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Positive Work Environment

Overview

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Key takeaway: Our goal is to make a positive work environment for everyone at Penrose Health. On this page we’ll tell you some of the ways that we make this happen, and how we will support you if any unwanted behaviour does occur.

We strive to make Penrose Health a positive work environment for everyone, free from harassment and bullying, where all of our employees are treated with respect and dignity. We want to ensure that the different experiences, abilities and skills of each individual are valued by everyone.

One of the ways that we try to create a positive work environment is by having robust policies and procedures to combat bullying and harassment. Below we define these two terms and discuss how we deal with any unwanted behaviour.

What is bullying?

Although there is no legal definition of bullying, it is generally defined as any unwanted behaviour that is offensive, intimidating, undermining, or humiliating towards another person. It’s often an abuse of power or position.

Bullying can be a regular pattern of behaviour or a one-off incident, it can happen face-to-face or online, and it may be perpetrated by a single person or a group.

Bullying is not technically against the law, but harassment is.

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Click the toggle to see some behaviours that might be considered bullying

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Note: It is the impact of the behaviour that is relevant, not the intent behind it

What is harassment?

Harassment is any unwanted behaviour that violates a person’s dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.

Bullying and harassing behaviours might seem very similar. However, by law, harassment is when bullying or unwanted behaviour is related to any of the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010.

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Click the toggle to see what characteristics are protected under the Equality Act 2010

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Click the toggle to see some behaviours that might be considered harassment

How we create a positive work environment

All of our Line Managers have a responsibility to ensure that harassment or bullying does not occur. To support our Line Managers to do this, we provide training on our policy and procedures for dealing with harassment and bullying.

You can also help to make Penrose Health a positive work environment for everybody that works here by:

Treating your colleagues with dignity, respect and courtesy
Being mindful of others when expressing your views
If you see harassment or bullying, challenge or report this behaviour
Cooperate with investigations into harassment and bullying

How to raise a concern

1️⃣ Speak to the person

If you feel comfortable doing so, the first thing you can do is try to address any unwanted behaviour directly with the person responsible (whether the behaviour is directed towards you or someone else). Try to remain calm and explain that you feel uncomfortable with their behaviour. Speaking directly to the person at an early stage will often be enough to stop the behaviour.

If you don’t feel comfortable doing this you can also ask your Line Manager or a colleague to speak to the person with you, or on your behalf.

2️⃣ Consider a formal complaint

If you can’t resolve the issue by raising it informally with the person responsible, or you don’t feel comfortable doing this, you might consider raising a formal complaint (aka a grievance). You can find out more about the process of raising a grievance on our 😟Grievances page.

FAQs

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How are bullying and harassment different?

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What do I do if I’m being bullied or harassed at work?

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For questions: If you’ve got any questions about how we create a positive work environment, reach out to your Line Manager

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