An employee's perceptions of bullying, and her employer's failure to investigate her complaints, were significant precipitating factors in her death, a coronial inquest has found.
Adopting a new approach to conflict management, and embedding alternative dispute resolution practices in everyday leadership, has helped an employer reduce its formal grievances by almost half, its HR leader says.
A new report calls for employers to stop treating upward bullying as an "interpersonal issue", and recognise it as "a distinct organisational and governance risk".
Employees "cannot expect to avoid standard scrutiny" of their performance by claiming they are being bullied, the Fair Work Commission has stressed, in rejecting a stop-bullying bid.
Expressing unwillingness to work with a certain manager amounted to refusing a lawful direction, and was a valid reason to sack an employee, the Fair Work Commission has ruled.
Alleged bullying by two managers while an employee was on leave didn't occur while he was "at work", but in any case the conduct wasn't unreasonable or repeated, the Fair Work Commission has found, in refusing to make a stop-bullying order.
Resigning may well have been the right decision for an employee who didn't trust HR to take her workplace complaints seriously, according to the Fair Work Commission, but this didn't mean the employer's conduct forced her hand.
All employers should consider putting in place a workplace s-xual harassment prevention plan, even though such plans are only expressly prescribed in one jurisdiction, according to a risk management expert.
Recent events have shone a spotlight on whistleblowing, placing employers firmly on notice that their response to a protected disclosure could be subject to intense scrutiny. Watch this webcast to understand the role HR plays in this challenging space.
