Right to bear responsibility

Individual responsibility and your right to assert and defend your personal integrity doesn’t stop when you enter the workplace.

Yes, employers should foster workplaces where mutual respect, fairness and equality, and the dignity of everyone are valued.

But the buck doesn’t stop with the employer or manager.

Don’t be a victim

It’s every employee’s responsibility to set a positive example in addition to employers and managers behaving appropriately.

Everyone in the workplace must behave in a manner that won’t offend, embarrass or humiliate others – whether deliberate or unintentional.

Aggressive, patronising, embarrassing or humiliating behaviour, bullying and yelling are unacceptable.

As are withholding information, undermining others, underhandedness or gossip, discrimination and sexual harassment.

Facing facts and feelings

How should you face up to your responsibilities?

• Make every effort to resolve a problem with the person involved immediately and informally.
• Don’t wait until there is a recurrence or assume the problem will go away.
• Approach the employee who made you feel uncomfortable, explain how it affected you and ask them to stop.
• Do this calmly, respectfully, and in confidence.

Often, a co-worker may not be aware that their behaviour is offensive, and most will change the behaviour once they are aware of the problem.

If you don’t do this, but instead report it to your supervisor, it’s your supervisor’s responsibility to send you back to have that same conversation.

What if this fails?

• Take your grievance to your manager, supervisor or HR.
• Don’t let such negative incidents go unchecked because they can produce severe and unwanted longer term repercussions.

ProActive ReSolutions can help you with this often complex and difficult problem.

To learn more, visit ProActive ReSolutions