I've witnessed inappropriate behaviour

What to do if you think someone else is experiencing inappropriate behaviour or bullying.

Everyone in our organisation has the right to work in a safe, respectful culture, free of abuse, harassment, bullying or other inappropriate behaviour. It can be upsetting to witness inappropriate behaviour. You may be worried for your colleague, confused about what you witnessed, or feel powerless or scared to do anything about it.

You are not alone.

Together we are committed to supporting you to sort this out in a way that helps everyone involved to be heard and move forward.

inappropriate behaviour affects everyone - witnesses as well as those on the receiving end. It can harm physical and mental health and impact work and home life.

Give feedback.

We want you to feel safe and supported to give feedback about inappropriate behaviour. Or to ask someone else to give feedback on your behalf. Review these steps to find the best way to resolve things.

In many cases it only takes one person to give feedback for inappropriate behaviour to change. Often the person doesn’t realise they were doing it, or the impact it was having.

Everyone involved will be treated fairly and with compassion. Our focus is on resolving issues through reflection, feedback and discussion, only using a formal process when appropriate.

The role of your manager is:

• To actively build a positive culture in the team
• To create an environment where people feel safe to talk to each other about issues
• If people raise concerns to respond in a neutral, impartial, fair, professional way, with discretion
• To think about the person before the process
• Provide clarity so everyone involved knows what is happening and what is going to happen.

If you have witnessed behaviour that you don’t like, please don’t just keep going but say something to someone, so that we can resolve it together.