Employers have 3 choices if a colleague makes, or keeps making, offensive remarks.

There is more and more media coverage of this, but employers really don’t need to take draconian steps and ruin their culture for fear of offending oversensitive employees.

Where offensive comments are made there are 3 options, as follows:

1. Most employers choose option 1 and pretty much ignore the issue. 
2. Various bodies recommend option 2, a zero tolerance approach, taking disciplinary action every time.
3. Option 3 is to recognise that banter can be healthy in the workplace but nip in the bud anything that goes a bit over the top informally. Then tackle repeat offenders or those that go too far formally if this doesn’t work for some individuals.

With option 1, the downsides are obvious.  It really isn’t difficult to tackle this with some basic training and management vigilance and action. It could be argued that it is poor management not to.

There is a lot of pressure to follow option 2, treat every comment as outrageous and dismiss numerous offenders. Perhaps a belief this is required, and a reluctance to do it, is why many employers bury their heads in the sand and do nothing. This sledgehammer approach really is not necessary.

We find option 3 works best for most employers and is really quite easy to introduce. It actually improves the organisations culture in our experience as it enables you to use a softer touch to tackle offenders – which pretty much all colleagues will want to happen – without creating an atmosphere where nobody feels they can say anything for fear of offending people and being dismissed.

For more details about where the ‘bar’ is, with interesting real life examples, and how to manage this important issue via option 3, see our  40-minute ‘banter and behaviour in the workplace’ e-learning course.

Please contact us if you would like to discuss the course, HR, discrimination, harassment, or tackling employee behaviour in more detail. We would love to hear from you.