Bullying and Sexual Harassment at Work Workshop
Do your bullying and sexual harassment policies comply with the October '24 Worker Protection Act?
Date: Wednesday, 11th September
Time: 09:30 - 13:00
Cost per attendee: £275 + VAT per attendee
Despite of the impactful #MeToo movement and a slew of popular culture focus on toxic workplaces, the sad truth is that, according to a recent Fawcett society report, almost half of all women will experience some form of sexual abuse in the workplace. That figure rises online and has significantly increased with the rise of working from home.
Preventing Workplace Harassment New Legislation: What does it mean for employers?
Employers are clearly either ill-equipped to, or disinterested in, tackling the issue. But in October 2024, the Worker Protection Act comes into force and will oblige employers to take a proactive stance towards tackling sexual harassment in their workplaces. Granting tribunals the power to award an uplift of 25% in compensation where an employer has failed to comply to this duty.
Inclusive workplaces must move beyond airy words and demonstrate real commitment to ensuring inclusion and safety for all, and to communicate clearly the consequences of failing to respect female colleagues properly.
Following the huge interest in our HR Risk Forums Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace webinar, we have developed a training course that ensures you quickly and comprehensively demonstrate your commitment to protect your employees from sexual harassment – what it constitutes, what will happen if you don’t and how to audit your current policy and procedures to ensure they are robust and legal.
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Platform: Zoom - An encrypted zoom platform with password access:
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Prefer to run this course In-house?
We offer this course as a face to face or online in-house training option, if this would be more suitable, please email teamtraining@bfi.co.uk
Which functions will benefit from attending
- CEOs, HR Directors, Employee Relations, Operations, People and Culture, Payroll, Talent Acquisition, Team Leaders, Policy Managers
Hear from
Schedule
Introduction & overview of the day
Elizabeth Smith
Director of Research , Business Forums International Ltd. (BFI)
Elizabeth is director of research and a founding co-director at Business Forums International. She is responsible for all programme content and writing, and researches current areas of interest for senior HR professionals in large organisations. BFI is the UK’s leading HR risk specialist conference and training provider, delivering key and timely information to over 3,000 delegates a year both through public and in-house training courses. Before founding BFI in 1996, Elizabeth specialised in researching corporate financial programmes in Asia and the Middle East, based in Dubai. She also worked in advertising and publishing in the Middle East and London. Elizabeth was educated in the West Indies, Saudi Arabia and Belgium before reading Modern Languages at Durham University. She is currently developing an online training course for line managers to raise awareness of menopause symptoms and ways that employers can work to make their workplaces more inclusive.
A welcoming session which will run under the Chatham House Rule. Delegates are encouraged to share concerns and challenges they are facing in their own organisations. There will be time in the programme to table specific issues and questions to ensure maximum value and learning.
Interactive session: what constitutes bullying and how do you respond?
This session will present a series of scenarios to determine what constitutes bulling, what’s harassment and what’s sexual abuse in the workplace. Designed to open discussion and debate, the varying situations presented will explore current and future issues, looking at both legal and workplace principles.
The legal landscape
Jasmin Dhillon
Partner - Employment and Immigration , Spencer West LLP
Jasmin is an employment and immigration lawyer, with in depth experience in employment tribunal litigation and dispute resolution. She has advised and litigated on complex issues, including restrictive covenants, multiple discrimination claims, whistleblowing and TUPE. Jasmin has brought and defended bullying and harassment claims on behalf of clients, ranging from individuals to multinational corporations. The evolving landscape of this area, with a heightened social awareness of it, has led Jasmin advising on a diverse range of legal issues. As part of Jasmin’s immigration practice, she advises on cross-border employee transfers and talent management. Jasmin works with many UK and overseas companies to facilitate inward investment.
- The legal definition of bullying and harassment.
- The problem with subjectivity.
- The nine ‘protected characteristics’ – age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
- Harassment by association and perception.
- Beyond 9 – 5: Where does the “workplace” extend to when looking at bullying and harassment?
Comfort break
Bullying and harassment policy content refresh and update
Jasmin Dhillon
Partner - Employment and Immigration , Spencer West LLP
Jasmin is an employment and immigration lawyer, with in depth experience in employment tribunal litigation and dispute resolution. She has advised and litigated on complex issues, including restrictive covenants, multiple discrimination claims, whistleblowing and TUPE. Jasmin has brought and defended bullying and harassment claims on behalf of clients, ranging from individuals to multinational corporations. The evolving landscape of this area, with a heightened social awareness of it, has led Jasmin advising on a diverse range of legal issues. As part of Jasmin’s immigration practice, she advises on cross-border employee transfers and talent management. Jasmin works with many UK and overseas companies to facilitate inward investment.
- What makes a toxic workplace where bullying can thrive?
- Statistics and recent trends: covid, social media, political polarisation, identity politics
- What must a comprehensive policy contain? Key areas to cover
- Best practice: identifying potential areas of improvement
- Reporting and procedures: what to communicate and how
- Auditing your current policy: role of the staff liaison committee
- What to include in your training sessions
- What constitutes sexism and misogyny and how do you communicate that? Tips on educating and upskilling your workforce
- Banter and the usual excuses: tackling grey areas to ensure company-wide understanding
Content of the worker protection act: preparation, timescales and implications for HR
- Key highlights and takeaways and their implications for employers
- Timescales and essential actions: a checklist
- A definition of harassment and what it will cover
- What does ‘reasonable steps’ look like and what should you be doing right now?
- Understanding exactly what your responsibilities and duties comprise
- What are the consequences for employers who get this wrong? Fine and compensation payment scales
- How will claims work?
- Third party harassment: where might you still be liable?
- Reputational damage and culture implications
- Social event and working outside the office: understanding the scope of the Act
- Case studies and lessons learned
Comfort break
Case studies: resolution options – internal and formal complaint handling procedure
Sharon Docherty
DBA Researcher , Cranfield University
Sharon Docherty has worked as a civil servant within the Ministry of Defence for over 20 years. During that time, she has undertaken a wide range of high-profile roles from working as the Liaison Officer to the PM's Special Representative for the First World War Commemorations to acting as a Legislative Policy Officer negotiating a bi-lateral agreement between HMG and the Republic of Cyprus. Sharon is passionate about lifelong learning and to that end in 2017, she joined an Army Advanced Development Programme which is an innovative partnership with McKinsey and Co to develop a cohort of military officers and civil servants with business skills. This included studying for a MBA with Henley Business School exploring the link between Staff Engagement and Burnout, completing the Project Leadership Programme with Cranfield University, and obtaining a Level 7 in Management Consultancy. Putting these skills to good use Sharon joined the Central Transformation team in MOD Main Building, Whitehall to help upskill change and transformation teams across Defence. During this time, Sharon was successful in obtaining a place on the Advanced Command and Staff Course which provided an opportunity to further her knowledge in Defence, national security, strategic operational planning, and international relations, while also studying for a MA in Defence Studies with King's College, London exploring the impact of Heuristics and Biases on Decision Making within Defence. Current activities More recently Sharon joined Defence Intelligence heading up a change programme reviewing training, education, research offer for Intelligence personnel, while at the same time studying for a Doctorate in Business Administration with Cranfield University looking at the phenomenon of Upward Bullying.
Working in small groups, delegates will formulate responses to a series of real-life scenarios, designed to explore the themes covered during the course. This will build confidence to tackle and manage potentially inflammatory situations, as well as embed a solid legal understanding and policy implementation
Q&A Clinic: a bespoke session to answer specific questions and concerns faced by individual delegates
Sharon Docherty
DBA Researcher , Cranfield University
Sharon Docherty has worked as a civil servant within the Ministry of Defence for over 20 years. During that time, she has undertaken a wide range of high-profile roles from working as the Liaison Officer to the PM's Special Representative for the First World War Commemorations to acting as a Legislative Policy Officer negotiating a bi-lateral agreement between HMG and the Republic of Cyprus. Sharon is passionate about lifelong learning and to that end in 2017, she joined an Army Advanced Development Programme which is an innovative partnership with McKinsey and Co to develop a cohort of military officers and civil servants with business skills. This included studying for a MBA with Henley Business School exploring the link between Staff Engagement and Burnout, completing the Project Leadership Programme with Cranfield University, and obtaining a Level 7 in Management Consultancy. Putting these skills to good use Sharon joined the Central Transformation team in MOD Main Building, Whitehall to help upskill change and transformation teams across Defence. During this time, Sharon was successful in obtaining a place on the Advanced Command and Staff Course which provided an opportunity to further her knowledge in Defence, national security, strategic operational planning, and international relations, while also studying for a MA in Defence Studies with King's College, London exploring the impact of Heuristics and Biases on Decision Making within Defence. Current activities More recently Sharon joined Defence Intelligence heading up a change programme reviewing training, education, research offer for Intelligence personnel, while at the same time studying for a Doctorate in Business Administration with Cranfield University looking at the phenomenon of Upward Bullying.