere because this behaviour is one of the worst kind. In the same way as LEAs are tacklnig bullying so should any organisation. It does take some enlightenment at the top and a lot of work from dedicated people but you can change for the better. The two keys are having a system in place (policy/guidance - call it what you want!)and ensuring all staff accept that bullying is not normal and should not be tolerated. I must admit to a little skullduggery when our first senior manager was hauled up for verbal bullying. There is clearly a need for confidentiality in such cases but I wanted staff to know of it so they could see the policy was working - so I deliberately gave info to the bush telegraph. I'm not naive enough to believe that my NHS Trust is now all huggy feely and everyone gets on in harmony. Some bullying is very underhand, undermining and insidious and yes there may be cases where victims will not want to come forward or will be bullied again if they make complaints. However, staff now know that we have a satisfactory procedure in place which protects them and is fair and subject to scrutiny. Hope this helps - if you'd like any further help drop an e.mail