It started a couple of decades ago with unsavoury jokes sent by email, often discriminatory. The company wag would send a picture with a caption poking fun at a group, related to their race, sex, or sexual orientation (in the olden days before Trans existed and there were only 2 genders).
The problem was that the ‘jokes’ were offensive, and a clear breach of decency and also discrimination policies. There were some big cases involving high profile organisations where a complaint was made and companies investigated then dismissed anyone who had forwarded the email as they rightly viewed it as akin to telling a racist etc joke.
Now it is mainly Whatsapp groups. Who hasn’t received a joke that would very clearly be classed as discrimination if it ‘got out’? This really is like playing Russian roulette with your career, as well as having the potential to offend decent people.
It continues to baffle me how supposedly intelligent people, some of them very senior (MP’s anyone? A Minister of State no less!!!) risk their career and lifestyle in this way. Not only is it akin to telling a discriminatory joke, but it is IN WRITING. It can’t be denied, justified or explained away. It is highly likely to be gross misconduct.
What should your employees do if they receive such a message if the group is in any way work related? You won’t like this but there are only 2 options. The first is for the individual to reply saying it is offensive and not acceptable, requesting them to delete and desist. But have you ever seen such a message? I haven’t. If the message came from a work colleague they should also have a quiet word!
The second option is to remove yourself from the group and delete the offending messages from your phone especially if it is a company phone as otherwise you have offensive material on kit owned by the company and it doesn’t take a genius to work out where that may lead!.
Clearly organisations should have policies on proper use of systems etc but in my experience that rarely changes behaviour, it just helps to prove guilt in any disciplinary hearing. Training is the key.
So what would be classed as offensive? This article would stretch to ten pages if I went into detail. To find out more about where the ‘bar’ is regarding what is and is not acceptable at work and in such messages see our 40-minute e-learning course ‘banter and behaviour in the workplace’.
The course explains, with actual examples from Tribunals, what is ok and what needs to be tackled. See below for more details, including a 2 minute demo that discusses the learning points from a public swimming pool legal case where lifeguards made lewd comments about a female customer. It is fascinating.
Banter & Behaviour in the Workplace
This new e-learning course describes the various forms of harassment and discrimination in an easy-to-understand format so organisations can appreciate where the bar is at work between acceptable behaviour and that which is likely to lead to a grievance or successful Tribunal claim.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss the course, HR, discrimination or harassment in more detail. We would love to hear from you.