St. Edmunds Charity is committed to providing a working and living environment that is free of harassment and bullying, and where everyone is treated, and treats others, with dignity and respect. St. Edmunds Charity will not permit or condone any form of bullying or harassment.

Bullying and harassment can pose a huge risk to the health and safety of employees and service users and can have lasting effects on their mental and physical health.

Bullying and harassment occurring between service users, between staff, by staff or by service users on staff or visitors will not be tolerated. If those behaviours persist service users ultimately risk losing their accommodation, and staff being subject to disciplinary procedures.

 

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What is harassment?

Harassment is any unwanted physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that person. A single incident of this nature can amount to harassment if sufficiently serious.

Unlawful harassment may involve sexual harassment, or it may be related to any other of the Protected Characteristics detailed in our Equal Opportunities policy (age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation). The Company’s stance is that harassment is unacceptable, whether or not it is targeted at any of these categories.

Examples of harassment may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Display or circulation of sexually suggestive material or material with racial overtones;

• Use of slang names for racial groups, or age groups, or for disabled persons;

• Professional or social exclusion;

• Unwanted physical conduct, such as touching, pinching, pushing and grabbing;

• Unwelcome sexual advances or suggestive behaviour;

• Offensive emails, text messages or social media content.

It is important to note that harassment occurs even if the harasser perceives his/her behaviour as being harmless and without malice, or ‘just a bit of fun’. What matters is how the behaviour makes the recipient feel, and not what the perpetrator’s intentions were. Also, a person may be harassed even if they were not the intended ‘target’ of the behaviour. For example, a man may be harassed by sexist jokes about women if the jokes create an environment that is offensive to him.

 

 

What is bullying?

Bullying is a sustained form of psychological abuse. It is defined as offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, involving the abuse or misuse of power, which has the purpose or effect of belittling, humiliating or threatening the recipient.

Workplace bullying usually takes one of three forms: physical, verbal or indirect. It can range from extreme forms such as violence and intimidation, to less obvious actions, such as professional or social exclusion.

Examples of bullying may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Shouting or swearing at people in public or private;

• Spreading malicious rumours;

• Inappropriate derogatory remarks about someone’s performance;

• Physical or psychological threats;

• Constantly undervaluing effort;

• Rages, often over trivial matters;

• Ignoring or deliberately excluding people;

• Overbearing and intimidating levels of supervision;

• Deliberately sabotaging or impeding work performance.

Please note that managers are duty-bound to give their team members feedback and to generally manage their performance. Legitimate, reasonable and constructive criticism of a team member’s performance or behaviour, or reasonable instructions given to an employee in the course of their employment, will not amount to bullying on their own.

 

How we can all help to stop bullying and harassment

We all have a shared responsibility to help create and maintain a working environment free of bullying and harassment. You can do this by:

• Considering how your own behaviour may affect others, and changing it;

• Being receptive, rather than defensive, if asked to change your behaviour;

• Treating your colleagues with dignity and respect;

• Taking a stand if you think inappropriate jokes or comments are being made;

• Making it clear to others when you find their behaviour unacceptable;

• Intervening, if possible, to stop harassment or bullying, and giving support to victims;

• Reporting harassment or bullying to your manager or another appropriate officer of the Company;

Being open, honest and objective in any investigation of complaints.

all service in the evenings and weekends when staff are not onsite.