Anthea Lowe &
Associates
Fair and Respectful
Workplace Behaviour, Equal Employment Opportunity
(EEO), Diversity, Discrimination Prevention, Bullying and Harassment Prevention
and Grievance Management
An Australian Workplace Consultancy
** Tip of the month
**
How I can help you
|
** Tip of the month
** |
My experience,
skills and achievements
Are you as well protected as you should be?
Are you a good people manager or supervisor?
Contact Information
How I can help you
Group and ‘one on one’ practical, dynamic,
interactive, customised, skills-based training and coaching programs – for all levels of management and
staff – in any Australian State or Territory - on:
Respectful
behaviour – How to prevent and deal effectively with any bullying or harassment
Fair
and respectful behaviour – How to prevent and deal effectively with any
favouritism, discrimination, bullying or harassment
Grievance
management – for staff appointed to provide the first point of contact or
advice and for those charged with resolving grievances
Effective,
fair and non-discriminatory customer service, and
Similar topics.
Conference
and seminar workshops and presentations – in any
Grievance investigations and resolutions
Development
and writing of tailor-made, ‘best practice’, practical policies and procedures – on diversity, equal employment
opportunity (EEO) and discrimination prevention; bullying and harassment
prevention; fair and respectful workplace behaviour; fair and
non-discriminatory service delivery; grievance management; counselling and
discipline; and other similar topics.
Development
and writing of customised, skills-based training packages and associated train
the trainer programs
for your trainers – on the same or similar topics.
Advice,
‘expert opinions’ and practical assistance in
relation to promoting diversity and EEO; preventing favouritism,
discrimination, bullying or harassment; grievance management; and similar
topics.
Facilitation of staff consultations.
My experience, skills and achievements
Anthea
Lowe has a 30 year record of achievements in equal opportunity and people
management in both
She established her workplace consultancy in early 2001. Since
then she has worked for 94 different private, public and community sector organisations throughout
She has:
Conducted practical training
programs, workshops and conference presentations - in bullying and harassment prevention;
diversity, EEO and non-discriminatory decision-making; fair and
non-discriminatory service delivery; and grievance management - for senior
executives; partners; human resources managers; other line managers;
non-supervisory staff; contact officers; and union delegates.
Investigated and facilitated
the resolution of complex and/or serious workplace grievances.
Written tailor-made,
‘best practice’, practical policies and procedures – on EEO and discrimination
prevention; bullying and harassment prevention; fair and non-discriminatory
service delivery (including writing the first edition of the ‘Equal Treatment
before the Law Bench Book’ for NSW judicial officers, which won an Australasian
Institute for Judicial Administration award for excellence – see http://www.jc.nsw.gov.au/benchbks/equality/);
grievance handling; and counselling and discipline.
Provided detailed
comments on how to improve EEO-related policies and procedures and associated training modules.
Provided expert
witness opinions for lawyers in relation to negligence claims for alleged
bullying and harassment.
Advised HR and other
senior managers on, for example, how best to reasonably accommodate the needs
of particular employees; how best to prevent bullying and harassment; how to
ensure their line managers are able and willing to prevent discrimination, take
non-discriminatory decisions and intervene appropriately in potentially unfair,
bullying and/or harassing situations; how to design an effective and fair
grievance management system; how to handle a particular grievance or potential
grievance.
Produced customised, skills-based EEO and bullying/harassment
prevention training packages for use by internal trainers and conducted
associated train the trainer programs.
Run awareness and practical behaviour modification sessions for
individuals found to have been involved in discrimination, harassment or
bullying to help ensure they do not re-offend.
Conducted or provided advice
on EEO and bullying/harassment-related staff consultations and surveys.
Anthea would be delighted to supply you with referees for any of the
above.
In June 2001, Anthea wrote,
published and marketed the first, practical set of guidelines for Australian employers
on the prevention of workplace bullying and harassment. These have been used by organisations
throughout
Following the
publication of these guidelines, Anthea
was commissioned to write the harassment and bullying prevention chapter in the
first three editions of the Australian Master Human Resources Guide published by CCH (2002 to
2004/05) and the bullying prevention chapter in the fourth to seventh editions
(2006 to 2009).
