Trust and confidence in HR

Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and fairness within the workplace but unfortunately this isn’t always the case. Any unreasonable behaviour and negative instances should always be reported to HR, but what steps should an employee take if they find themselves in this situation?

A senior candidate who was being bullied at work once said to me: “I don’t feel like I could speak to HR about this as it may jeopardise my job”. They had called me to say they were looking for a new job, which came as quite a surprise as previously when I had spoken to them, they were thoroughly enjoying their work. It took a little while for the candidate to open up and explain they were being treated unfairly, missing out on opportunities, and being intimidated so wanted to leave as soon as possible. My first reaction was to ask if they had reported this behaviour and the incidents to HR; this was when they said they felt their job would be at risk if they did so.

Unfortunately, it’s not the first time I’ve heard a interior designer say they feel unable to speak to HR about unwanted workplace behaviours, so I reached out to Tess Bunting at e-volveHR, who I have worked closely with over the years, to gain her opinion on this particular situation and find out what protection employees have.

“Firstly, here’s a few definitions of unwanted workplace behaviours, to help people to understand what might be happening:

• Acas states that bullying can generally be characterised as unwanted behaviour that is offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting, an abuse of power that undermines, humiliates, or causes physical or emotional harm.
• Harassment is bullying on the basis of a protected characteristic e.g. age, race, sex etc.
• Discrimination means treating someone ‘less favourably’ than someone else, because of a protected characteristic. It can be intended or unintended.
• Victimisation is when someone is treated less favourably as a result of being involved with a discrimination or harassment complaint, where they have acted in good faith (e.g. providing evidence in an investigation).”

When I stated that often employees are worried about confidentiality, Tess explained “HR is there to listen impartially and help you to navigate the company grievance procedure. You can request to speak to them confidentially and moving forward with a grievance will normally be up to you to put it in writing when you’re ready to.

A company has a duty of care to you and other employees to do what they reasonably can to protect employee’s health, safety and wellbeing so if the issue you raise is very serious, they will need to take action to investigate it, but they will work with you to protect your confidentiality as much as possible through the process”.

When interior designers have been open with me about issues at work, it has generally been going on for a number of months. What should employees do if they are in this situation or find themselves in one in the future?

“Raise it as soon as you can – early intervention makes it much easier to resolve workplace situations,” advised Tess. “Write down the facts to help get your thoughts clear – recount specific examples including who else might have been present. The clearer and more specific you can be, the easier it will be to get your points across  in an investigation. Read your company grievance policy/procedure – it will usually have both an informal and formal route.”

No one wants to be treated unfairly in the workplace and should you find yourself in a tricky situation, I really hope the information above will give you the confidence to speak to your HR manager / Head of People.