Waikato Business News September/October 2018
Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the voice of the region’s business community, a business community with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of co-operation.
Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the voice of the region’s business community, a business community with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of co-operation.
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WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS <strong>September</strong>/<strong>October</strong> <strong>2018</strong> 27<br />
Bullying complaints require a<br />
calm, proportionate response<br />
It is becoming increasingly common<br />
for bullying complaints to be raised by<br />
employees in the workplace. This increase<br />
is likely due to increased media attention<br />
on bullying and widely-publicised employer<br />
obligations to provide safe workplaces under<br />
the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.<br />
What is also noticeable<br />
is that some employers<br />
are increasingly<br />
overreacting to such complaints.<br />
By no means am I<br />
suggesting that the complaints<br />
should not be addressed<br />
promptly and appropriately;<br />
they most definitely should.<br />
However, the response should<br />
be proportionate to the complaint.<br />
A major contributor to<br />
employers overreacting is a<br />
burgeoning cottage industry<br />
of “experts” who appear to<br />
be recommending to employers<br />
that an allegation by one<br />
employee against another<br />
warrants a company-wide<br />
investigation into “workplace<br />
culture”. Unfortunately, those<br />
who recommend such an<br />
extensive investigation also<br />
stand to gain financially by<br />
carrying out the investigation.<br />
So how can employers be sure<br />
that such an investigation is<br />
actually required?<br />
Firstly, when a bullying<br />
allegation is raised by one<br />
employee against another, or<br />
against the employer, the allegation<br />
needs to be sufficiently<br />
detailed so that an employer<br />
can ascertain whether it actually<br />
constitutes bullying. Just<br />
because an employee states<br />
they feel bullied, does not necessarily<br />
make it so.<br />
In February 2017, Worksafe<br />
published a guide entitled<br />
“Bullying at Work: Advice for<br />
Workers”. This is available<br />
free of charge online and is<br />
equally useful to employers<br />
and employees as a starting<br />
point. In particular, the guide<br />
sets out at page 5 behaviour<br />
that is, and is not, bullying.<br />
Those aspects of the guidelines<br />
are worth replicating<br />
here in full.<br />
“Workplace bullying is:<br />
• repeated and unreasonable<br />
behaviour directed towards<br />
a worker or a group of<br />
workers that can lead to<br />
physical or psychological<br />
harm.<br />
• Repeated behaviour is persistent<br />
(occurs more than<br />
once) and can involve a<br />
range of actions over time.<br />
• Unreasonable behaviour<br />
means actions that a reasonable<br />
person in the same<br />
circumstances would see as<br />
unreasonable. It includes<br />
victimising, humiliating,<br />
intimidating or threatening<br />
a person.<br />
• Bullying may also include<br />
harassment, discrimination<br />
or violence (see Section 4<br />
of this guide for how these<br />
are dealt with).<br />
Workplace bullying is not:<br />
• one-off or occasional<br />
instances of forgetfulness,<br />
rudeness or tactlessness<br />
• setting high performance<br />
standards<br />
• constructive feedback and<br />
legitimate advice or peer<br />
review<br />
• a manager requiring reasonable<br />
verbal or written<br />
work instructions to be carried<br />
out<br />
• warning or disciplining<br />
workers in line with the<br />
business or undertaking’s<br />
code of conduct<br />
• a single incident of unreasonable<br />
behaviour<br />
• reasonable management<br />
actions delivered in a reasonable<br />
way<br />
• differences in opinion or<br />
personality clashes that do<br />
not escalate into bullying,<br />
harassment or violence.”<br />
So, the first step in dealing<br />
with any complaint of bullying<br />
is to ascertain whether it actually<br />
is. Unquestionably, the<br />
conduct needs to be repeated,<br />
and one-off interchanges<br />
should not be classified as bullying,<br />
although, depending on<br />
the conduct complained of,<br />
they may be classified as misconduct<br />
or serious misconduct.<br />
If the allegations lack<br />
sufficient detail to establish<br />
whether the complained-of<br />
conduct is bullying, then the<br />
complainant should be asked<br />
to provide precise information<br />
of times, places and the nature<br />
of the conduct so a decision<br />
can be made. This information<br />
is required in any event<br />
if the matter is to proceed, and<br />
must be provided to the other<br />
employee when asking them to<br />
attend a disciplinary meeting.<br />
Where the complaint is<br />
from one employee about<br />