In 2003, Anthea was appointed as a non-judicial member of the Equal
Opportunity Division of the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal. This means
she hears and decides cases of discrimination and harassment that have not been
able to be settled by the Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW. She is a member of both the NSW Equal
Employment Opportunity Practitioners’ Association and the Australian Human
Resources Institute.
Before establishing her consultancy, Anthea was the Manager, Education
Services at the Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW. Anthea was regarded as a dynamic and
inspirational people manager and leader.
She expanded her team from 4 to almost 20, by, among other things,
initiating and developing a highly successful commercial unit providing
EEO-related consultancy, training and publications.
Anthea wrote most of the Board’s practical, ‘plain English’
publications. The workplace guidelines series she wrote received an excellent
review in HR Monthly, March 1999 and was also commercially licensed to
the Equal Opportunity Commission, Victoria.
Frequently requested as a dynamic presenter by EEO and HR conference
organisers, Anthea developed and then managed the training programs still used
by the Board, and conducted and managed longer-term consultancy projects for
both private and public sector clients.
Before working at the Board, Anthea researched and wrote a series of
publications for the NSW Cancer Council; and spent 2 years developing the
Immigration Advice and Rights Community Legal Centre.
For several years in
Are you as well protected as you should be?
There
are many
Equal
opportunity/Anti-discrimination
Industrial
relations/Fair work/Breach of employment contract/Trade practices
Occupational
health and safety and Workers’ compensation
Criminal
Common
– for example, negligence claims.
Under
each of these categories of law, the general rule is that your
organisation/employer will be legally liable for any discrimination, harassment
or bullying that is committed by any employee that breaks any one or more of
these laws – UNLESS your organisation/employer has taken “all reasonable steps”
or done everything “reasonably practicable”, to:
Prevent
the discrimination, harassment, or bullying from happening in the first place, and
Resolve,
fairly and appropriately, any alleged discrimination, harassment or bullying
that is suspected or known by any line manager or appointed grievance adviser
or resolver.
Checklist for senior managers, HR managers and employers - © Anthea Lowe
& Associates
These
days, Australian courts, tribunals and commissions are saying that - at an
absolute minimum – you MUST:
1.
Have
clear, written policies and procedures that explain precisely what you expect
of your employees in relation to both their decision-making, and their
behaviour towards each other and your customers or clients
Do
these policies list the particular and more onerous responsibilities of your
line managers?
Does
your bullying and harassment policy include electronic bullying and
harassment?
And
does it cover all forms of harassment and bullying as opposed to only those
forms that are against anti-discrimination law?
Do
both these policies adequately cover your employees’ relationships with your
customers, clients and anyone else they have to interact with in the course of
their work?
Do
both these policies adequately cover your employees’ behaviour at all points
the employer could be held legally liable for their behaviour – including when
at work functions off-site or out of hours and when on work business overnight?
2.
Have
a clear, written, trusted, fair and followed grievance procedure, backed by a
fair, appropriate and followed counselling and discipline procedure.
Do
your grievance and counselling and discipline procedures contain sufficient
step-by-step detail and guidance to encourage trust in their use?
Are
there sufficient routes through your grievance procedure to encourage people to
come forward?
Do
your procedures follow the rules of ‘procedural fairness’?
Do
they contain sufficient detail and guidance to ensure that all those
implementing them follow precisely the same and scrupulously fair procedures
and decisions for similar levels of work problems and grievances? In other words, would both the process and
the outcome of every grievance stand up to external legal scrutiny?
Do
they make it clear that there are times when the complainant’s wishes cannot
and will not be followed?
Do
you have appropriate record-keeping rules written into your procedures?
3.
Distribute
these policies and procedures to every one of your employees, including new
ones.
Does
every employee have copies of all these policies and procedures or know exactly
where they can find them? Or, are they
in a few employees’ offices or filing cabinets only, or available only to those
who have access to your computer system?
Do
new employees get them as part of their induction?
4.
