How ‘acceptable’ workplace behaviours are evolving

The rise of the #MeToo and #LetHerSpeak movements, and the Respect@Work report by the Australian Human Rights Commission show a shift in the tolerance for workplace harassment, bullying, and discrimination.

Trish Ryan, legal director at Sydney Legal Consulting, joined The HR Leader on 1 August 2022 to provide some insight into how an organisation can prevent issues in the workplace.

“What we need to focus on is having the right policies in place, it’s about having the culture that comes from the top so that we have a board that is interested in these issues making sure there is a policy, making sure there is training,” Ms Ryan said.

Ms Ryan believes that having standards of behaviour and a code of conduct that outlines the values of the organisation needs to be clearly set out so that people know how to behave.

“If you are not living and breathing these policies and the training and making sure these behaviours aren’t happening then there is a real risk of them occurring,” she said.

“Not just something written down and stuck on the internet but something that is talked about regularly at leadership meetings, even team meetings.”

Discrimination, bullying and harassment not only have a human toll, but can create serious financial implications for a business. There are penalties, workers compensation and reputational risks that can occur.

“Some organisations, particularly smaller ones might think ‘we don’t need a policy, we don’t need to worry about this’, but it matters for a whole raft of reasons, including most importantly, that no one wants to go to work and be harassed or discriminated against,” Ms Ryan explained.

Many of the issues that occur come down to inadequate training of managers and supervisors. Ms Ryan believes that without correction of this behaviour, the problem has a snowball effect across a business.

“Managers need to be trained in it and to not only call it out when they see it but to deal with it and to make sure it’s not happening on their watch because there is a real concern that behaviour just continues to perpetuate,” she said.

“Whilst we’ve all moved towards online training and that’s fantastic, I do think there is real merit in face-to-face discussion. Whether its training managers, training staff or whether it’s HR.”

The Australian Human Rights Commission released a guide to help eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. The suggestions as listed on the site are:

• Get high-level management support.
• Write and implement a sexual harassment policy.
• Provide regular training and information on sexual harassment to all staff and management.
• Encourage appropriate conduct by managers.
• Create a positive workplace environment.

While these guidelines are in regard to sexual harassment, we believe these ideas can be adapted to any form of discrimination or bullying experienced in the workplace.

The transcript of this podcast episode, when quoted above, was slightly edited for publishing purposes. The full audio conversation with Trish Ryan is below, and the original podcast article can be found here.