another employee, both must<br />
be separately interviewed to<br />
get their views on the matter,<br />
along with any other persons<br />
who may have witnessed the<br />
alleged conduct. Employers<br />
need to check witness<br />
accounts for consistency and<br />
go back to clarify any apparent<br />
inconsistencies, to ensure that<br />
a witness is actually providing<br />
factual information, rather<br />
than just supporting a work<br />
colleague.<br />
Once all the information<br />
has been collected, the<br />
employer is then in a better<br />
position to make the right<br />
decision on how to proceed.<br />
Both the complainant and the<br />
complained-of employee must<br />
be informed of the outcome.<br />
If, after full investigation, the<br />
problem appears to be more<br />
of a personality clash than<br />
actual bullying, then MBIE<br />
provides free mediation services<br />
that can be utilised to try<br />
and improve the relationship.<br />
If the allegations are found to<br />
be bullying, then depending on<br />
the severity of the conduct, the<br />
outcome may be a final written<br />
EMPLOYMENT LAW<br />
> BY ERIN BURKE<br />
Employment lawyer and director at Practica Legal<br />
Email: erin@practicalegal.co.nz phone: 027 459 3375<br />
warning or dismissal.<br />
The problem with unnecessarily<br />
instigating workplace-wide<br />
investigations is<br />
they are reminiscent of the<br />
Salem Witch Trials, where<br />
employees who had not previously<br />
thought they were being<br />
bullied by a disliked colleague,<br />
may suddenly be encouraged<br />
to believe that they are. Disharmony<br />
and dysfunction can<br />
swiftly ensue, and an employer<br />
may find that the investigation<br />
has caused far more harm to<br />
the workplace than good.<br />
Further, be under no illusion<br />
of the cost of these investigations.<br />
They involve interviews<br />
with every employee,<br />
transcripts of the interviews,<br />
Hamilton & <strong>Waikato</strong> Tourism win<br />
accolade for domestic tourism growth<br />
The Hamilton and<br />
<strong>Waikato</strong> region has further<br />
cemented its place<br />
as a tourism destination by<br />
winning a domestic tourism<br />
growth award at the inaugural<br />
Regional Tourism New Zealand<br />
(RTNZ) Awards.<br />
Hamilton & <strong>Waikato</strong> Tourism<br />
was named the <strong>2018</strong> Best<br />
Domestic Tourism Performance<br />
winner in the tier 2<br />
(mid-sized) regional tourism<br />
organisations category.<br />
Sponsored by AA Traveller,<br />
this award recognised the<br />
importance of the domestic<br />
New Zealand tourism market<br />
and the need to nurture and<br />
grow this sector, as well as the<br />
international visitor market.<br />
The award was independently<br />
assessed by AA<br />
Traveller against four metrics<br />
including Net Promoter<br />
Score, average length of say,<br />
overnight visitation and visitor<br />
expenditure from the Monthly<br />
Regional Tourism Estimates<br />
(MRTEs).<br />
Lake Wanaka Tourism<br />
took out the overall award for<br />
the highest domestic tourism<br />
growth across the country<br />
and Queenstown was named<br />
winner for the tier 1 (large)<br />
regional tourism organisation<br />
category.<br />
Neil Gestro, Head of Tourism<br />
Partnerships for AA Travel<br />
& Tourism, congratulated the<br />
Hamilton & <strong>Waikato</strong> team on<br />
the win.<br />
“Hamilton & <strong>Waikato</strong> Tourism’s<br />
results across all four<br />
metrics are commendable and<br />
it was great to see the region<br />
performing so well,” said Mr<br />
Gestro.<br />
Hamilton & <strong>Waikato</strong> Tourism<br />
Chief Executive Jason<br />
Dawson says the win confirms<br />
the region’s position as a leading<br />
visitor destination.<br />
“At the end of August <strong>2018</strong>,<br />
leisure and business tourism<br />
contribute $1.549 billion<br />
annually into the region. However,<br />
it’s the domestic visitors<br />
leading the charge, injecting<br />
$1.184 billion into our regional<br />
economy annually” said Mr<br />
Dawson.<br />
and confirmation by interviewees<br />
that the information<br />
they have provided is correct,<br />
all culminating in a very<br />
lengthy report. While this may<br />
be warranted where the allegations<br />
appear to be widespread<br />
or where the workplace as a<br />
whole has been complained of<br />
as “toxic”, such an investigation<br />
would not be warranted<br />
where the allegations are<br />
only by one employee against<br />
another.<br />
Employers would be better<br />
off using the money towards<br />
something that builds camaraderie<br />
and stronger workplace<br />
relationships, such as an<br />
employee day out or a midyear<br />
Christmas party.<br />
The <strong>2018</strong> Best Domestic Tourism Performance Award winners (from left to right): Graham<br />
Budd from Destination Queenstown, James Helmore from Lake Wanaka Tourism, Neil<br />
Gestro from AA Traveller & Tourism, and Jason Dawson from Hamilton & <strong>Waikato</strong> Tourism.