Make
sure all your employees can understand all these policies and procedures and
that they have the knowledge and skills to follow them. In particular, make sure all your line
managers are actively promoting and ‘holding the line’ about what is and is not
acceptable behaviour. This means
actively skills-training all employees, at regular intervals.
When
was the last time you trained your line managers let alone your non-supervisory
staff in these matters?
Can
you be sure every one of them knows exactly what is expected of them in
relation to fair and respectful behaviour, grievance management and counselling
and discipline?
Can
you be sure they have both the willingness and the skills to implement your
expectations?
For
example, are all your line managers actively and appropriately intervening whenever they suspect, see, hear or are
told about any discrimination, harassment or bullying, or about any behaviour
that risks a possible claim of
discrimination, bullying or harassment?
Or, are they leaving your organisation legally liable for
discriminatory, harassing or bullying behaviour that someone in ‘management’
suspected or knew about or should have stopped earlier?
If
you don’t have all of this in place, not only are you leaving your organisation
open to valid and costly legal challenges, but also your organisation is not
getting the best out of its employees.
You are almost certainly experiencing
most if not every one of the following:
Absenteeism
by those being discriminated against, bullied or harassed
Increased
work error rate
Increased
work accident rate, greater than necessary injury/stress claims and associated
rehabilitation costs and likely increase in your workers’ compensation premium
Low
morale
Decreased
productivity
Decrease
in the quality of work
Sabotage
or other forms of aggressive or destructive behaviour
Loss
of reputation/public image
Unnecessary
resignations
Wrong
employees being appointed, trained and/or promoted, and the best ones being
lost/missed
Breakdowns
in communication ability and trust
Industrial
problems
Internal
grievances and external legal challenges.
These could be costing you anywhere between tens of thousands and
hundreds of thousands of dollars. I know
of one organisation that has spent well over a million dollars on internal and
external challenges related to just one claim of sexual harassment.
How much longer can you afford
this? Click here for how I can help.
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Are you a good line manager?
Do you follow the 12 points in the checklist
below?
Does every one of your line managers follow
all these points?
Line managers are only likely to be good
people managers if they follow most if not all these points. If they don’t follow them it is likely they
are not good people managers, are regarded as poor people managers or
even bullies and are experiencing the problems listed in the previous
section – ‘Are you as well protected as you should be?’
Checklist for line managers - © Anthea Lowe & Associates
1.
I
tell all my staff (including new ones) about discrimination, harassment and
bullying – their rights and responsibilities.
2.
I
am a good role model - I make fair, non-discriminatory decisions, and I never
manage anyone using any form of bullying or harassment.
3.
I
am outcomes-focused and so I am flexible about precisely when, how and
where work is done – for example, I do my utmost to accommodate
disability-related, religious and family/home needs.
4.
I
explain the rationale behind all my decisions to those affected by them and I
can justify every one of my decisions as a fair decision.
5. I do not tolerate unfair, harassing or bullying behaviour or any behaviour that risks a complaint of discrimination, harassment or bullying.
6.
I make sure the workplace is free of all forms of stereotyping and
potentially offensive material.
7.
I make sure it is difficult for discrimination, harassment and bullying
to happen by analysing and then actively reducing the risk of any such
behaviour.
8.
I follow up any behaviour changes that could indicate discrimination,
harassment or bullying are going on.
9.
I make sure all staff in my team feel able to come to me (or, if
necessary, another manager, supervisor, team leader or grievance adviser) with
any work-related problem.
10.
I try to solve rather than bury all work/people management problems –
fairly and speedily.
11.
I act immediately if I suspect, see, hear, or am told about any
discrimination, harassment or bullying, or about any behaviour that risks a
complaint of discrimination, harassment or bullying.
12. I seek confidential advice about discrimination, harassment or bullying prevention and/or resolution, as necessary.
Click
here for how I can help you/all your line managers follow all the above points.
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Tip of the month
Recruitment and
selection
For the best chance of getting the best possible
person for each job and of not breaking any law, your recruitment and selection
processes must not allow personal stereotypes, biases, prejudices or comfort
levels to get in the way.
