People seem to become offended so easily these days, often on behalf of other people.
Others rail against this perceived oversentitivity – ’surely you can’t be offended by that? The world has gone mad!’ For employers, there is bad news and good news, the bad news is that there isn’t a cut off point where you can just tell the individual to grow up. Legally it is the individual who decides whether or not they are offended and organisations need to take that as read and act accordingly.
However, the good news is that, although any complaint needs to be taken seriously and looked into, it doesn’t necessarily mean the perpetrator needs to be disciplined or dismissed even if that is what the ‘victim’ may want to happen.
So how do you tackle trivial complaints or people taking offence on behalf of others in a way that protects the company but does not create a cottage industry of investigations and disciplinary hearings?
See below for details of 186hr’s 40 minute ‘banter and behaviour in the workplace’ e-learning course that covers this issue. The link includes a 2 minute demo that covers a well known sexual harassment case that is discussed in the training. We think you will find it really interesting.
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.
The course, developed in partnership with the excellent eLearning specialist e-aspire costs £49.95, with discounts available for bulk purchases e.g. if you decide to train the whole team or your management team – which is highly recommended.
We also discuss whether relatively trivial complaints stand a realistic chance of success legally, for example we have included the Tribunal case brought by a barrister when colleagues complained that he broke wind too often at work due to a medical condition. He felt such comments were discrimination.
Another important area included on the course is whether a complainant must personally have the ‘Protected Characteristic’ in question to make a complaint if they find a comment offensive (hint, they generally do but there are some circumstances where that is not the case).
We also explain a proven effective way of tackling individuals who make comments that cause offence, without always having to resort to disciplinary action.
If you have any queries about the course, discrimination or harassment in general, please don’t hesitate to contact us.