Harassment in the workplace - How to deal with abusive behaviour

Harassment in the workplace

A number of indicative studies point out that harassment in the workplace is increasing, for example the proportion of employees who have experienced sexual harassment rose from 2.8% in 2012 to 3.7% in 2016.

Harassment, also typically called bullying and psychological violence, is characterised by regular, malicious teasing and stalking of people, where the purpose is to discriminate, humiliate, weaken or threaten the victim of harassment. In this way, harassment at the workplace can have serious consequences for the person who is subjected to harassment, but also for the workplace, as it damages the working environment.

In this article, we will therefore make you more aware of what harassment in the workplace entails and how you can deal with it in the company.

What is workplace harassment?

All employees can be at risk of being harassed or bullied in the workplace, they can be interns, temps, managers and new hires alike. Harassment and bullying are abusive acts for example:

• Physical abuse
• Unmotivated abuse
• Mockery
• Gross teasing
• Aggressive behavior

In addition to the more obvious indicators of harassment, it can also take place indirectly where deliberate exclusions are involved for example:

• Employees withhold information so that the harassed employee cannot do their job
• The employees display hostile behaviour towards the victim of harassment
• Employees meet the harassment victim's questions or attempts at conversation with silence
• The employee who is subjected to harassment or bullying is slandered

In addition, you should be aware of employees who withdraw from social context, as this may be an indication of unhappiness and thus harassment or bullying.

It is also worth mentioning that the ordinary exercise of management, for example if you assign an employee a task that they do not like or finds boring, is not an abusive act. In addition, collegial feedback and similar conversations are not considered abusive behaviour.

What is sexual harassment?

Sexual harassment can occur if an employee experiences sexual attention that is unpleasant. It varies from person to person in relation to the limits and thresholds for when the person considers sexual attention to be transgressive and thus offensive. It can also depend on who gives the employee the attention and on the situation.

However, the Equality Act highlights in §2 a. Subsection 3 the following: "Sexual harassment exists when any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical behaviour with sexual undertones is displayed in relation to a person's gender with the purpose or effect of violating that person's dignity, in particular by creating a threatening, hostile, degrading, humiliating or unpleasant climate.” Therefore, a liberal tone of voice,  workplace humour and a raucous Christmas lunch atmosphere in the workplace cannot excuse offensive actions.

How do you deal with violations in the workplace?

Harassment and bullying are fundamentally a working environment problem. Thus, it is crucial that you do not see it as an employee challenge and for example, tell the employee that they should "just" speak up.

The Danish Working Environment Authority has prepared advice on how you as an employer can prevent harassment in the workplace:

• Signal that harassment is unacceptable: It is crucial that management sends a clear signal to all staff in the organisation that harassment, including sexual harassment and other offensive acts is unacceptable
• Have clear guidelines: Establish clear guidelines on how you will identify and prevent harassment. In addition, it is important that you also plan how you will manage harassment and how you will take care of the employees involved. You should also ensure that all employees at the workplace are familiar with the guidelines. Here, it is also essential that employees know who to talk to if they experience harassment at work
• Use dialogue as a tool: Openness is a key word in this context. It is essential that employees feel that they can speak openly and without prejudice about what they believe to be offensive behaviour,  remember that harassment can be a taboo subject for many employees
• Define roles and clarify responsibilities: The management must decide who takes care of which roles and tasks in relation to the prevention and handling of harassment. In addition, you should find out whether you have the necessary skills in the company to prevent and manage situations where employees are exposed to harassment
• Maintain focus on harassment prevention: Make agreements and plan how you can have continuous attention to harassment prevention. You can do this by including harassment and bullying as a recurring item at your annual working environment meeting. You can also include bullying and harassment at staff meetings. In connection with the onboarding of new employees, it is also important to include the guidelines as part of the training  and remember to follow up regularly on whether your guidelines have the desired effect. If you would like to learn more about onboarding, you might want to read this article

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