You need effective, merit-based and legally valid
processes – processes that actively encourage you to make assessments that are
as objective and accurate as possible.
Why? Because, recruiting the wrong
person is very expensive:
Human
Resources and recruitment specialists reckon that it costs anything between 85%
and 100% of a person’s annual salary to replace them.
Add
the costs of having the wrong person in the job for as long as they are in it -
from such things as lowered productivity, dissatisfied or lost
customers/clients, and the dissatisfaction of other employees.
Add
the costs and disruption of having to ensure the wrongly appointed person
leaves your organisation or is shifted to a more appropriate job plus the costs
of any related legal claims they might make.
And
finally add the possible costs of people who did not get the job making
discrimination claims against you.
And
you have a very expensive mistake indeed.
Unfortunately, it is very easy to recruit the wrong
person. Unless properly trained and
advised we can easily:
Judge
applicants against the wrong selection criteria.
Decide
who we are and are not interested in far too early in the selection process.
Decide
on the basis of ‘gut feeling’ rather than fully and objectively checking out
the individuals concerned.
Rely
far too heavily on an interview as the means of selection – this means that we
are likely to appoint the person who is best at telling us they are good
at the job rather than the one who will be best at doing the job.
Rely
far too heavily on the opinions of referees – who may be either under-selling
or over-selling.
Each
one of these common recruitment and selection tendencies is likely to severely
reduce the chances of employing the best person for the job and could also
result in valid discrimination or other legal claims.
1. Bullying and
harassment prevention
A bullying or harassing line manager,
non-supervisory employee, client or customer will never be so important that
they are worth more to your organisation than the damage they are causing.
It
is legally, ethically and financially negligent for employers and line managers
not to do everything they can to prevent bullying and harassment. You MUST:
Make
it difficult for bullies and harassers to operate, and
Deal
appropriately with people proven to have bullied or harassed, and if necessary,
dismiss and/or stop doing business with those who can’t be stopped or who have
committed very serious acts of bullying or harassment.
Do
your staff understand that any behaviour that unfairly or unreasonably puts
down, belittles, undermines, controls, scares, intimidates, excludes, offends
or embarrasses anyone it’s directed at, or anyone who sees or hears it, is
bullying and/or harassment?
Do
your staff know where to ‘draw the line’ between acceptable and non-acceptable,
risky and potentially unlawful behaviour?
Do they understand the need to behave professionally and with respect at
all times even when they don’t like someone or that person has treated them in an unfair, harassing or bullying
manner?
Do
they follow the 5 ‘Rules of Respect’? - © Anthea Lowe
& Associates:
Treat others like you’d like to be treated
Know your audience – know who is comfortable with what
Be particularly careful if it could be seen as sexual, personally
invasive, racist, sexist, anti-gay, or stereotyping in any other way
Be careful of repetition - know when they’ve had enough
If someone indicates they don’t like what you’re doing - stop doing it,
say you didn’t mean to hurt or upset them, apologise for any hurt or upset you
may have caused, don’t do it again in front of or to them, and don’t talk about
them in a negative way.
2. Appointing and developing good line managers
Team leaders, supervisors or managers who have been
appointed on the basis of their technical skills without any objective
assessment of their people management skills could well be causing you more
trouble than they are worth.
Line
managers who are poor people managers are likely to:
Make
poor and potentially discriminatory decisions
Bully
or harass one or more of their team – sometimes without meaning to, and
Allow
their team members to discriminate, harass and/or bully.
To avoid this you
may need to do each of the following - © Anthea Lowe & Associates:
1.
Develop a series of core competencies/performance assessment
criteria for people supervision.
2.
Appoint new line managers only if they have good people
management skills or the makings of them.
3.
Develop ways of specifically testing for people management
skills during recruitment/selection processes, and of getting honest information
about past supervisory experience.
4.
Regularly assess line managers against your people supervision
core competencies.
5.
Provide professional and practical people management training
and development for existing line managers.
6.
Not reward, in any way, any line manager whom you know or
suspect achieves their results through discrimination, bullying or harassment.
7.
