Code of Good Practice needed to deal with workplace bullying in SA

Code of Good Practice needed to deal with workplace bullying in SA

A high profile case about workplace bullying recently made headlines in the UK.  The BBC reported that Paul Scott, a safety expert lodged a complaint of bullying by his employer when he did not budge on serious safety issues that he raised relating to the building of a new stadium in Belfast.  Ireland has two Codes of Good Practice that effectively deals with bullying from a health, safety and disciplinary point of view.  Australia has also published a Draft Code of Good Practice that serves as a guideline to their Work Health and Safety Act. The tightening up on the law around bullying in Australia followed the highly publicised suicide of a young lady who was bullied in the workplace.

Existing Framework in SA is too weak to deal with workplace bullying

In South Africa, there is still no legal certainty on the definition of bullying. The existing legal framework does not make specific provision and it is too weak to deal with bullying. We need to look at enacting specific legal provisions that provide workplace and civil remedies for the victims. Research conducted on the prevalence of bullying in South Africa revealed that 31 % of workers have experienced bullying in the workplace. Bullying places the safety, health and welfare of workers at risk. Negative effects of bullying include ill health, stress, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and high blood pressure. The workplace can also become dysfunctional and productivity can be reduced.

What is workplace bullying?

Employers have a duty to provide a safe and healthy workplace and workplace bullying is a psychosocial hazard. It must be managed like any other hazard in the workplace. The Australian Draft Code of Good Practise: Preventing and Responding to Workplace Bullying is defined as repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or a group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety. Repeated behaviour refers to the persistent nature of the behaviour and can involve a range of behaviours over time. Unreasonable behaviour means behaviour that a reasonable person, having considered the circumstances, would see as unreasonable, including behaviour that is victimising, humiliating, intimidating or threatening. Research shows that typically a bully has a personality disorder that is not immediately obvious and is usually threatened in some way by the victim. The victim may challenge the status quo and some researchers have suggested is most likely to be a well- educated veteran and highly competent. The bully would often enlist co- workers in an effort to socially isolate and create a toxic working environment for the victim. In their book the ‘The Bully within’, the authors hold a different view and suggest that no purpose is served by profiling and demonising the character of the bully and we should avoid language that is shame- or blame based. They go on to suggest that we must all embrace the possibility that we potentially ‘house’ the bully within ourselves and within our organisations. They urge that mediation be used as a tool to look at the behaviours and interpersonal interactions of both parties with a view to achieving behaviour change in the workplace over the long term.

Identifying workplace bullying

The Code lists specific incidences of workplace bullying, whether intentional or unintentional, that may be considered to be workplace bullying if they are repeated, unreasonable and create a risk to health and safety include:

• Abusive, insulting or offensive language or comments

• Unjustified criticism or complaints

• Continuously and deliberately excluding someone from workplace activities

• Withholding information that is vital for effective work performance

• Setting unreasonable timelines or constantly changing deadlines

• Setting tasks that are unreasonably below or beyond a person’s skill level

• Denying access to information, supervision, consultation or resources such that it has a detriment to the worker

• Spreading misinformation or malicious rumours

• Changing work arrangements, such as rosters and leave, to deliberately inconvenience a particular worker or workers

Good Practice for workplaces

In South Africa the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHASA) provides that employers are responsible for the health and safety of their workplaces.  Every employer shall provide and maintain, as far as reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of his employees. The definition of ‘health’ in the act is very broad and means free from illness and injury attributable to occupational causes.  Most of the literature in this field and the case law focuses on ill health caused by injury and other physical hazard in the workplace.  Little attention is focused on psychosocial hazards like employee wellness and workplace bullying.  

Very few employees formally complain about bullying per se, relative to the prevalence of the problem. Those that do complain usually do so through the CCMA and the Labour Court and the complaint is usually not specifically grounded in bullying but manifests itself in other forms of complaints usually about constructive dismissal and sexual and other forms of harassment. When the complaint is aired, then the true pattern of bullying is unmasked.  The definition of ‘harassment’ set out in the new Protection from Harassment Act is very broad and does not specifically cover workplace bullying.

Ideally South Africa should implement a Code of Good Practice which sets out a clear definition of bullying. The Code would have to be linked to OHASA and provide for good practice in the management of bullying as a hazard in the workplace. Secondly it must set out good practice standards for workplaces to create a bully free environment and to deal with complaints about bullying in an informal and formal manner.

Training and Skills Development

Employers should have an anti – bullying policy in place which clearly defines what bullying is; provides examples of bullying activities; identifies a clear process to be followed for dealing with bullying; and sets out the necessary sanctions that can be imposed for bullying. Staff must be made aware of bullying and must be trained on how to deal with it in the workplace. The employer must regularly monitor bullying as a workplace hazard in terms of health and safety practices.   Managers must be capacitated with skills to set up proper job descriptions for staff; in performance management; and in coaching and mentoring for successful performance.  

About the Author: Sharon Snell BProc LLM is Chief Operations Officer of INSETA