Workplace bullying and harassment

Reporting and resolving concerns about bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, stalking or victimisation in the workplace.

Handling bullying, harassment and discrimination: manager guidance

If an allegation of bullying or harassment is reported to you, whether informally or as a formal grievance, you must take it seriously.  

Every person is different, and the person reporting the matter may come from a very different background to your own and may have a different perspective about the situation than you. 

If you need to discuss the situation with someone else, you can: 

  • get advice from the People Support or People Casework team by messaging them on the Assyst portal or by calling 033301 35888 
  • call the dedicated manager support line provided by the council’s Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to get confidential advice and guidance from a coach on matters affecting you and your team

Record all incidents

All incidents must be recorded on our systems using the Assyst portal, even if the employee prefers for the matter to be resolved informally. 

This will help us to monitor the effectiveness of our measures to address harassment and discrimination across the council.

Team risk assessments 

You must regularly assess the risk of sexual harassment in your team. To identify if this is a potential issue, you should complete the Prevention of sexual harassment checklist (DOCX, 58KB) as part of your team risk assessment.

For more information on safeguarding your team from harm, visit risk assessments.

Support resources

Information and a checklist for addressing bullying and harassment can be found in the Managers’ and investigators’ guide for allegations of bullying, harassment, sexual harassment & victimisation (PDF, 236KB).

Further guidance on managing incidents of sexual harassment or harassment for a protected characteristic can be found on the Equality & Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) website. 

Online training

You can learn more about what constitutes sexual harassment by completing the council’s Sexual harassment for line managers module on My Learning. 

You can also use the My Learning sexual harassment at work playlist of resources to help you to increase your understanding of how to identify sexual harassment and learn what to do if you witness it or a concern is reported to you.