Closely monitor, and if necessary, fairly investigate any line
manager whom you have good reason to suspect uses discriminatory, bullying or
harassing tactics.
8.
Discipline and if necessary dismiss any line manager who
achieves their results through discrimination, bullying or harassment.
9.
Consider establishing team/staff-nominated awards for the best
people manager in any period.
3. Fair and non-discriminatory decision-making
Every people management decision made by every
single one of your line managers must be
fair and non-discriminatory and also be seen to be fair and
non-discriminatory by those it affects - if you want to avoid legal claims and the costly
problems listed under point 4 of the ‘Checklist for senior managers’ above.
At
the very least, every line manager needs to work out who won’t like the
particular decision before they finalise it and then work out whether
they can rationalise it to those who won’t like it.
If they are not sure they can rationalise it they probably need
to think again. If they are sure
they can rationalise it they should then make sure they do rationalise
it to all those it affects and particularly to those who may not like it.
Here are 7 points every one of your line managers
should follow when making decisions that affect the people they manage or
supervise - © Anthea Lowe & Associates:
1.
Follow the organisation’s policies and be
consistent – unless doing so turns out to be discriminatory.
2.
Consult with stakeholders and/or take advice
- whenever appropriate.
3.
No favouritism, no direct discrimination (false
assumptions or stereotyped thinking), no indirect discrimination (unfair
and unreasonable outcome despite the same rule or requirement being applied to
all).
4.
Accommodate individual needs in relation to part-time, carer’s
responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, disability, illness and so on - whenever
possible.
5.
Have fair, non-discriminatory and rational work reasons - decide
on the basis of properly assessed merit, or turn and turn about, or in
some other fair manner. The client is
NOT always right.
6.
Always give reasons for the decision – particularly
to those who may not like the decision.
7.
Be approachable and be prepared to change the decision
- if it turns out to be unfair.
4. Staff complaints
procedures
To be reasonably sure of standing up in courts, tribunals
and commissions, your written staff complaints or grievance procedure must - © Anthea Lowe
& Associates:
1.
Be easy to understand.
2.
Detail the step by step process by which grievances will be handled.
3.
Contain specific, but realistic, time limits for each stage of the
process.
4.
Specifically ensure that all grievances will be handled in line with ‘procedural fairness’
principles - that is, with impartiality, fairness, confidentiality, and
appropriate protection from victimisation (payback action), and with full
provision for all parties to have access to support and/or representation as
desired/necessary.
5.
Give a choice of people to come forward to (so that everyone feels
comfortable enough to do so) – for advice, for advocacy, and for
resolution. Naturally, those given the
job of resolving grievances must have sufficient power, knowledge and skills to
do so.
6.
Explain the manner by which grievances will be resolved –
that is, from conciliation/mediation to investigation and/or discipline, as
dependent on the seriousness of the allegation. Note that it will never be appropriate to conciliate/mediate
something that ought, if proven, to be disciplined. Nor will it always be appropriate (ie. lawful) to provide the type of process that the
complainant wants. Nor will it always be
appropriate (ie. lawful) to follow a complainant’s
wishes for no action to be taken.
7.
List the types of resolutions to expect, (for
example, from apology to written warning to demotion to dismissal), and
that resolution will be imposed fairly and consistently across the
organisation, in line with the nature of the policy breach (as proven on the
‘balance of probabilities’), any mitigating circumstances and any previous
proven offences (and, therefore, not necessarily in line with the complainant’s
wishes).
8.
Explain that confidential records will be
kept of all incidents - in a central file if no discipline is imposed, and on
the personal file, as well, of anyone who is disciplined.
9.
Provide for an internal appeal system,
wherever practical.
10.
Give details of external avenues of help and
appeal/review.
11. Provide
much more detailed, step-by-step, written
guidance for those whose job it is to provide advice or support, and/or resolve
grievances.
12. Be
followed – this almost certainly means providing training and/or extensive
‘hand holding’ advice and support from Human Resources to those charged with
advising on or resolving grievances, as well as written guidance.
Back
to top
5. Flexibility is vital
How rigid and inflexible are your work
systems, practices and rules?
If
you want to get the most out of each of your employees, encourage a diverse and
therefore a more responsive and creative workforce and prevent costly
direct and indirect discrimination (and/or other legal) claims, your systems,
practices and rules need to be as flexible as possible.
For
example:
Are
your hours of work and/or rosters so tight that you are disadvantaging or
losing those with carer’s responsibilities, some people with disabilities, and
others who might prefer some flexibility to better balance their work with
their home, community, religious and other non-work activities?
Are
you inclusive of all types of living arrangements? Or are employees who do not have or live with
a heterosexual partner/any partner/any children, or
who live in broader family or other groupings, missing out on the benefits,
flexibility, leave arrangements, and so on, that you give to those who have or
live with their heterosexual partner and/or children?
Do
you insist that specific jobs must be worked full-time or not at all, and
therefore lose the benefit of employing some great part-time or job-share
workers?
How
flexible are you about your employees’ or potential employees’ religious or
cultural requirements?
Do
you equate ability to do the job with how long someone has been doing it – that
is, by insisting on x numbers of years experience? Or do you equate ability to do the job with
how good they are or will be at it – that is, by checking for past successes
and actively skills testing for ability?
Do
you equate good performance with how many hours someone puts in and/or with how
much time they spend at work site(s)? Or
do you measure performance by what they actually achieve?
Must
certain tasks always be performed in the same way? Or are you flexible about approach as long as
you get the outcomes you need?
Do
you have ‘group think’? Are you
surrounded by ‘yes’ women and men? Or do
you actively solicit different and perhaps more creative ideas and approaches
so as to get the best outcomes?
When
was the last time you employed someone quite different from the rest of the
team? Does your insistence on ‘team fit’
mean that you are discriminating against people who are in some way
different? Are you losing out on the
skills and abilities of people from differing backgrounds? Or are you achieving better results by
actively promoting, employing, valuing and supporting diversity?
6. How to avoid being seen
as a bullying or harassing manager
Your
line managers need to understand how to behave to avoid being (seen as) a
bullying or harassing manager. Are they
following the behaviours in the left hand column? Or are they indulging in some or all of the
behaviours in the right-hand column?
|
§
Show respect -
always §
Clear and
reasonable work/service-delivery plans, priorities and goals §
Fair and
reasonable work/task allocation – not too much and not too little §
Fair and
appropriate instructions §
Fair and
appropriate performance/behaviour management §
Reasonable and
fair level of supervision §
Speedy and fair
attention to staff requests for such things as leave, training, travel away
from area/office, special treatment…… §
Appropriate
level of consultation §
Honesty and
openness |
×
No favouritism ×
No threats ×
No shouting,
swearing or other forms of abusive, aggressive or threatening behaviour ×
No sarcasm ×
No sexual,
personally invasive, sexist, racist, anti-gay, etc. language or suggestions ×
No undermining ×
No public
criticism of staff ×
No abuse of
their authority © Anthea
Lowe & Associates |
Contact Information
Ph.
Sydney, Australia
Fax
–
E-mail
– anthealowe@gmail.com
Mailing
address -
Useful organisations
Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW
– http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/adb/ll_adb.nsf/pages/adb_index
Australian Human Rights Commission – http://www.humanrights.gov.au/info_for_employers/; and http://www.humanrights.gov.au/legal/FDL/index.html
National Anti-Discrimination gateway - http://www.antidiscrimination.gov.au/
Institute for Cultural
Diversity - http://www.culturaldiversity.net.au/
Equal Opportunity for
Women in the Workplace Agency – http://www.eowa.gov.au
Equal Opportunity in Public Employment (NSW) – http://www.eeo.nsw.gov.au/
Office of Industrial
Relations (NSW) – http://www.industrialrelations.nsw.gov.au/
Fair Work
Fair Work Ombudsman - http://www.fwo.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx
Workcover NSW – http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/default.htm
Comcare - http://www.comcare.gov.au/about_us
NSW Equal Opportunity Practitioners
Association – http://www.neeopa.org
Flexibility
at Work – http://www.flexibility.com.au/
This website was last revised
on 12 January 2010