How to prevent outrage culture in the workplace

Outrage culture in the workplace

In this article, you can learn more about the significance of abusive behaviour in a workplace and what you can do to ensure that you get the best possible working environment in your organisation or company.

What is abusive behaviour?

An offended act is defined as one or more persons who violently or repeatedly expose other persons to behaviour that is perceived by the aggrieved persons as degrading. The offensive act is therefore offensive when it is perceived as such by those who are exposed to it.

People have different boundaries and therefore it will also be different when the individual will feel violated. An offensive act can take place both actively and passively.

A violation can, for example, be the withholding of certain information, slander or exclusion from the social or professional community.

If you are interested in knowing more about how you can prevent abusive behaviour in your company, then read on in the next section, where we will examine the subject in more detail.

How to prevent abusive behaviour

As an employer, you have a number of obligations when it comes to preventing offensive behaviour in your company. In the points below, you can see which duties you as an employer must comply with:

1. It is the employer's full responsibility that the work carried out at the workplace is under conditions that are justifiable in terms of safety and health in relation to abusive actions. Therefore, the employer must initiate some measures so that the employees do not get injured or become ill as a consequence of a poor working environment caused by abusive behaviour at the workplace
2. It is also an option to get help from professionals who specialise in abusive behaviour if you as an employer do not have the necessary skills to deal with and prevent the abusive acts
3. As an employer, you must also ensure that a written workplace assessment is made. In the workplace assessment, the workplace's working environment must be assessed and if there are problems with the working environment, a decision is made as to how these problems should be addressed
4. In the workplace assessment, also called the workplace risk assessment (APV in Danish), you as an employer have a duty to disclose if abusive actions have taken place. This must be available to both managers and staff

With this experience in mind, in the following section you can read about what to do if abusive behaviour takes place in your workplace.

You can do this as a manager

As a manager, it is your responsibility to be a good role model for your employees. Therefore, on occasion, you can discuss the workplace's attitudes and guidelines in connection with abusive behaviour in order to clarify what is expected of your employees.

Another measure you can take is to speak out about offensive actions at performance reviews, staff meetings and the like, so that you ensure that your employees feel heard and that you take the subject seriously.

By being a good role model and talking about the topic, you can create a safe space where employees can safely express their experiences with abusive actions.

If some of your employees change their behaviour and you perceive them as powerless, that they have low self esteem, problems with anxiety, anger, difficulty concentrating or difficulty sleeping, then as a manager you must respond to this dissatisfaction.

Speaking of discussing abusive behaviour between colleagues, in the next section you can read about who in your workplace you can ask if you, as a manager, have to deal with abusive behaviour.

Maybe you can get help from others at your workplace?

Fortunately, there are good places to get help in the company. Here are three examples: 

1. Management colleagues

You can get suggestions for example, from your management colleagues. They can help you to strengthen communication about abuse in the workplace.

In addition, it can be advantageous to prioritise resources to obtain the necessary skills and distribute roles in the different management levels jointly.

If you have a specific infringement case, you can also discuss this with your management colleagues and find a solution on how it can be handled in the best possible and most efficient way.

2. Working environment - or trade union representative

If necessary, you can talk to the occupational health and safety representative, or the trade union representative about what is the basis of the offending behaviour and to what extent it is experienced by the employees.

You can also talk to the trade union representative about what is missing in prevention and whether they have any good ideas to improve it.

3. HR or working environment department

If your workplace has an HR department, you can get help to strengthen the general and systematic prevention of abusive actions in the company. In addition, you can get help formulating some formal guidelines on abusive behaviour.

Sometimes it may be necessary to seek help from external companies or organisations. We will explain this in the next section.

Get help outside your company

Outside the company, you can also get help from:

1. Employers' organisations

Some employers' organisations offer consultancy work. You can contact an employer's organisation if the workplace, or a group of the workplace is covered by a party agreement in connection with abusive actions.

2. Authorised working environment advisors

You can contact these if you need help solving a complex case of infringement.

3. The industry associations for the Working Environment

The industry communities for Working Environment support companies with information about the working environment by offering guidance, conferences and training.

Try also to see what a poor mental working environment can mean both for your employees and for the company. Check out how to create: