Policy Adopted on 14/01/2021 / Revised 04/07/2023 and will be reviewed Q2 2024 – Revision 2.0
1. Policy Statement
This policy sets out the church’s stance on bullying and all type of harassment behaviour. Harassment or victimisation on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation is unacceptable.
Personal harassment takes many forms ranging from tasteless jokes and abusive remarks to pestering for sexual favours, threatening behaviour and actual physical abuse. For the purposes of this policy, it also includes bullying. Whatever form it takes, personal harassment is always taken seriously and is totally unacceptable.
2. Reason for Policy
We deplore all forms of personal harassment and seek to ensure that the working environment is sympathetic to all our employees & volunteers. The aim of this policy is to inform employees of the type of behaviour that is unacceptable and provide employees who are the victims of personal harassment with a means of redress.
We recognise that we have a duty to implement this policy and all employees are expected to comply with it.
3. Who Should Read this Policy?
- All members of the Revive Church community
4. Resources
- This policy is part of the Staff Handbook found on The Way We Work platform
- https://twww.revivechurch.uk
5. The Policy
Examples of personal harassment
Personal harassment takes many forms and employees may not always realise that their behaviour constitutes harassment. Personal harassment is unwanted behaviour by one employee towards another and examples of harassment include:
- insensitive jokes and pranks
- lewd or abusive comments
- deliberate exclusion from conversations
- displaying abusive or offensive writing or material
- abusive, threatening or insulting words or behaviour
- name-calling
- picking on someone or setting them up to fail
- exclusion or victimisation
- undermining their contribution/position
- demanding a greater work output than is reasonably feasible
- blocking promotion or other development/advancement.
These examples are not exhaustive and disciplinary action at the appropriate level will be taken against employees committing any form of personal harassment.
Examples of sexual harassment
Sexual harassment can take place in many forms within the workplace and can go undetected for a period of time where employees do not understand that particular behaviour is classed as sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is unwanted behaviour related to sex, or of a sexual nature, by one employee towards another and examples of sexual harassment include:
- lewd or abusive comments of a sexual nature such as regarding an individual’s appearance or body
- unwelcome touching of a sexual nature
- displaying sexually suggestive or sexually offensive writing or material
- asking questions of a sexual nature
- sexual propositions or advances, whether made in writing or verbally.
Sexual harassment can also take place where an employee is treated less favourably because they have rejected, or submitted to, the unwanted conduct that is related to sex or is of a sexual nature. Whether less favourable treatment occurs as a result will be examined broadly and includes areas such as blocking promotion and refusal of training opportunities or other development opportunities.
Responsibilities
Employee responsibilities
We require our employees to behave appropriately and professionally[CH1] at all times during the working day, and this may extend to events outside of working hours which are classed as work-related such as social events. Employees should not engage in discriminatory, harassing or aggressive behaviour towards any other person at any time. A breach of this policy by will be treated as a disciplinary manner
Employer responsibilities
We will be responsible for ensuring all members of staff, including seniors and those within management positions, understand the rules and policies relating to the prevention of harassing and bullying behaviour at work and during church-related social events. We will promote a professional and positive workplace whereby managers are alert and proactively identify areas of risk and incidents of harassment, sexual harassment and bullying.
Where an incident is witness, or a complaint is made under this policy, Revive Church will take prompt action to deal with this matter. All incidents will be deemed serious and dealt within in a sensitive and confidential manner.
Informal method
We recognise that complaints of personal harassment, and particularly of sexual harassment, can sometimes be of a sensitive or intimate nature and that it may not be appropriate for you to raise the issue through our normal grievance procedure. In these circumstances you are encouraged to raise such issues with a senior colleague of your choice (whether or not that person has a direct supervisory responsibility for you) as a confidential helper.
If you are the victim of minor harassment you should make it clear to the harasser on an informal basis that their behaviour is unwelcome and ask the harasser to stop. If you feel unable to do this verbally then you should hand a written request to the harasser, and your confidential helper can assist you in this.
Formal method
You have a right to appeal the outcome, which is to be made to Chair of Trustees within 5 working days of receiving the outcome.
Where the informal approach fails or if the harassment is more serious, you should bring the matter to the attention of the Safe Guarding Coordinator as a formal written grievance and again your confidential helper can assist you in this. If possible, you should keep notes of the harassment so that the written complaint can include:
- the name of the alleged harasser
- the nature of the alleged harassment
- the dates and times when the alleged harassment occurred
- the names of any witnesses
- any action already taken by you to stop the alleged harassment.
Where it is not possible to make the formal complaint to the above-named person, for example where they are the alleged harasser, we would encourage you to raise your complaint to the Chair of Trustees.
On receipt of a formal complaint we will take action to separate you from the alleged harasser to enable an uninterrupted investigation to take place. This may involve a temporary transfer of the alleged harasser to another work area or suspension with contractual pay until the matter has been resolved.
On conclusion of the investigation which will normally be within 15 working days of the meeting with you, a report of the findings will be submitted to the manager who will hold the grievance meeting.
You will be invited to attend a meeting, at a reasonable time and location, to discuss the matter once the person hearing the grievance has had opportunity to read the report. You have the right to be accompanied at such a meeting by a colleague and you must take all reasonable steps to attend. Those involved in the investigation will be expected to act in confidence and any breach of confidence will be a disciplinary matter.
You will be able to put your case forward at the meeting and the manager will explain the outcome of the investigation
If the decision is that the allegation is well founded, the harasser will be liable to disciplinary action in accordance with our disciplinary procedure.
We are committed to ensuring employees are not discouraged from using this procedure and no employee will be victimised for having brought a complaint.
Using external support
Revive Church reserves the right to access external support at any stage of the process, including investigations and chairing meetings.
